Apple and Hermès collaboration is on sale now!

I love my Apple watch and, as the editor of my own high-end fashion website, Compellier, I also love luxury products. That’s why I’m very excited by Apple’s partnership with French lifestyle brand Hermès.

For those who don’t know, Hermès specialise in leather accessories and they must be doing something right as they’ve been trading for close to 200 years.

Now though, they’ve partnered with Apple to bring a bit of extra style to the Apple Watch, with a range of straps and new watch faces available for the discerning buyer.

There’s a price to pay for combining Apple’s cutting edge tech with the quality of a venerable Parisian accessory house of course, with the double tour strap edition of the Apple Watch costing a cool £808 ($1,250 USD).

It’s a bold move but a totally understandable one on the tech giant’s part, as the new collaboration sees Hermès steering the Apple’s wearable tech away from being a gadget and closer to being a luxury watch and style item.

I certainly can’t say I wouldn’t have been tempted if I didn’t already own an Apple watch!

Youth call for more realistic women and less sex in advertising

Remember when I posted last week about CEO Barbie? Well it seems that the movement to redefine what women mean to consumers advertisers and their consumers is continuing apace this week, as a study by State of the Youth Nation has shown that young people feel that women are ‘too sexualised’ in advertising.

Over all, 1,000 16-24 year olds were surveyed, with 65% agreeing that brands and advertisers use women as sexual objects entirely too often. Interestingly 64% also agreed that advertising could be better used to empower women if it chose to show them in an inspiring and respectful light more often.

The study asked its group several questions about the use of women in advertising, and the responsibilities of advertisers to foster body positivity, with a consistent majority calling out for a change in the way we see women portrayed to sell products.

Hopefully the current and next generation of creatives can start to change how the industry views and uses women for the better!

Read more from Danielle and the DDCA team on the DDCA website.

Doritos get behind the LGBT cause

We love a bit of clever marketing at DDCA, and it’s always great to see an established brand get behind a cause to raise awareness.

The latest fantastic idea has come from Doritos, with the tortilla chip and popular party snack maker doing its bit for LGBT rights and equality. It sounds like an unusual pairing at first, but the end result is pretty ingenious, with Doritos releasing a special bag of rainbow coloured chips to anyone who pledges $10 or more to the It Gets Better Project.

100% of the profits generated by the cool-ranch flavoured Doritos goes to the charity, with supporters urged to use the hashtag #BoldandBetter to spread messages of hope.

Whilst the It Gets Better Project supports LGBT youngsters across the world, I’m sad to say the special bags of snacks are only currently available in the US. Hopefully we’ll get the chance to buy them soon!

Lyle & Scott unveil contactless payment jacket

In news I’m going to call ‘dangerous’, Lyle & Scott have unveiled a smart jacket with contactless payment technology built in to the sleeve, effectively letting you pay for anything with the wave of an arm!

Gone will be the days of juggling shopping bags whilst struggling to unearth a purse and the cards within. Pretty exciting, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Unfortunately it’s only available for men at the moment, and for £150 at that, but once somebody else gets round to making something similar for busy, tech-savvy women then I’ll probably be near the front of the queue.

The only problem I can see is that you might make yourself look a bit silly should you go out in a different coat and forget that you can’t pay with your cuff…