Best of the web!

This is one little note to say a big thank you to Become.com’s Be In Style blog, which has featured Fashion & Mash this week in its Best of the Web round-up.

With us being halfway through fashion week season, right in the middle of Social Media Week and on the verge of SXSW, it’s undoubtedly true that I currently “eat, sleep, live, and breathe fashion”, as quoted. The best bit of course, is that it’s from a very unique designer meets digital angle.

The praise comes at an appropriate time too, for this week marks the two-year anniversary of this site. I hope you’re all continuing to get as much out of it as I do putting in. There’s never been such an exciting time as there currently is in all things tech, and I continue to try and cover it for everyone in our industry as comprehensively as possible.

As promised earlier in the year, there’s some exciting developments ahead for F&M, but as always if you have any feedback on the kind of content being posted, some more things you’d like to see, or better yet some stories of your own to send, please do get in touch.

Best wishes, Rachel

Lacoste film envisions intelligent polo shirts of the future

 

Lacoste is celebrating its 80th birthday and honouring the visionary spirit of its founder, Rene Lacoste, with a video short that highlights how future technology might impact the classic polo shirt.

Created by agency MNSTR, the spot sees the item reinterpreted as an intelligent and dynamic piece of design – one that can change colour to its surroundings, adjust its crocodile logo at the touch of a finger and even add longer length sleeves or better fitting shoulders appropriate to the occasion.

“[It's] an intelligent polo, a connected polo, one that listens to its environment… a polo with no limits,” reads the write-up.

As though the surface of a tablet or smartphone, the models are seen effortlessly swiping, pinching and adapting various features of the styles they wear throughout. A tennis player keeps score on her front in another frame for instance, while a cyclist turns her horizontal stripes into portrait ones.

And that’s not all… While the spot highlights an “attainable future”, a dedicated microsite at www.lacoste-future.com encourages consumers to imagine “possibilities [that] are endless”. Accordingly, they are invited to send in their own vision of tomorrow’s polo shirt via Facebook.com/Lacoste. The most original and unique ideas will then be featured on that page at a later date.

Appropriately, the initiative launches for December 12, 2012, otherwise known as 12.12.12, which also ties in with the code name Rene Lacoste first gave to the polo shirt in 1933: L.12.12.

You might also like this story: Bloomingdale’s pushes wearable technology with Microsoft Printing Dress for #FNO and this infographic on wearble tech

Matthew Williamson celebrates 15th anniversary with enchanting short film

 

British designer Matthew Williamson launched a short film yesterday to celebrate his 15-years in the industry.

“XV” stars Sienna Milller, Poppy Delevingne and Andrea Riseborough, as well as eight ballerinas from the Royal Ballet and even a unicorn. Shot at Aynhoe Park, a 17th century country house in Oxfordshire, it’s a beautiful spin inside the colourful, ethereal and imaginative world of Williamson’s own mind.

The plot (scripted by Mark Whelan) follows Williamson’s dreams as a 15-year old boy lying in bed on a school morning before his Mum (Riseborough) calls up the stairs to wake him.

It was directed by Tell No One’s Luke White and Remi Weekes, with the ballerinas choreographed by Random Dance company’s Wayne McGregor.

Williamson has also created a limited edition collection in collaboration with Swarovski for the occasion, seen worn by Miller, Delevingne and ballerina Melissa Hamilton in the film. It is otherwise available to buy exclusively at Net-a-Porter.com and the designer’s London store.

Below are a selection of behind-the-scenes images from the film, as well as a making-of video featuring interviews with the stars.

Matthew Williamson launches on Twitter, announces new digital strategy

British fashion brand Matthew Williamson launched on Twitter today, marking its first commitment to a new digital strategy headed up by Rosanna Falconer, previously of the British Fashion Council.

Created to give followers an insider view, the @MWWorld handle will capture all the action from behind-the-scenes of the collections and the studio. It kickstarted this morning with the above tweet, and has since continued with a photo of Matthew mid-meeting as well as a link to his YouTube page where a video documenting the shoot for his forthcoming XV film starring Sienna Miller, Poppy Delevingne and Valentine Fillol-Cordier exists (as below).

Matthew himself will also be sharing his insight, inspirations and travels.

As a follow on, the website and e-commerce platform will soon be relaunched to “reflect developments in technology, including mobile, and capture the brand digitally”.

Matthew Williamson will celebrate its 15-year anniversary this spring/summer 2013. The XV film will be officially unveiled next week.

Chloé launches digital archive for 60-year celebration

Chloé is celebrating its 60th anniversary with an interactive digital archive to accompany its Chloé.Attitudes exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris.

The Alphabet, as it’s called, is an online exploration of the French fashion house’s heritage from 1952 to current day. Created by digital agency Guided Collective, it plays on the idea of founder Gaby Aghion’s own naming of her collections and garments, taking each letter of the alphabet and assigning it a relevant theme.

The first five letters were, unsurprisingly, C H L O and E. They launched simultaneously last week with a short film each (shown below) directed by Poppy De Villeneuve, Julie Verhoeven, Kathryn Ferguson, Stéphanie Di Giusto and Mary Clerté, who interpreted the themes of counter-couture, horses, light, O (roundness) and embroidery respectively.

The rest of the archive letters will be brought to life with further documentary films, previously unseen imagery, past advertising, sketches and collection references, editorial and even specially-commissioned music.

“Individually [they tell] a fragment of the story; collectively [they form] a mosaic of Chloé’s iconic moments, inspirations and heritage,” reads the write-up.

A new letter is currently launching every other day, revealed by a famous blogger worldwide before appearing on The Alphabet microsite. Once they are all live, users will be able to send friends an invitation featuring their own version of the heritage, relative to the letters that make up their name.

Referred to as playful, immersive, imaginative and compelling, the site is available in six languages worldwide and across multiple devices.

The Chloé.Attitudes exhibition opened on September 29 and runs until November 18.