Aretha Franklin’s hat has become a bestseller. Perhaps big, bold and shiny is chic again
Bild Zeitung, of Germany, wears a sort of Aretha Hat everyday. One thing is for sure: like the Aretha Hat, you can’t ignore its front page
Make no bones about it, the Obama Inauguration was a historical moment that we will always remember. However, a visual highlight of that unforgettable day was the grand entrance of Aretha Franklin, decked with a hat that soared above the monuments and even the moment. She stopped the show. Forget the fact that Cheney appeared on a wheelchair or that Chief Justice Roberts flubbed his lines at the most solemn moment of the day. It was Aretha, the queen of soul, who stole the show with her “look at me, please” hat.
Now, the Aretha Hat is the ultimate best selling item for its creator, Detroit-based, Luke Song, the busy and happy owner of Mr. Song Millinery. At $179, the Aretha Hats sell like ice cubes in the middle of an August afternoon at Jumeirah Beach in Dubai. The hat is big—-no,make that, huge——and the rhinestones all over it give it a sort of bling, bling quality.
Huge, bold, shiny and full of bling bling.
I have an idea that this is what newspapers need these days, including that Gray Lady in Manhattan, The New York Times; bigger headlines, bigger photos, bolder graphics, and, why not, some bling bling. Tons of bling bling.
And, although design alone has never saved a newspaper that was boring, and it is not about to do it especially now, I do think that it is time we turn our attention to the conversation of what constitutes bold, and a reexamination of the term “gravitas”—-so loosely used by editors who remain closeted in their worlds of two eras ago, and who link lack of boldness or excitement with seriousness and credibility (that is another story!).
Of course, I am having fun with the Aretha Hat. I don’t imply that newspapers will come back from where they are simply by putting on some rhinestones on their page one flags. But I am serious when I say that the design of American newspapers, especially, tends to be overall rather quiet (3 or 4 on the excitement thermometer that runs to 10), and seldom say “look at me, grab me”.
Bild Zeitung does it in Germany, and in a broadsheet format. Its editors are proud of their daily Aretha Hats on page one and beyond.
The Queen of Soul can show us the way.
Now that we know that President Obama likes the “feel of a newspaper”, all we need is for First Lady Michelle Obama to visit Mr. Song’s hat shop and get her own Aretha Hat.
No better marketing needed for us.
TheMarioBlog posting #214