Mimco invites fans to create personalised digital kaleidoscopes

Australian accessories brand, Mimco, has launched a digital initiative called The Social Kaleidscope, which invites fans to create a personalised piece of artwork merging images from its new collection with their own photographs.

Selecting from three different shapes to fill, they can import pictures from their Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram accounts, and can combine them with Mimco product shots and its Season 2 campaign images starring model Jessica Gomes. They can then share their creations with friends back through social media.

The brand has also enlisted a number of tastemakers to the initiative, such as actress and presenter April-Rose Pengilly, blogger and stylist Micah Gianneli and illustrator Sarah Hankinson.

Below is one we made using a Mimco ring, vintage car from the brand’s campaign images, yellow fixture from one of its bags, a rainbow photographed on a grey day in our own back garden, and an Instagram shot of a turquoise painted wall with international clocks on it! Check it out:

Swarovski turns to Pinterest for jewellery inspiration contest

Swarovski Elements has launched a contest on Pinterest to help celebrate the launch of its new Made With magazine.

Called “Jewels for Every Occasion“, it invites fans to populate their own boards with images of jewellery and style inspiration appropriate for different events, and then submit their entry via Twitter to @Swarovksi using the #jewels4evryoccasion hashtag.

Each board has to include examples of the five following occasions: #everydaychic, #workitgirl, #streetdesire, #nightfever and #celebration.

The five best will be selected to win jewellery from Swarovski Crystallized as well as other goodies. They will also get a copy of the Made With mag, which features more than 300 creations made with Swarosvki Elements by 85 top designers worldwide.

Digital snippets: Louis Vuitton, Neiman Marcus, Burberry, Carine Roitfeld, Nicole Miller, Benetton

Some more great stories from around the web surrounding all things fashion and digital over the past week:

 

• Louis Vuitton pays tribute to Muhammad Ali in branded entertainment foray (as above) [BrandChannel]

• Neiman Marcus spotlights jewellery with shoppable music video [Mashable]

• Burberry livestreams weather alerts to billboards around the world, partners with Weather Channel [Creative Review]

• Carine Roitfeld to launch her own Tumblr before fashion week [Fashionista]

• Nicole Miller becomes first fashion designer on Vyou [Mashable]

• Benetton to launch European e-commerce site [Marketing]

• New York Magazine’s revamped ‘The Cut’ blog will take on the fashion glossies [Business Insider]

• The business of blogging: The Man Repeller [BoF]

• Common missteps your brand is making on Pinterest [Fashion’s Collective]

Olympic pixel tablets create giant 360˚ screen, inspire live events worldwide

From The Queen’s cameo alongside James Bond to the reunion of the Spice Girls, there’s no doubt Danny Boyle’s approach to the opening and closing ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympics, was sheer creative genius. As Jeremy Hunt, secretary of state for culture, Olympics, media and sport, said, it proved the occasion to be “as much a celebration of creativity as sport”.

But so too was it a feat of technical brilliance. Thousands of participants, dozens of vehicles and endless video cameras, but better yet, some 230 miles of cabling to enable 70,500 tablets, and a total of 634,500 pixels, to turn the audience into one enormous digital screen.

Yep, in case you hadn’t realised, the digital animations that appeared as though overlaid on the spectators throughout both ceremonies, were in fact the result of high-powered paddles attached to every seat.

Created by Tait Technologies, each one had nine full colour lights that, when controlled by custom-designed programmes from digital solutions company Crystal CG, sent multiple images around the bowl-shaped arena. In doing so, they not only achieved Boyle’s vision of wanting those in attendance to feel more involved in the action, but also created the world’s biggest ever screen; a 360˚ and seemingly “human powered” one.

During the closing ceremony, more than 75 minutes of digital animations were seen in this way. One example was a psychedelic 1960s sequence that took over 500 hours to produce. Do watch the video below to see some of it action.

“No longer limited by large flat screens, we were presented with the challenge of creating animations to bring the stage and the spectators together,” said Will Case, creative director at Crystal. “We delivered. The live audience and those watching at home were drawn into the action. We are witnessing the death of the traditional video screen – this will transform the way event content is presented in future, becoming a more immersive experience.”

Boyle added: “Every Olympic Ceremony aims for a major technical breakthrough. Our remarkable audience pixels have opened up amazing new images, effects and spectacle, but most of all they have enabled our live stadium audience to be part of the ceremony in a way that’s never been possible before.”

What fantastic crossover that could have for the fashion industry, let alone live events around the world full stop. Imagine catwalk stands that instantly become immersive displays for the collections as they come out; a reflection of the season they’re in, or the inspirations cast by the designer. As the late Alexander McQueen said back in 2009 in reference to live-streaming: “This is the birth of a new dawn. I am going to take you on journeys you’ve never dreamed were possible.”

Let’s hope so…

 

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Grazia to launch iPad edition

The UK’s Grazia magazine is set to release an edition for the iPad this autumn.

