The Lidl phenomenon: sneakers between fashion, marketing and art
Art. Fashion. Marketing. Can a pair of sneakers (of questionable taste) hold all of this? Well, yes!
I waited a while before giving my opinion on the Lidl Phenomenon, a strange habit for a daughter of a world in which digital gave everyone a public voice straight away. In fact, the superficial verdict of they’re hideous or people have gone mad felt decidedly too tight on me, because it is rather limiting.
It’s all a matter of marketing strategy
“Good or bad, as long as people talk about it”, to quote the thought of a young Oscar Wilde grappling with a society far too bigoted for his intellectual genius.
A modus operandi that has long been, quite often, among the best marketing strategies. Just think of many of the advertising campaigns by the photographer Oliviero Toscani for Benetton. Another example, recent and glaring, is Gucci’s choice of the Armenian model, which sparked debate even among people who couldn’t tell a Gucci piece from a Versace one. And yet that choice, questionable for many, simply fuelled the brand’s popularity (as if it needed it, some will think).
Continuing in marketing terms, the genius lies in having made and treated a discount-store product as if it were luxury. A decidedly brilliant intellectual provocation and, in some respects, not even entirely new. A little research is enough to realise this is pushing on an open door that fashion itself opened: at the men’s spring-summer 2017 show, Balenciaga presented a bag identical in capacity, size, handles and colour to the Ikea shopper. The difference? Price and materials: 99 cents for the low-cost plastic model against 1,700 euros for the Spanish brand’s hand-crafted lambskin creation. Not a banal coincidence, but a true tribute by the designer Demna Gvasalia, aimed at elevating the most common Pop icons to luxury.
From mass product to collector’s item: a rewind to Pop Art!
But back to us. The Lidl Fan Collection, made up not only of sneakers but also T-shirts, slides and socks featuring the discount store’s logo, came out in a limited run. Another winning marketing strategy, because it amplified the rush for the product and, once it was snapped up, even more so the chance of “online reselling”, with resale prices matching those of any other collector’s item. Proof of how a mass product can turn into an object of value. A fairly familiar concept that marks a hugely successful artistic period: Pop Art and the brilliant idea of a young Andy Warhol, who with his art portrayed the consumer society of his time, bringing supermarket shelves into art museums.
Or, likewise, Marcel Duchamp, who with his ready-mades shook up traditional art, opening the door to the world of conceptual art, in which taking common objects out of context allows them to shed their practical use, take on new meanings and become works of art.
Low-cost trends: being fashionable with a 12.99 euro must-have
A fashion line signed by a supermarket giant, which managed to turn a low-cost product within everyone’s reach into a real cult item! Helped along by the support of the often criticised Influencers (Fedez is one example) and TikTokers, who in previous months had already worn and shown Lidl-branded products on social media, making them a much desired and coveted must-have of the season.
An effective strategic move? Considering that for days Italy has talked of nothing else, I’d say definitely yes. But I wouldn’t stop there. The message that also hits the fashion world is clear and (in my opinion) positive and winning: even a garment at everyone’s mercy can be an object of style. In short, you can be fashionable and set trends even with a spend of 12.99 euros!
De gustibus non disputandum est
There will be no shortage of people for whom these products (despite the excursus above) will remain hideous, but in that case it is simply a matter of personal taste. And anyway, if nobody likes these sneakers, how did the discount stores empty out? “Some people like them and some people lie” is what I’d ironically be tempted to say. The truth is that fashion itself, that of the big brands, prestigious labels and established designers, has also periodically churned out items and garments of questionable taste. So why be so scandalised by such an extraordinary idea?
Photo Cover: Instagram Martina Pulvirenti. Thanks!