What sort of business issue is it when a company has lost its `cool’? A recent WSJ article gives us a tantalizing scenario of executives meeting to discuss how their firm can regain its `cool.’ The article chronicles the troubled leadership of Frederic Cumenal, recently fired as CEO of Tiffany & Co. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/tiffany-hunts-for-path-to-regain-cool-1499621248). Attention…
One year ago today V&R went active as a website with the monograph posted! Pictures in the text and blog followed just a few days later and since then V&R has been getting about 300 visitors a month. I know that is not a huge number remotely by internet standards but for a website about…
This weekend I was in Philadelphia and visited an excellent British gastropub in the city. The graphic above is the cover of the pub’s menu. As per my previous post, such a visual and play on words is possible because of the long standing ideal of the English gentleman. A similar play on the Dutch…
Ever since Brexit there has been a constant drumbeat in fashion commentary about the pernicious character of national consciousness. I have delayed writing about the topic, yet in over a year I have not come across a thoughtful reflection on fashion and nation. Though undeveloped, a recent Chinese graduate of Central Saint Martin’s makes a…
In a very charming article on the role flowers play in fashion, someone observes, “flowers and fashion seem effortlessly entwined; the perfect fit; an obvious match” (https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/how-floristry-became-a-fashion-business?utm_source=Subscribers&utm_campaign=861a23aef9-sat-nl-draft&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d2191372b3-861a23aef9-417297929). There is no industry where more flowers are exchanged amongst parties than fashion. The claim above says more, though: fashion and flowers are “the perfect fit.” The article…
*I am finishing up a new book on play and ethical theory. I’ll say more about it once I have a publisher and a date of publication is set. For now, here is a chapter from the book on one of philosophy’s most genial characters, Maurice Merleau-Ponty. It is “heavy” as it’s part of the…
A tradition of moral reflection from Shaftesbury in the eighteenth century to Meinong, Scheler, and Scotsman W. D. Ross in the twentieth, defends a realist theory of values claiming that humans have ready access to discrete, extra-mental value-tones: e.g. if I say `peach’ you now have the taste and smell of a peach clear to…
Ford will never be a model of Scheler’s estate but it is nice to learn that the car company has a bespoke arm. In this video, Jay Leno gives a great sense of the bespoke service: you just need to watch from the start and his discussion goes till about 8 minutes (one could watch…
Target does $70 billion US in sales annually. It is a massive company and though sales are down it isn’t going anywhere. Target is the inverse of Scheler’s estate and we must assume that much of its clothing is made in less than ideal conditions. However, the company is being forced to respond to other…
I have not read much analysis of this company but its website shows a company thoughtful about ethics (https://www.thereformation.com/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwnPLKBRC-j7nt1b7OlZwBEiQAv8lMLLFe0bTEN9ZIBlgW7DZ1DBJ_-owPnEyLAuYBpy9EnCgaAmgM8P8HAQ). As with Burke and Scheler, archives, localism, and craft sensibility with an eye to bringing on the young in the art of clothing are crucial elements to topping the Best Dressed Company Award. Obviously, new companies…