Mail-order catalogs have become one of the most convenient ways of shopping since the 1980s. Numerous stores publish catalogs in order to increase their sales and it seems to be working to their advantage thus far. Each catalog company has a certain audience they want to attract as well as their own distinct way of marketing their products. J. Crew, for example has its own ideology in marketing its clothes to the public. When J. Crew first started, the pages resembled a country painting. Brubach commented, They packed their picnics in antique wicker hampers... Shucking corn, eating watermelon, drinking iced tea and homemade lemonade Over the last five to seven years, J. Crew has started to gear their catalog towards a more urban feel, the corrugated fences, cracked windows held together by duct tape and graffiti. The catalog creates an imaginary place where readers can go to escape, to a place unlike what they are used to, and one in which they would like to be a part of.The catalog is full of smiling people. Each person relays a certain persona about his or herself. In the beginning, the male models gave the impression that they are well educated in addition to being clean shaven with short hair and high cheekbones. The women looked very natural, wearing little or no makeup, and an inordinate number of them were pale and blue-eyed and blond; one a regular, bore a remarkable resemblance to Glenn Close. When the catalog started to show a more urban look, the appearances of the models changed too. On the pages of that catalog you would find men and women of numerous nationalities, such as Hispanic, African and Mediterranean. Towards the end of the decade, blondes were rare. In addition to the attractive and diverse group of models exhibited in each catalog, the consumer is also swept away by the terminology the writers use to describe each piece of clothing. You feel as if they are making that jacket or blouse especially wi...
