steph dixon

“One’s capacity to see (voir) is a function of the knowledge (savoir),” remarked Bourdieu.

What unites niche brands, magazines, and establishments is taste as an activity, constantly practiced, developed, and cultivated. Their taste is opinionated and always evolving, refined

and questioned, judged and discussed.

It’s a taste in progress.

Lords knows its hard to do anything interesting with no money, but making something was always going to be hard!

My phone is silent but it feels like it’s yelling at me all the time.

Retail brands are curators of a way of life - there’s a Prada life, an ON Running life, a Jenni Kayne life. In addition to their core business, brands build the entire worlds that customers step into.

Consumers participate in aspirational culture without participating in the aspirational market.

The trapped quality of the worker caught in a system he did not construct and from which he cannot extricate himself.

The inspiration was decidedly “off-algorithm” (a concept we’re seeing more and more). They pulled from movies like Elf and 60s Batman for visual inspiration. The results: forced perspective shots and that classic city-climbing look that feels immediately familiar.

Having good products are not enough. New brands need lore and storytelling across mediums, and visual identity standards are leveling up.