The future of fashion weeks: do you have an opinion?

This is a bit of a different post to usual – a call for content if you will. Over the past two years, Fashion & Mash has grown to have readers from many fascinating parts of the industry – both in brand and in agency, all doing interesting things in their own right, but more importantly with a lot of things to say on this space.

Now, I’m looking for a bit of a view on where this industry’s seasonal fashion week shows can go – my very own crowdsourcing you could say. Does the old model still work? Does it need to change? How do we better align the communications and operations side of what our design houses and retailers do? As leaders in the digital field, you’re the rightly placed disruptors for these businesses – can you shake it up? Do you want to? Does it need it?

If you have any thoughts, on the record, or just as easily off (honestly), I would love to pick your brain. Let me know! Drop me an email anytime, whether it’s just with one sentence or two, or for a bigger conversation with a promised drink at the other end too. I have my own thoughts, and with recent discussions they’re rapidly evolving, but yours will really help fuel this fire…

Thank you!

Louis Vuitton’s #PFW live-stream sees shareable three-second video clips

Louis Vuitton rounded out the fashion week season in Paris this morning with a live-stream show that invited viewers connected via Facebook to record and share their own short video clips.

“Share your favorite moments with your friends,” said the intro from the brand. Accordingly, it allowed users to capture up to three seconds of the show in a small window on the bottom left of the stream they were watching. They could then play it back before agreeing to post it to their Facebook timeline for their friends to also see.

The idea is similar to that launched by Topshop last season, which enabled users to “Shoot the Show”, posting still images to their pages. LV’s idea moves the concept on, while simultaneously tying to the success of apps like Vine that are focused on short, easily shareable videos.

In practice it was a little bit sticky, as well as restrictive in terms of what you could capture – the smaller window mainly showed close-up shots of the collection, and the frame didn’t allow you to snap multiple sections like Vine does. Still, it’s a great leap forward again for the social side of fashion weeks.

LV also invited users to its “Social Room” during the show, a side bar that opened out to reveal a multitude of social media updates from both its own official accounts as well as from guests and publications in attendance.

Digital snippets: Alexander Wang, Warby Parker, Gucci, Nars, Ray Ban, J Crew + more

It’s been a little while since one of these round-up posts on other interesting fashion and digital stories sourced from around the web, so there’s far more than usual. Each of them is however, of course, as interesting and relevant as ever…

• Alexander Wang teams up with Samsung for crowdsourced handbag (as above) [Mashable]

• Google reportedly in talks with Warby Parker to design stylish Google Glass frames [Techcrunch]

• Gucci ups mobile conversion 70% via optimised site [Luxury Daily]

• Nars tests Pinterest’s selling potential [Mashable]

• Ray Ban launches real-life ambermatic lens app installation [DigitalBuzzBlog]

• This is personal: J Crew debuts an in-store styling app [Refinery29]

• How John Lewis uses Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ [Econsultancy]

• Lizzy Caplan’s Viva Vena fashion film is one of the best satirical ads you’ll ever see [Slate]

• The business of blogging: Garance Doré [BoF]

• Shopping in the future: Glasses.com’s augmented reality fitting-room app [AllThingsD]

• Will Apple’s plans for an iWatch herald a new era of wearable tech? [The Observer]

• Farfetch fashion hub: meet the curator of curators [Wired]

• Business Of Fashion gets $2.1m seed funding from Index, LVMH and more for its no-nonsense B2B fashion blog [Techcrunch]

• How your tweets during fashion shows are driving sales [Fashionista]

• Fashion buys into social tools [NY Times]

• Online upstarts explore a new model for fashion media [BoF]

• Why retailers are pinning hopes on Pinterest [Reuters]

• 10 great uses of Vine during fashion week [The Cut]

• And just on the off-chance that you didn’t see it already, here is Google’s How it Feels Through Glass video

Dolce & Gabbana: #MFW’s social media winner

I started this post with every intention of writing only about the beautiful videos Dolce & Gabbana has been posting on Vine surrounding its Milan Fashion Week show this week. Three in particular stand out – each of them zooming in on the intricate detail of the brand’s autumn/winter 2013/14 collection; the Byzantine and Venetian mosaic dresses, the elaborate jewellery and the beautifully beaded accessories.

Alas, those six-second loops are only viewable within the app itself and not on the brand’s Twitter or Facebook pages where they could also have been posted. On those instead however, is such a wealth of rich and relevant content on the collection otherwise, that it still seemed worth highlighting.

