Artifact Analysis - The Store
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The smell of the stores signature perfume lingers a couple yards before the entrance of the dimly lit store. Right as you enter you are slapped with a gigantic image of a man’s lower torso. The black and white photo emphasizes his v-lines and his white boxers peaking through against his tanned skin.
To the left, women mannequins welcome you to the women’s side and men mannequins on the men’s side on right. Each mannequin stands proud with their idealistic bodies and their clothing perfectly fitted around their bodies, the folds and creases in exactly the right places. Even their height is perfect and exact. Each room has tables and closets stacked with clothing strategically arranged. Each shirt, blouse, pant is folded neatly and stacked directly on top of the first. The tags are perfectly aligned to allow customers to easily find their sizes. Racks are distributed around the store with all the extra small sizes facing the front of the hung clothing.
Large fanning potted plants are arranged around the room to give the store a very urban feel. Black and white pictures of young and happy men and women pose barely clothed on the wall.
After working for an entire summer in this environment, I began to realize how odd the concept of clothing stores are. They transport it’s customers into an idealistic world where their clothes are the center and a complete must-have. After weeks and weeks of coming to this foreign world and looking at the same clothes for days I started to feel it’s transforming effects. I would always scan the room and decide what to try on at the end of my shift. I would always make mental notes about which blouses would look well with the new belts in the front or the dark wash skinny jeans. I would even smile to myself when all the clothing on a table was perfectly folded.
Now, after a couple months after quitting my job and starting school, I was able to analyze the store a little more closely. The store gives off a powerful trendy, clean cut, young, and classy mood as if wearing their clothing or shopping at the store will somehow rub off on you. It's colorless rooms strategically highlights the colored clothing. The music, so loud you have to shout over each other, discourages socialization and into a concentrated shopping mood. The size 2 mannequins were the perfect models to show off the stores latest fashion. It all made sense now.
To the left, women mannequins welcome you to the women’s side and men mannequins on the men’s side on right. Each mannequin stands proud with their idealistic bodies and their clothing perfectly fitted around their bodies, the folds and creases in exactly the right places. Even their height is perfect and exact. Each room has tables and closets stacked with clothing strategically arranged. Each shirt, blouse, pant is folded neatly and stacked directly on top of the first. The tags are perfectly aligned to allow customers to easily find their sizes. Racks are distributed around the store with all the extra small sizes facing the front of the hung clothing.
Large fanning potted plants are arranged around the room to give the store a very urban feel. Black and white pictures of young and happy men and women pose barely clothed on the wall.
After working for an entire summer in this environment, I began to realize how odd the concept of clothing stores are. They transport it’s customers into an idealistic world where their clothes are the center and a complete must-have. After weeks and weeks of coming to this foreign world and looking at the same clothes for days I started to feel it’s transforming effects. I would always scan the room and decide what to try on at the end of my shift. I would always make mental notes about which blouses would look well with the new belts in the front or the dark wash skinny jeans. I would even smile to myself when all the clothing on a table was perfectly folded.
Now, after a couple months after quitting my job and starting school, I was able to analyze the store a little more closely. The store gives off a powerful trendy, clean cut, young, and classy mood as if wearing their clothing or shopping at the store will somehow rub off on you. It's colorless rooms strategically highlights the colored clothing. The music, so loud you have to shout over each other, discourages socialization and into a concentrated shopping mood. The size 2 mannequins were the perfect models to show off the stores latest fashion. It all made sense now.