Rickie Fowler during the first round of the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst, combining knickers, argyle socks and Puma Biofusions.
Coming in an equal 2nd..Almost another Masters victory.
How do you define elegance?
Elegance like Art and can mean different things to different people. All menswear brands offer their vision of elegance, but their cut, colours and design details don’t always complement everyone. Is there a way to gauge a good balance of elegance which will suit most menswear consumers?
With so many styles from New Age to Italian Dandy, and in an ever changing fashion world can a common denominator for elegance in menswear be found? Is there a perfect muse for a balanced elegance in menswear?
With today’s world premiere of the new James Bond Movie Skyfall, it seems fitting to post about the “James Bond Design Filter”.
Where men’s style and elegance is concerned, the pop icon and fictional character of British secret agent James Bond is arguably the world’s best reference for elegance.
It’s no coincidence that there are web sites like The Suits of James Bond solely dedicated to the fashion of James Bond throughout the years.
And the Barbican Museum in London is marking the 50th anniversary of James Bond Movies with a celebratory exhibition, showcasing the inside story of the design and style of the world’s most influential and iconic movie brand: http://www.barbican.org.uk/bond/
Below are 2 short studies into James Bond’s personal style.
Designing Bond’s Look from Barbican Centre on Vimeo.
Designing Bond’s World from Barbican Centre on Vimeo.
Consequently designers wishing to gauge the balance of elegance in their designs just need to ask themselves, would their design suit the character of James Bond?
Although the character of James Bond is usually portrayed wearing a Dinner Jacket, he could easily be wearing tennis, golf, or running apparel and footwear. So what would his apparel and footwear look like?
When understanding design elegance and luxury in athletic footwear is challenging, ask yourself, what would James Bond wear.
And that is the “James Bond Design Filter”.
Via Depression Press
Reduced rubber, lightweight sole – Stability Sole Golf Platform – Nike Power Channel Flex Groove – Full Waterproof Booty Construction – Old School Club Style Upper Design.
For more on the Nike Air Anthem and other Nike Golf Footwear Designs visit my Nike Designs page.
For more on the Nike Lunar Control and other Nike Golf Footwear Designs visit my Nike Designs page.
Carl Pettersson does it again, winning the RBC Heritage 2012 at at Harbour Town Golf Links.
Congratulations Carl!
For more on the Nike Air Zoom Trophy and other Nike Golf Footwear Designs visit my Nike Designs page.
The song The Things is by the band Audio Bullys from London. The music Video was directed by Parisian design firm H5 and Produced by Phil Tidy.
The video shows German Urban Golf group ‘Natural Born Golfers‘ playing golf in a waste land area instead of a typically grassy course. ‘Natural Born Golfers‘ reclaim abandoned and disused industrial sites like open mines, factories shipyards and warehouses to play golf. This is not only irreverently ‘Rock & Roll’, but also environmentally friendly. By also playing golf indoors their urban golf style also adds a new dimension to the sport.
For more information visit the ‘Natural Born Golfers‘ facebook page: http://de-de.facebook.com/naturalborngolfers
A few years ago I noticed my 30 something peers talking more about new golf footwear design, than say new basket ball footwear design. This sounded strange because golf footwear, like bowling shoes weren’t nearly as glamorous and cutting edge as most other athletic footwear.
I realized that with age come changes in lifestyle, fashion and sport choices. Those 30 year old golf footwear fans I was overhearing were transitioning to a new sport, maybe one that better reflected their lifestyle and fashion.
As people live increasingly healthier and longer lives there will be more athletes over the age of 30, with different aesthetic and performance requirements and not just in golf. Given the choice will a 50 year old tennis player wear the same shoes as a 16 year old?
With a growing US and European demographic of athletic consumers over 30 years old, it’s becoming increasingly important for brands to cater and design to the culture and style of groups above the age of 30.
Not surprisingly virtually every athletic footwear brand is currently developing an extensive golf footwear line. Adidas, Nike, Puma, New Balance, Brooks and even Sketchers are all entering the golf footwear market to address the new over 30 consumer.
The sport of golf is unique in that it has the broadest age range of players, all looking to perform and be the best equipped. Making the golf footwear market perhaps a forerunner of how the athletic footwear market will be segmented in coming years.
Besides the performance/technology categories that benefit all golfers regardless of age (spikeless, summer, rain), the Mens’s Golf Footwear Market can be broken down into specifically 4 Cultural Style Groups :-
Progressive Post-30 – Technical Sophistication, maximum performance and sober like a BMW.
Like this Porsche Design Golf Cleat, bringing exclusive style and performance.
Progressive Pre-30 – Technical expression, performance and aggressive like a KTM.
Like the Adidas Powerband 3.0, the model that brought bold visible technology to golf uppers.
Classic Post-30 – Traditional Retro, maximum elegance and smooth like a Bentley.
Like the FootJoy Classic Dry Premiere, the classic choice in golf footwear.
Classic Pre-30 – New Retro, youthful fashion style and hip like a Vespa.
Like the Ecco Street Premiere, the model that drove the recent retro trend in golf footwear.
The 4 groups come together to create a Golf Footwear – Cultural Style Groups Chart, defined by consumer age and style.
Of course there will always be consumers that make unpredictable lifestyle, fashion and sport choices. There are consumers over 40 that wear sneakers to play golf, as there are consumers under 20 who wear wing tips to play.
But by enlarge given also the differences in disposable income, I imagine most consumers under 20 years old would prefer a sneaker styled golf shoe as opposed to a wing-tip. But that’s not to say that a new design style cannot be made to cater to both consumers.
The Golf Footwear – Cultural Style Groups chart above shows how there is ample room to design in between men’s golf footwear styles; creating a design that fits between a Classic Retro and a New Retro for example.
But the Golf Footwear – Cultural Style Groups chart can also be applied to all product markets to effectively target male consumers both over and under 30 years old.
A very good high resolution photo of the Nike Lunar Control on http://www.golfblogger.com. For information regarding the design of this shoe, visit my NIKE DESIGNS portfolio page at the top of the page.