/swf/video/player.swf

/swf/video/vimeo.swf

/img/shared/filetto.gif

Vogue Italia and mail-orders

Posted Jul 20, 2010

Long before Yoox.com and Net-a-porter.com: mail-catalogues. Claudia Schiffer, Carla Bruni, Helena Christensen, Cindy Crawford and Linda Evangelista on the cover of an Italian magazine catalogue, at the beginning of the 90s. An old clip from Vogue Italia reminds us of vintage mail-orders.

 

Before Yoox.com and Net-a-porter.com, the western world used mail-orders from catalogues to buy clothes. The magazine catalogue came with a form you could fill in the products you wanted to purchase in, or you could proceed with a phone call. The clothes were not from well-known brands, at times they were created only to serve this commercial purpose.
In the States, mail-orders started at the beginning of the 60s and soon became very popular. In Italy, from the sixties as well, there was “Postalmarket”, the magazine catalogue. Italians were not eager to buy cheap and out of fashion clothes, especially since they couldn’t even see or try the products, but at some point in the 90s, even great names in fashion ended up on Postalmarket. It’s true that most of these brands were already in decline after a slight moment of glory in the 80s: Laura Biagiotti, Enrico Coveri, Krizia.
Back in 1993, even Vogue Italia found mail-orders to be something legitimate and declared so through an article claiming the comfort of a home purchase. To help legitimate the story, a bit ridiculous for the times, the super models came into play: Claudia Schiffer, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Helena Christensen and Carla Bruni.
In catalogues such as Postalmarket you found suits and onion peelers, bicycles and undergarments for the elderly, lawn mowers and toys. A virtual bazaar on print that anticipated online sales and its modalities.  

Text by Giuliano Federico

Source: Spot80

 

TAGS: catalogues shopping e-commerce dolce&gabbana dolce & gabbana enrico coveri krizia laura biagiotti mail orders mail orders home shopping super models supermodel supermodels celebrities luxury online magazine d&g d &g Claudia Schiffer Linda Evangelista Ciny Crawford Helena Christensen Carla Bruni Postalmarket 60s 90s 80s sixties nineties eighties bazzar print online sales