The craftsmanship and the inspiration behind the line – that would be the golden mosaics of Sicily’s Cathedral of Monreale – are the focus.

“It’s all in the details: the shoes of the Mosaics Collection are as intricate as the clothes,” reads a photo album dedicated to footwear images on Facebook. It was posted less than 12 hours ago and already has 30,000 likes and over 5,000 shares. The shot below by itself, meanwhile, has 7,000 likes, nearly 2,500 shares and over 500 comments.

There are also albums dedicated specifically to the collection as a whole, the handbags individually, and the action backstage at the show. Each were originally posted on Swide.com, the Italian brand’s editorial property, which also hosts pages all about the sunglasses, the jewellery and the textures, not to mention the architecture and the mosaics of the cathedral itself.

For record – albeit a little repetitive by this point – there are also multiple posts on the brand’s Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr pages.

A pre-show video meanwhile documents in a beautiful 30-seconds the artisans at work on their “slow and precise” mosaic-making. “The Mosaics Collection is perhaps one of the most intricate yet by Dolce & Gabbana which makes the video and crafts displayed all the more special,” reads the write-up.

And that’s the point here – the craftsmanship, talent and beauty of fashion is what so often makes it speak for itself if you just push the content out in the right direction. You don’t even have to like this collection to see why it works so wonderfully on social media.

 

Burberry personalising new collection with embedded digital content

This article first appeared on Mashable

Personalisation just got a whole lot smarter thanks to a new initiative from Burberry, which is launching as part of its London Fashion Week show on Monday.

The British heritage brand is embedding digital chips that will unlock bespoke content in its new season’s coats and bags in a bid to entice consumers to pre-order them immediately after they hit the catwalk.

The chips will activate short films (as demonstrated below) to bring the product in question to life, telling the story of its creation, from sketches to runway edits. They will also show video of the customer’s name being engraved on metal nameplates — also new this season — that are stitched into the lining of the coats and bags.

Users will be able to see the videos when their items are put in contact with smartphone or tablet devices logged into Burberry.com thanks to a new technology the company will reveal more information about at the delivery date (expected within nine weeks). For consumers in London who are able to visit the brand’s digitally integrated Regent Street flagship store, the same chips will prompt the videos to appear on its large-scale mirrors, which turn into screens.

While this “Smart Personalisation” concept demonstrates how technology can benefit Burberry shoppers, the brand also has plans to connect with its broader fanbase using social media. On the day after the show, Burberry will invite followers to tweet with the hashtag #madefor, so they can receive personalized images of their own bespoke nameplate, for example.

The show will also be live-streamed within Burberry’s Twitter feed for the first time, as well as online and in the Regent Street store. Additional access will be provided through two Instagram accounts: @Burberry will share images from backstage, the red carpet and the runway, while @Burberry_Live will take more detailed images of the collection to feed into Burberry.com’s dashboard.

Where Topshop launched a model cam for its show on Sunday, Burberry is also promoting backstage interaction with its models. The “Burberry Beauty Booth” will share images taken by models with the brand’s followers in real-time, when they tweet with the #BeautyBooth hashtag.

Brit models do the Harlem Shake in style backstage at Topshop’s #LFW show

After a bit of light fashion week relief? Then take 30 seconds out to watch models Jourdan Dunn, Cara Delevingne and Rosie Tapner performing their version of viral video sensation the Harlem Shake backstage at Topshop Unique. I defy you not to put it on repeat…

Vine, Google+ take center stage at London Fashion Week

This article first appeared on Mashable

Twitter’s new video-sharing app, Vine, took off in a big way at New York Fashion Week. Designers and editors alike logged in to Vine to capture and share six-second scenes from the shows.

London Fashion Week (LFW) attendees are poised to pick up where New York left off. Design houses including Burberry, Jonathan Saunders and Paul Smith, as well as the British Fashion Council, are all expected to use the app to bring followers behind the scenes and front of house.

It’s Matthew Williamson’s feed, however, that’s the must-see. The designer, known for his intricate, handcrafted garments, will use Vine to showcase details up close during Sunday’s show. As the looks hit the runway, backstage shots by photographer Sean Cunningham (of Burberry Tweetwalk fame) will be posted to Twitter, magnifying the embellishment and beadwork in a bid to bring followers a more detailed view than those available to the front row.

