In Entertainment today, we find out why pop stars are the new fashion

designers – in other words, why there’s a trend for pop stars to start their own

clothing labels or brands. For example, the drummer with the chart-topping

band The Arctic Monkeys has just launched a line of leisure wear, and this

follows designs launched by Madonna a short while ago.

Here’s the first part of an interview with Lisa Armstrong, the fashion editor of

the Times newspaper. She says this trend is an obvious, ‘a blatant’, move by

pop stars to make money! But it’s also an attempt, ‘a stab’, at staying famous

for longer! ‘To get a bit of longevity’ – ‘longevity’ here means the length of

someone’s career. And for the model Kate Moss, launching her own clothing

label is a sensible next move, it’s ‘a logical step’.

As you listen, try to catch the expression Lisa uses to describe how the stars of

today are smarter than pop musicians in the 90s - when it comes to making

money from fashion - because they are marketing their own designs, not those

of big, established designers.

Lisa Armstrong

‘Yeah, I mean, it’s clearly a blatant attempt to make money – why not?! But I think also, for

some of them, it’s a stab to get a bit of longevity, you know, careers are very short, and for

someone like Kate Moss, in particular, it’s a logical step. I think also in the ‘90s, musicians

traditionally got friendly with Versace or Armani – got free clothes, sat in the front row – now

they’re just cutting out the middle-man!’

Amber: Did you catch it? Lisa says that pop stars today are ‘cutting out the middleman’

– they are marketing their clothes directly to their audiences. To cut out

the middle-man. Listen again. 

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Lisa Armstrong

‘Yeah, I mean, it’s clearly a blatant attempt to make money – why not?! But I think also, for

some of them, it’s a stab to get a bit of longevity, you know, careers are very short, and for

someone like Kate Moss, in particular, it’s a logical step. I think also in the ‘90s, musicians

traditionally got friendly with Versace or Armani – got free clothes, sat in the front row – now

they’re just cutting out the middle-man!’

Amber: Next, Lisa talks about Madonna’s range of clothes for the high-street store H &

M. She isn’t impressed – she says the range was ‘a bit of a flop’, a bit of a

failure. She says what fans wanted was the outrageous, the ‘camp’, kind of

clothes that Madonna wore on stage – ‘conical bras’, for example, bras shaped

like ice-cream cones! But according to Lisa, the clothes were ‘period’, a polite

way of saying old-fashioned! They were ‘mum-sy’, they were like the kind of

safe, frumpy clothes a mother, who was not fashion-conscious, would wear.

Listen.

Lisa Armstrong

‘I think when it doesn’t work … I mean, Madonna’s line for H & M was a bit of a flop

because we wanted conical bras, we wanted all that camp, fabulous Madonna, and what we

actually got was late, period, mum-sy Madonna, and that doesn’t tie in with the H & M

customer.’

Amber: Did you catch the expression ‘to tie in with’ – meaning to match? According to

Lisa, Madonna’s ‘line’ of clothes was not the kind of clothes the young women

who shop at H & M wanted to buy.

Lisa Armstrong

‘I think when it doesn’t work … I mean, Madonna’s line for H & M was a bit of a flop

because we wanted conical bras, we wanted all that camp, fabulous Madonna, and what we

actually got was late, period, mum-sy Madonna, and that doesn’t tie in with the H & M

customer.’

Amber: Now here’s a list of the language we focussed on in the programme today.

 

Entertainment © BBC Learning English 2007

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bbclearningenglish.com

a blatant attempt to make money – an obvious attempt to make money

a stab to get a bit of longevity – an attempt to make your career last longer

to cut out the middle-man – to sell directly to your customers

a bit of a flop – a bit of a failure

camp – outrageous

mum-sy – old-fashioned, safe, frumpy

to tie in with – to match