Could Somebody Please Explain Moire Patterns to the J. Crew Art Directors

Back in the day, anyone working in video knew not to dress on-camera performers in striped shirts: when the talent moved, the resolution of the camera combined with narrow shirt stripes often created a distracting moire pattern.

But times change, technology advances and with the dawn of HD, such primitive concerns fade away…  Except a lot of internet graphics still operate at a pretty low dots-per-inch ratio.  Which may explain this little bit of FAIL on the J. Crew website.  Surf here and type “Lace Tights” into the search field.  You will find one of two images.  One of them is very innocuous: ‘hey, whaddya know, lace tights…

Dennis Ryan, Chicago Advertising, Element 79

The other image however, is a bit more problematic.  Because the lacy pattern on the tights creates a moire, and the end result is, well, kind of hairy.

Dennis Ryan, Chicago Advertising, Element 79Like, really hairy…

Dennis Ryan, Chicago Advertising, Element 79I don’t pretend to know fashion, but I’m pretty sure, no one at J. Crew actually believes offering women legs that look like mine will ring the register.  At least, God I hope not…

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By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

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