The initiative takes its inspiration from Williamson’s #MatthewMagnified campaign on Facebook, which makes use of the Pic Jointer app to show catwalk images alongside close-up detail shots of the fabric work. Vine will see them in motion, as introduced by the designer below:

Introducing #MatthewMagnified live. Get closer than the front row this Sunday at 6pm vine.co/v/brBOwTl0FJm #LFW #FirstVine—
Matthew Williamson (@MWWorld) February 14, 2013

Rosanna Falconer, head of digital for the designer, referred to the idea as “Cinéma vérité,” a French term for true-to-life documentary filmmaking. “I love the way it’s such raw footage. Rather than being a final polished campaign image, it’s about what’s going on right now, live from backstage,” she says. “We’re trying to give our followers better-than-ever access with a real, up-close quality. In many ways, it’s like a digital version of the go-see, which are the appointments made by press and buyers after the show to view the collection in greater detail. It’s the beadwork, the detail and the craftsmanship of the product right there.”

Up close and personal

This idea of a digital go-see, or bringing fans and followers even closer to the Fashion Week action, is also part of Topshop’s plans for the season. As part of a partnership with Google, the British retailer will be providing viewers with live access to every aspect of its show using dozens of cameras, capturing fittings, “red carpet” arrivals and the show itself from multiple points of view. The aim is to offer the experience of what it’s like to be the model, the buyer, the makeup artist or even the designer.

Central to this is its model-cam, which will see Cara Delevingne, Jourdan Dunn, Rosie Tapner and Ashleigh Good all wearing real-time, HD micro cameras so followers can see the show from their perspective. Pre-stitched into the clothes and bags, these cameras will show detailed footage from the runway as well as backstage. They have been developed with satellite broadcasting company, SIS Live, and make use of the “Hawkeye” technology from major sporting events like Wimbledon.

Justin Cooke, Topshop’s chief marketing officer, says he expects it to steal the show. “The models will become the protagonists. Viewers will search for ‘Cara on the runway,’ and their content will get propelled around the world,” he says.

In addition to Topshop, a new partnership between the British Fashion Council and YouTube will serve up live streams of 20 shows through the LFW channel at youtube.com/lfwtv. A further 13 will also be streamed at londonfashionweek.co.uk/live.

Topshop is adding to its event with pre-show coverage also live-streamed through a customized YouTube page. Hangouts will air from the red carpet, backstage and the front row. “We’re using it as a live broadcast, like the Oscars, like a live behind-the-scenes documentary,” says Cooke.

Catwalk countdowns and live Q&As

Last season saw a big focus on visual diaries in the build-up to London’s shows, and the same goes for the Autumn/Winter 2013 shows.

Julien Macdonald returned to London Fashion Week following a two-season break, and in so doing shared preparation images over Facebook, Twitter and Instagram leading up to his show on Saturday. There was also a time-lapse video of the show space being constructed.

Peter Pilotto, meanwhile, who arrived on Twitter just last week, is likewise posting images in the buildup to his Monday show in what he’s calling his “Catwalk Countdown.”

Back at Topshop, the four aforementioned models will all be featured in a “Road to Runway” digital diary on Google+, documenting everything from their first fittings to the moment they hit the catwalk. There’s also a Google Hangout inviting viewers to see behind the scenes at Topshop’s headquarters ahead of the show and ask the design team questions as they apply their finishing touches.

Expert Q&As are also a go-to for the British Fashion Council again this season. Twitter sessions will this time be held with British Vogue’s Alexandra Shulman, designers Manolo Blahnik and Henry Holland, and blogger and DJ Bip Ling, using the #AskLFW hashtag.

Personalization meets pre-orders

There’s much in the way of shoppable activity set for London this season, too. House of Holland has developed a capsule collection exclusively for eBay.co.uk, comprised of a dress, an oversized slogan t-shirt, an iPhone cover and a pair of tights, each emblazoned with the signature House of Holland Autumn/Winter 2013 “rave wave” print. The micro-line is available for purchase until Sunday, Feb. 24, with all proceeds going to Cancer Research UK.

Burberry, meanwhile, has rebranded its “Runway to Reality” shoppable concept as “Runway Made to Order.” Still a pre-order service for early season delivery on coats and accessories, it will also offer fans a personalization element with nameplate engravings available on each item. The rest of the brand’s show plans will be announced closer to showtime on Monday.

