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Verdura cuffs for Chanel
August 1, 2018 Style

The Little Black Dress And 9 Other Innovations Credited To Coco Chanel

August 19 marks the 135th birthday of Coco Chanel, the milliner-turned-fashion designer whose style ethos remains uncannily modern year after year.

Everyone is familiar with Chanel, the brand, but not everyone knows that the house’s founder was behind some of the 20th century’s most iconic classics. Below are just 10 of these innovations credited to Coco Chanel.

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Blank packaging
June 3, 2018 Marketing

Use This Handy Asset Checklist For Branding or Rebranding

The exciting thing about branding is starting a new identity from scratch. In the case of rebranding, it’s giving something old and tired a new lease on life.

What’s not quite as fun are the million-and-one fiddly details that go into the exercise.

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Maasai women in traditional costume
April 22, 2018 Design

How To Pick Colors Like A Pro

When it comes to choosing colors, people are almost always confident about what looks good on them. After all, they’ve had years to experiment with every shade possible, and know for a fact what works and what doesn’t.

The same can’t be said for picking brand colors. Not only do you not have the luxury of time to experiment, it’s very easy to get things horribly wrong. So we tend to leave color decisions to the experts, ie the agency or the graphic designer.

That said, dabbling in the parts of the color picking process is educational and fascinating, especially if you’re a person who has always been intrigued by colors, color psychology and the like. But if colors bore you, then think of the 5 tools below as simplifiers of irksome tasks, like making your Powerpoint deck look more professional.

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Wado sneakers with green trim
April 7, 2018 Marketing

The Anatomy Of A Successful Crowdfunding Campaign

With crowdfunding transaction values expected to hit $1.04 billion in 2018, it’s tempting to think that with a bit of elbow grease and a lot of social buzz that any entrepreneur could have a slice of that enormous pie.

There are reams of information on how to create a successful crowdfunding campaign, how to pick the best crowdfunding platform and the most successful crowdfunding projects. They’re packed with detail and offer so much great advice that you don’t need another blog post regurgitating what was said.

You may, however, want to take a closer look at a current (2018) case study of a campaign that worked. This campaign is Wado, a line of sustainable sneakers created by a trio of Barcelona-based entrepreneurs. The Kickstarter campaign goal in March was to raise 11,000 euros or about $13,500. Instead the campaign raised 363,761 euros or nearly $447,000.

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A rustic apple galette
March 27, 2018 Food

Easy Peasy Apple Galette

Desserts that are a doddle to make, fail-safe delicious and visually stunning are thin on the ground. If you add another crucial requirement -- easy to assemble during or after a meal -- where do you find such a unicorn, apart from the chiller section at the grocery?

People, this is that dessert.

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Dior's Spring 2017 feminist t-shirt
March 22, 2018 Marketing

Going For Woke: How Brand Activism is the New Path to Profit

‘These creatives are trying to make their toilet paper save the world.’
 
So opined fellow creative Rob Baiocco of BAM Connection, who was wryly commenting in a Guardian article about marketers’ new pursuit of social justice cred.
 
Is endowing the most banal of products with meaning as ludicrous as one would think? In October 2017, because the subject intrigued me as a marketer, I conducted my own research using SurveyMonkey.
 
The findings showed that, increasingly, consumers choose brands that are aligned with their values and shed those they perceive as a mismatch.
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Oiseau de Feu perfume bottle by Lalique
March 6, 2018 Design

Fantasy Vessels: Perfume Bottles That Rival Their Contents

There was a time when ladies had dressing tables, ostensibly for applying makeup but also to display a collection of perfumes. Which rather explains why the perfume bottles of old were staggeringly beautiful -- they were meant to adorn, not just function as containers.

In this day and age of 3-1-1, we have stopped thinking of perfume bottles, mainly because they have become an encumbrance. Who hasn't skipped buying scent because decanting it into a travel atomizer would be too much trouble? Who hasn't sighed and said 'I wish my scent was a solid?'

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Liza Minnelli and American models at the Battle of Versailles
March 5, 2018 Style

This Battle in Versailles Was All About Fashion

On November 28, 1973, American designers Halston, Bill Blass, Stephen Burrows, Oscar de la Renta and Anne Klein won over the French fashion world with a show in France that made history.

The occasion was a joint French and American fashion show at the Queen's Theater in Versailles to raise funds for the Versailles Restoration Fund.

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Neous Red Aunty 60
March 1, 2018 Style

The Return of the 80s Shoe

Ah the 80s. The decade of Madonna, Dippity-Do gel and acid wash jeans, once derided for its alleged lack of style, has triumphantly resurrected in a wardrobe staple no one would have predicted: Footwear.

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Atelier Manille leather wristlet
February 28, 2018 Marketing

Best Practices in Etsy SEO

When my sister and I started our Etsy shop, we had no clue on how to make our products stand out among the 45 million sold by 1.9 million sellers.

Happily we managed to sell half of our stock within 3 months of operation, during one of the most competitive retail seasons of the year, a development we hadn’t expected.

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Stir fried udon noodles in wok
February 12, 2018 Food

The Only Stir-Fry Recipe You’ll Ever Need

Stir-fries are the original fast food. If you are allowed into a Chinese restaurant’s kitchen, do visit, if only to marvel at the satellite-dish sized woks that shoot out flames to the ceiling when in use. The acreage of a wok and its ability to heat up in seconds mean food can be seared and cooked in minutes, retaining freshness and flavor.

This recipe is an old standby for its tastiness and versatility. You probably have all the ingredients right now in your pantry and refrigerator. The classic take would be to buy 5 Hong Kong dollars’ worth of deep-fried pork at the corner charcuterie, use that as seasoning for a boatload of vegetables, and have a feast. Think of its possibilities for leftover rotisserie chicken and veg.

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