Hot on the heels of British Vogue announcing its own move to a monthly iPad offering, the weekly glossy says it is responding to the growing pool of upscale women who currently own and consume content on a tablet device.

The edition will be built around a “Read, Shop, Share” proposition, incorporating bespoke interactive elements such as video, directly shoppable editorial pages, and social media integration.

Abby Carvosso, managing director of the lifestyle magazines division at parent company Bauer Media, said: “Grazia has always been brave, bold and innovative and the new iPad edition continues that ethos. Our influence comes from understanding what intelligent women are thinking, doing and wanting. We know they buy products recommended by Grazia, so the new iPad edition offers them the ease and simplicity to buy a product as soon as they see it in our pages.”

The move is part of parent company Bauer Media’s on-going multi-channel growth strategy; the aim to “deliver content whenever, wherever and however the reader chooses”.

Grazia is also announcing the mobile optimisation of GraziaDaily.co.uk from autumn 2012.

McGinley shoots birds of prey for Edun campaign

 

Edun has released a campaign film for autumn/winter 2012/13 featuring birds of prey posing with models Miles McMillan, Zen Sevastyanova and Grace Bol.

Shot by Ryan McGinley, and premiered on Dazed Digital, it’s a moving image of the campaign’s photo shoot in action, not to mention the barn owl, eagle owl, spectacled owl, scoop owl and peregrine falcon included.

“Birds are wild and unpredictable creatures, very beautiful, but at the same time you always have a little sense of the danger because they are so much larger and more powerful than you might think. Occasionally they would fly away from the set and we would all just have to be patient and wait for them to return to work,” McGinley explained to Dazed.

Ali Hewson, the label’s co-founder (with husband Bono of U2), said: “These birds are a perfect metaphor for the wild, carefree spirit of Edun. The beauty and the energy of Africa is inherent in these images and our brand – a perfect collision of flight and fashion.”

The campaign is also a reference to McGinley’s own photography series, Animals.

Further behind-the-scenes images are below:

Vogue launches trailer for new monthly iPad app

We all know video has become a massive part of fashion marketing, but what’s a touch newer is movie-style trailers to preview what’s on offer from the industry.

Mashable recently reported on one example from Esquire magazine to showcase a forthcoming issue, so too was there another from Burberry ahead of its spring/summer 2012 show. And now, British Vogue has released one to celebrate the fact its iPad app has just gone monthly.

Featuring exclusive video footage of cover star Karlie Kloss supplied by Nick Knight, and rotating imagery by Nice Images, it demonstrates the best of what’s included in the title’s September ‘International Collections’ issue (as above).

The move to monthly digital editions for Vogue follows an initial one-off launch with its December 2010 issue, and again for June and December 2011. The new offering includes a full version of the print edition alongside additional interactive content. Included in this first issue, now available to download from Newsstand on the App store, are 90 editorial fashion pages, as well as behind-the-scenes videos and images of models Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Georgia May Jagger on their Olympics shoot.

Editor Alexandra Shulman, said: “This month is the biggest international collections issue of Vogue I have produced in 20 years as editor. Simultaneously we launch the new British Vogue app for iPad, now available monthly for the first time, which will enable you to experience the magazine digitally and allows us to bring some of its print features to life. Nick Knight’s shoot ‘Midas Touch’ is an excellent example of how the magazine and app can work together. It brings a new depth and enjoyment to the images you will see in these pages.”

There are also three brands who have launched media rich enhancements on their ads in the iPad issue, including Anya Hindmarch, Velvet and The Australian Wool Industry. “They are smart, stylish and show great originality,” said Rachel Reavley, associate publisher of the magazine.

Prada’s A/W 12/13 film: a fantastical game of chess

The gaming aesthetic referred to in Prada’s autumn/winter 2012/13 print ads makes a true appearance in a new campaign film from the brand released this week.

Set across a “fantastical chess game”, the spot sees movements on the board then carried out in an alternate reality by the avatar-like models.

An original release for the Steven Meisel-shot campaign called them “virtual princesses poised for combat”, which now of course, makes total sense.

Digital snippets: Alexander Wang, Sephora, Moschino, YSL, eBay, Goertz, FIT

Some more great stories from around the web surrounding all things fashion and digital over the past week:

 

• Azealia Banks fronts new T by Alexander Wang campaign (as above) [JustJared]

• Sephora expands digital palette with Pantone color-matching technology [BrandChannel]

• Coming soon: Moschino’s Gennarino bear iPhone cover [DisneyRollerGirl]

• Facebook commenters horrified by the new Saint Laurent Paris logo [CutBlog]

• eBay partners with British Fashion Council to support emerging design talent [Marketing]

• German footwear e-tailer Goertz launches AR-enabled shoe fitting installation [DigitalBuzzBlog]

• FIT museum expands virtual collection [Fashion Notes]

• Debating fashion week’s role in the digital age [Style.com]

• Op-Ed: What’s fit for print in the digital age? [BoF]

• How the web made us a nation of designer fashion bargain hunters [The Independent]