Topshop is enabling followers to buy straight from the catwalk again too, offering items from the collection for pre-order as well as makeup and nail polish for instant delivery. Its “Shoot the Show” and “Customize the Catwalk” initiatives from last season are continuing also, this time refined and modified according to people’s behaviors, i.e. how they interacted with the features during the Spring/Summer 2013 show.

In addition, Topshop and Google have developed a “Be the Buyer” app on Google+ that will allow fans to create moodboards of their favorite items from the runway while seeking video advice from Topshop’s own buying experts, as well as those from department stores Selfridge’s and Browns. The results, says Cooke, will help feed data back to Topshop on what items or colors are the most popular, cleverly shaping its decisions about what to put in store.

Such movements are proving that digital innovation at LFW aren’t solely about gaining fans and building awareness of current collections, but are an opportunity for getting consumers to help determine what will actually hit the shop floor. It doesn’t get much more personal (and for the retailer, efficient) than that.

HoH and eBay team up for exclusive #LFW collection

House of Holland has released a capsule collection exclusively with eBay UK inspired by his autumn/winter 2013/14 collection that showed at London Fashion Week today.

The line went on sale from the minute the first model hit the catwalk at 7pm GMT, and will be available until next Sunday, February 24. It is comprised of a dress, an oversized slogan t-shirt, an iPhone cover and a pair of tights, each emblazoned with the signature House of Holland ‘rave wave’ print.

The aim is to provide fans with a nugget of access to the new season way before the full collection hits stores, satisfying the instant demand that goes with watching a live show. All proceeds from the sales will also go to Cancer Research UK.

Designer Henry Holland said: “The items I’ve designed for eBay have been inspired by my AW13 collection. I’m excited to be able to bring something exclusive and exciting to a completely new audience. I hope I am paving the way for more opportunities for designers coming through the BFC’s Fashion Forward programme.”

eBay is also continuing its support of this season’s Fashion Forward winners at London Fashion Week – Michael Van Der Ham, Holly Fulton and David Koma – live-streaming each of their shows to smartphones via its Style Collective blog.

Paul Smith partners with artist Kate Moross for #LFW Vine clips

Another example of how to use Vine to beautiful effect has just come in from Paul Smith. The British designer has partnered with London-based artist Kate Moross, who is shooting a series of imaginative six-second clips in the run up to tomorrow’s London Fashion Week show.

BLINDS: Artist @KateMoross is taking care of our Vine in the run-up to #LFW. Let there be light! #firstpost vine.co/v/brnTJ3bbIZ3—
Paul Smith (@PaulSmithDesign) February 15, 2013

The first, called BLINDS and shown above, sees shutters opening and closing on the Paul Smith logo. Others so far, and as below, have been titled REFLECT and INFINITE, hinting at the venue and print and pattern respectively,

“We’re drawing influence from the themes and palette of the collection revealing glimpses of what’s to come in Sunday’s catwalk show,” said Moross. “The format is so immediate, all professional video tools are off limits, instead we’re creating animations, loops and video effects using colour filters, miniature lenses and simple objects.”

REFLECT: Seeds planted, our #Vine is growing fast. Excited for tomorrow's
#LFW women's show? A hint at the venue: vine.co/v/brDE26ATeaV—
Paul Smith (@PaulSmithDesign) February 16, 2013

INFINITE: Pattern. Print. Repeat. #loop #LFW vine.co/v/brj05vbKr6u—
Paul Smith (@PaulSmithDesign) February 16, 2013

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McQ debuts AW13 collection through online film

Alexander McQueen’s sister brand McQ has launched a short film showcasing its new autumn/winter 2013/14 collection in line with the start of London Fashion Week.

Shot by photographer Roger Deckker, the spot is reflective of the team’s search for alternative ways to showcase the new season’s line. For context, mainline Alexander McQueen will also not show on the catwalk in Paris this season as creative director Sarah Burton takes maternity leave.

The resulting film is comprised of a series of vignettes shot over a twenty-four hour period. It features models Maria Bradley and Botond Cseke and is inspired by “twentieth-century avant-garde Czechoslovakian and post-war Italian cinema”. Set in both London and the British countryside, its aim is to reflect the brand’s rebellious and street-inspired heritage.

Also joining it are two lookbooks (menswear and womenswear) and a mood image series, as shown below.