The technology may be getting simpler but fashion shoots seem to become steadily more complicated. Last month, the Spanish fashion label Mango sent a crew to Dublin to take pictures for the company's winter collection.
These shots will appear in some three million catalogues as well as across billboards, both with worldwide distribution. This is just one of the myriad fashion shoots now organised in this country which help to disseminate images of Ireland around the globe. For the six-day Mango trip to Ireland, there was a team of eight from Spain, including stylists, company representatives and US-born photographer Jonathan Miller with his assistants.
Co-ordinating their visit was Nicholas O'Neill of Liquid Films, who brought the number up to a baker's dozen with his own presence and that of drivers and caterers. Based in the Herbert Park Hotel, the Mangoistas travelled to a variety of sites in and around the capital: Carton House, Co Kildare; Lake Park in Co Wicklow; the Phoenix Park; the East Wall; Ringsend; Ballsbridge and Portobello. The pictures shown here were shot in Slattery's pub in Beggar's Bush, effectively taken over by Mango for a couple of hours one afternoon even though a handful of regulars chose to ignore the interlopers and settled into their usual spots. While The Irish Times's Bryan O'Brien cheerily moved between tables, the Mangoistas pondered over a Polaroid before making final adjustments to the models' clothing, the chairs and tables and the additional lighting.
The final shot, shown here with some of Bryan's pictures, is due to turn up in Mango's winter catalogue. In the meantime, the company's clothes will start to become known to Irish consumers, as Mango is now opening its first outlets in this country. Late last week, the company made its debut in Arnotts of Dublin with a space of almost 4,000 square feet. An even larger shop is due to open in the new Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in late October and Mango plans to open another 10-15 stores North and South over the next two years. Based in Barcelona, Mango is only 14 years old but has exhibited astonishing growth based on clear knowledge of its target market. Run by brothers Nahman and Isak Andic, the company's first premises were located on Barcelona's Paseo de Gracia; by 1992, when Mango's international expansion started with the arrival of two shops in Portugal, there were 99 outlets in Spain.
Since then, growth has continued both at home - 170 Spanish locations at last count - and overseas, with Mango now found in 32 countries across Europe, Asia and Latin America. A keen and constant awareness of customer needs is the basis of Mango's rapid development since starting in 1984. The company produces four collections annually, all of them demonstrating knowledge of current fashion. The range is generously wide, running from clean-cut suiting to casual denim, with an attractive and competitively priced line of accessories always available.
Mango's particular strengths are in tailoring and evening pieces; sportswear - in which no one can beat the Americans - and knits are areas where the competition is more intense. The typical Mango customer will be in the 18-35 age group, conscious of trends as well as quality and cost. According to Mango's own company document, it intends to dress "the young, modern and urban woman in all her daily needs - in her professional activities, in her free time and for special occasions".
Among the means used to sell its clothing to that intended group is through regular advertising and catalogue campaigns, using some of the world's best-known models. Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Eva Herzigova and Emma Balfour are among the names who have been shot for Mango in a wide variety of locations. Venue and models vary from season to season, with Dublin following Istanbul, which was used for the autumn 1998 campaign. The Mangoistas have now packed their bags and moved on to another shoot in another location.
