I have not been able to do much celebrating this Duran Duran Appreciation Day. My sister and niece have been visiting. They were due to fly out yesterday but severe weather caused a lot of flights to be cancelled, causing their visit to be extended. As I type this, they are in the air on their way back to North Carolina and more severe weather is heading my way. Since getting them to the airport, I have been working to get caught up as I did not do much in terms of my regular and not-so-regular “to do” list. So, in thinking about what to write for today’s memorabilia medley, I wanted to pick something that captures a little bit of the phenomenal career. Obviously, ideally, I would love to pick something that also captures the fandom that this little band of ours inspired but that is hard to find. (Anyone have any idea there?)
As I thought about what to write, I thought about all of the amazing pieces of merchandise that I have around my office/fandom room. I have vinyl hanging on the walls along with some posters from various eras like Astronaut, Red Carpet Massacre, and All You Need Is Now. While I love all of them, I wanted something more general, more all-encompassing. Then, it hit me! What about the timeline poster?
I am not going to lie. I simply adore it. Obviously, the poster captures the various time periods within Duran’s history. It has cartoon figures to represent the band members and the fashions they wore. It also has the general color scheme of the time as well as the font used. It doesn’t capture everything about an era but it does show a lot. Some may argue that there should be real pictures of the band but I enjoy the cartoon element as that creates a super fun vibe. I’m not sure who created the cartoon images or how they decided which outfits to put the band members in but I could imagine that there would be quite a debate if real images were used instead. Plus, I wonder if they would have to make sure to have rights to actual photographs, which might prove to be difficult.
On top of the cute vibe from the cartoon band shots, I like that it shows their entire career. You cannot miss the longevity of their career when you look at this poster. They have been around for a long time, which is something that they should be proud of. I know that I am proud of them as that is not as easy feat. It also reminds me of how they were never afraid of changing. They welcomed new looks, new colors, new fonts embracing each and every detail of each era. They never shied away from all of the tiny aspects that make up an image, a look, a vibe. No, instead, they looked forward to worrying about each and every element, showing everyone how much they cared. They didn’t just do things half way, but committed to it all.
As a fan who loves Duran history, I love looking and trying to figure out exactly what eras are being shown. I think I have most of them figured out but I even like just checking myself periodically. Yes, I know that I’m weird but I get some joy out of it so I will embrace the weirdness. All that seriousness aside, I cannot help but to chuckle every time I look at Simon’s shoes in the very last era, representing the Paper Gods album cycle. Cartoon Simon is, indeed, wearing those lime green shoes that made Rhonda and I laugh on more than one occasion. In fact, we desperately wanted to troll our favorite lead singer some with the color choice so we bought plain white shoes and painted them lime green so we could match. Good times!
So on this 2021 Duran Duran Appreciation Day, I’m appreciating their entire career and all of the fashions, fonts and colors that they have included. I am hoping that they are as proud of their career as I am!
-A
