We have been quite moved by the headline from the BBC here in London that "Two women have admitted leaving the corpse of a dead grandmother unburied at their home for up to six months while one of them kept her benefits". "The body of Olive Maddock, 95, was left in a bedroom at the house in Wirral by daughter Olive Hazel Maddock, known as Hazel, and granddaughter Jasmine, 35...... Mrs Maddock's remains were found at the home she then shared with her daughter and granddaughter on Saltburn Road in Wallasey, Wirral". To us, and we are sure the majority of you reading this, to ever even momentarily consider doing something like this is beyond being despicable and certainly just incomprehensible? How desperate could these women have been to do this to a 95 year old woman and what kind of monstrous people could they possibly be? Certainly detached, definitely uncaring and as reported in the UK 'popular' press..."scroungers". If you are translating this, as we know a lot of you do, the dictionary definition of scrounger is "To seek to obtain something by begging or borrowing with no intention of reparation".
These seriously documented situations keep us awake at night time.
Can you ever imagine being faced with this kind of situation other than in a press report? We do often try to make links between the everyday/zeitgeist and what is happening in presentation on the high street as this kind of information is so difficult to find, as are the connections, therefore we do feel that if we don't write it, who will? That said in a strange twisted course of fate we are also haunted by, without intent to lighten the situation, the scheme here at 'Guess' along Regent St. We did mention the use of these large crates a while ago when they were used at French Connection (and various other retailers) and how coffin-like they are. Death is a taboo subject in window display, as are religious and political connotations and links. If you are going to do it, then be prepared to stand up and defend it. We mentioned a similar-type scheme at G-Star Raw last week and their hanging corpse-like bust forms. Just don't do it. Or, at least do it and have a bloody good reason for it because everyone will jump on it and want to know why? And it will, no doubt backfire on you. 'Guess' can attempt to be subtle, but this scheme screams Boxing Helena (1993) to us and therefore just down right creepy. Think these things through guys. We know you read this site so just check back and see the French Connection article we wrote months ago. This scheme may be right from your office thousands of miles away from London but its just not right for London. Either get it right from your offices far away or localise your creativity that can react to whats happening in each city or at least country. We just cant understand why you always get it so wrong? (actually we do)
