Daily Archives: March 7, 2009

I was paging through the Urban Outfitters catalogue today and came upon the photos that I saw in a City Paper Clog article a while back by Holly Otterbein. (Interesting how the risque half-nudes are in the middle, sandwiched by the innocuous photos.) Check out the link for the pics.

In days past, Urban Outfitter’s catalogs were somewhat classy. Yes, almost every picture was of a half-stoned girl in an extremely elegant dress emerging out of the woods. But they were usually covered up and naturally pretty, and the graphic artists decorated the page with ink drawings of bird, trees and flowers. It was wonderfully whimsical, really.

All of that went to hell in the spring 2009 catalog. Philly-based UO have ditched their respectable advertising strategy and replaced it with American Apparel’s. Which it to say, they’re making porn now. The new catalog is full of side-boobs, side-bums and maybe even a little side-vagina. Yes, you read the last bit right. UO is so committed to emulating American Apparel that they’ve one-upped their rivals and invented a new way of showing someone’s privates without, ‘ya know, showing them completely. Also, all of the models look 15 years old, and their despondent expressions make them appear stoned — on H, not on weed.

Which made me laugh when I rememberd the post I wrote about how much my mom hates City Paper because of the “escort” ads in the back. I’m guessing the difference is, CP doesn’t try to hide anything while UO is promoting itself as a holier-than-thou brand? I think. Am I interpreting this correctly?