As a capitalist country, the American marketplace revolves heavily on money and influence. Both Glenn O’Brien, in “Like Art,” and Virgil Abloh, in his interview, speak upon the intersection between art, commerce, fashion, and advertising. This interplay is quite obvious to me as advertisements use art for fashion to make commerce. However, what was interesting was the idea that this network of success is most greatly achieved by members of influence and power. More so than authentic designers or artists, the American royalty that has become our celebrities have taken over this industry.  Rather than a professional or educated designer, consumers today would rather purchase overpriced products made by their favorite celebrities. Rihanna just recently launched her own makeup brand called, “Fenty Beauty by Rihanna.” What makes these products powerful is not the special qualities of the makeup itself, but the name attached to them. Rihanna purposefully puts her name in the brand title because that is what is really appealing to consumers. A small travel sized tube of foundation with Rihanna’s name on it costs $40 and already has 1400 reviews on her website.

This idea of celebrity brand name culture is not new. In the past, the interplay existed for certain designer brands. Today, this interplay has evolved to American celebrities, making them royalty for America like the nation has never seen before. This all stems of consumer’s yearning and aspirations to these celebrities. The biggest example of this is the Kardashian-Jenner family who have created a dynasty on that very belief. Each of the girls have their toes dipped into some sort of fashion business, from clothing to makeup, which they market entirely through their own selves. Here is a promo video of an upcoming collaboration between Kim Kardashian’s makeup brand and Kylies. In the video, they don’t even show any makeup at all, rather they show themselves, which is enough advertisement for the product.