By Jason Veitch
(June/July 2006) Glamour is big business, and wearable movie icons like Levi's, Ray-Ban and Harley-Davidson, set the tone of cinematic supply and demand long ago. In the original product placement experiment, Hollywood prop people and costume designers cast 501s, Aviators and Fatboys in numerous supporting roles that ultimately ensured their iconic status. Levi's Long forgotten is the fact that the Californian Gold Rush created a need for durable work ware. Leob Strauss filled that need, supplying clothes to workers seeking their fortune in the California hills (later changing his name from Leob to Levi). Hollywood also needed a good fit, and Levi's were there as a bespoke tailor of sorts for cowboys from Gene Autry to Tex Ritter to Roy Rogers. The Duke, himself, saddled up in the working man's denim. Rebel Without a Cause (1955), staring James Dean, spearheaded a movement that resulted in some schools banning students from wearing the cloth altogether! Thelma and Louise (1991) gave us Brad Pitt in a snug-fitting pair of Levi's, and the two boys who wished they knew how to quit each other in Brokeback Mountain laughed and cried in them. In stark contrast, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) followed a well-worn pair of Levi's as it traveled the world, fleetingly fitted to each member of a close-knit group of girls as each developed her own identity and destiny. Ray-Ban Ray-Ban sunglasses were born in 1937 with the launch of the anti-glare Aviator style, crafted to protect our high-flying heroes. Maverick and The Iceman cut cool figures through Top Gun (1987), as did the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, in Terminator while traversing an L.A. motorway. While Cruise also flourished a pair of Wayfarers in Risky Business (1983), their moment was defined when two men named Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, posing as brothers, walked into a church and delivered the phrase, "We're on a mission from God." Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones similarly slide on a sleek pair of Ray-Bans just prior to wiping our minds of Alien occupation in the 1997 hit, Men in Black. Or maybe Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) or Peter Fonda in Easy Rider (1969) should be held accountable for this eyewear excess Harley-Davidson Someone bought it!! That's how Bill Harley and Walter Davidson launched the iconic Harley-Davidson Motor Bikes empire. Scene: Milwaukee, 1903, a small wooded barn built by Davidson's father. Action: A bike was built and sold. Production Schedule: For the next five years, the Davidsons built 154 bikes. Spurred on by television programs and Marlon Brando and James Dean, Harley-Davidson was at the center of a rebellious revolution. The Wild One, Rebel and reality in acting saw a surge in Harley-Davidson's exposure on film that went well into the '60s: Steve McQueen made his leap toward freedom on a Harley-Davidson in The Great Escape in '63, and Peter Fonda famously rode four Harley-Davidson Panhead motorcycles emblazoned with the Stars and Stripes in 1969's Easy Rider. In 1991, Mickey Rourke straddled an FXR in Harley-Davidson and the Marlboro Man and, that same year, Arnold Schwarzenegger rode an H-D Fatboy down the inside of a Prime Mover to whisk a young Edward Furlong (John Connor) to safety. The medium of film has helped to launch and hype trends, laud lifestyles and deliver inspiration to thousands of viewers spanning multiple generations. With the future of product placement permanently on show, the vision of a Ray-Bans-wearing, motorbike-toting, 501s-flaunting hero or villain will undoubtedly continue to grace the big screen. With no substitute for the original iconic influences, these big boys of branding will always garner their fair share of press pages... Well, anytime someone offers up an icons issue, anyway! |
