"What's Wrong With This Picture?" Lissanne Oliver, Summer Guest Series

Lissanne Oliver is my fav Aussie organizer... she's quite the hipster down under and of course the second I met her I was smitten with her hipness + her accent...  apparently most of Australia agrees because she's BIG in Australia.... move over Nicole Kidman there's a chic little thing organizing your rather large island.  

Her book, SORTED! is quite fab... I even scored a signed copy that I had planned on using as a prize giveaway but I can't seem to part with it!  Get your own copy here... because it may be a while before I fold.

Lissanne did this great post on her site... It's one I've been thinking about doing and yet haven't quite gotten to.  So when I read this on Lissanne's Blog  I smiled and smirked at how closet ads are completely unrealistic and hoped she'd share it as a post in my Organize in StyleSummer Guest Series!  Read on to see Lissanne's take on the whole shebang.  OH...fyi Aussies spell organizing with an s... organising. 

THANK YOU Lissanne for sharing~  cheers!

Does your average person own just three frocks? Two bags? Three pairs of trousers, three shirts and ten pairs of shoes? This storage appears to be for a hotel, not a home.

I worked as a photographic stylist for some years styling homewares for a major department store. A stylist is the person who makes the product look pretty with props using their artistic flair. It’s the stylist’s (and the photographers) job to make the product look good. Despite my background, I really hate unrealistic styling and propping … in particular, the lack of balance between the pretty and the practical. It’s all friggin’ pretty! I like to see some signs of life; newspapers, odd socks and unmade beds. Ok, I’m kidding.. I don’t want to see a shambles, but how would that wardrobe look if there was some more realistic content?

I would actually find the product more accessible - and I would certainly know how to use it better (do you think those cushions down the bottom of the wardrobe in those big deep baskets are the best of space?) I think it would also help those who are less visual and perhaps less able to imagine their stuff in situ.

There are many, many photos of products that are styled like the one above. Magazines are full of pretty, pretty pics that are very enticing and pleasurable, but how does one work at a desk with only a pencil cup and laptop? Where’s the actual paper and work? Do publishers really think we buy the promise of ‘unreal’?

What do you think? Should stylists get a grip and make things a bit more real? love to hear your thoughts.

~Lissanne Oliver, SORTED!

Comments

[Jill]

Oh, how I agree! I have 6 kids and find myself constantly falling into the trap of trying to "live in a magazine" with everything perfectly decorated and clean and organized. Nice thought...but it doesn't always work that way! The magazines either don't show toys and bits of childhood scattered around, or they show it so sparingly that it's more like a kid could visit there than live there. We stay pretty organized and decorated and cleaned up, but we never manage to stay "in the magazine" 24/7. If magazines would be more realistic, I think we'd all appreciate it!

Great post!

Thanks!
Jill

[erin r]

I'm way behind on my Krista & Friends Fix, but I wanted to post anyway. YES! Please show me the real stuff. I find it so much more inviting & warm. One example. Every year I go to the Oregon State Fair and look at the table setting contest. I don't know why I love it so, but I do. There's a theme and a menu and the centerpiece and tablecloth and dishes.

A few years ago the theme was "celebrations". There was the predictable gold-rimmed plates and star-spangled centerpieces. One table was "after the celebration". There was a smear of chocolate on the plate, lipstick on one of the glasses, which were partially full, and a pair of fabulous high heels under the table. It was FABULOUS, and it's years later and I still remember it. If it had been in a magazine, I think it would have caught my attention.

Oh, and Wondertime magazine... I love the realism in the photos.