Happy new year one and all! To kickstart 2013, here are a handful of stories surrounding all things fashion and digital from over the holiday period you may have missed:
Louis Vuitton pushes spring/summer line with downloadable paper doll cutouts (as pictured) [Luxury Daily]
Love magazine released a star-studded Fashion Nativity video on Christmas Day featuring Laura Carmichael, Pixie Geldof, Giles Deacon, Henry Holland, Abbey Clancy and more [Love]
New video from H&M’s forthcoming & Other Stories line reveals craftsmanship of bags in its first collection [YouTube]
Nike gamifies every day human movement with NikeFuel Missions video game [DigitalBuzzBlog]
Fashion retailer Caché launches mobile app featuring push notifications [AdWeek]
Hearst magazines is stealth e-commerce player [Material World]
Jean Paul Gaultier has launched an online campaign for the festive period centred on a digital advent calendar.
Created with digital agency Isobar, and housed on jeanpaulgaultier.com, the calendar’s 24 dates appear as the inside pockets of Father Christmas’ coat (in this case with Jean Paul Gaultier playing the role).
Each one reveals a variety of games, entertainment and prizes to be won. Designed for “grown-up enfants terribles“ (Gaultier’s own long-standing nickname), and celebrating “the Christmas of naughty children”, it features animations including sexy reindeers and naughty elves, and names such as “Shake your snowball” and “Eat the log”.
“Once upon a time, it was a Christmas unlike any other. An alternative Christmas, an upside down Christmas, a new slant on Christmas, as only Jean Paul Gaultier could imagine it, “ reads the write-up.
Users will be able to open three pockets at random each day, followed by a further three when they share the experience with their Facebook or Twitter friends. Prizes include bottles and boxsets of fragrance, Jean Paul Gaultier stuffed animals and a special gift due to be revealed on Christmas Eve.
With the launch of Dressing-Room Panic, Roger Viver has become the latest brand to tackle the idea of gaming appropriate for fashion fans.
Available for the iPad, the app-based game invites users to help a shopper rearrange her latest purchases before her wardrobe overflows. They do so by pairing up shoes for instance, or clicking on the infamous Roger Vivier buckle to free up more space, all the whlie avoiding numerous traps throughout. Levels range from fashion beginner to shopaholic.
“Having fun with fashion –the essence of Vivier!” read a note on Facebook announcing it a couple of weeks ago. The aim is also to help fans rediscover some of the company’s most iconic designs. Will it convert to sales, I’m not so sure… but it’s a cute attempt.
Uniqlo is encouraging consumers to convert their “social energy” through kinetic floor surfaces and a pop-up game console in various locations across London.
Designed to promote its thermal Heattech collection, the initiative sees footsteps transformed into energy at the entrance of the Japanese retailer’s flagship store in the UK in order to power digital screens, and custom-made game consoles inviting consumers to “step to generate” in exchange for an item from the line.
These “heat spots” (as pictured) are accompanied by an online version on the Uniqlo UK Facebook page, and a mobile game accessible via QR codes located on the heat spots and in Uniqlo store windows.
The resulting energy from both online and offline, as well as conversations around Heattech via Facebook and Twitter, are then being calculated and showcased on the in-store screens.
The campaign launched in Covent Garden in London on October 25 and continued in the Westfield London shopping centre over the weekend. From tomorrow, Monday, October 29, it will run in Westfield Stratford and Bluewater in Kent.
Forget playing dress-up, forget virtual shopping malls, forget anything too girly or flirty, a new mobile game called Fashion Hazard has just hit the app store from Condé Nast that’s all about action.
Set on the catwalks of New York, London, Milan and Paris, it requires players to swipe, tilt and tap their way through all manner of obstacles to collect virtual currency, known as “bling”.
Competing to begin with as a naïve model called Ellie, there is everything from hissing snakes (a not-so-subtle metaphor for fashion industry types, says AdWeek) and retro stereos to contend with, not to mention the occasional can of red paint as though straight from a live PETA demonstration. As you progress, a more experienced model becomes available to play as.
“Begin as a model new to the world of high fashion and at the bottom of Fashion Week’s totem pole. Make a runway round-trip before the clock runs out without tripping, losing balance, or taking the ultimate spill,” reads the write-up.
“From New York through Europe, the rewards get bigger, the stakes get higher and staying on top gets harder. Stay in time, stay in line, stay in season…or become a Fashion Hazard.”
The idea for the game came from Juliana Stock, Condé Nast’s senior director of business and product development for its Interactive Product Group (IPG), whose 11-year-old daughter enjoys action games such as Temple Run).
“When we started to look at action and adventure with her interests in mind, which are girly, we didn’t find any,” she explained. “There was a need in the market to create an action game that was challenging, and yet still feminine and visually appealing to this demographic.”
It is currently available for the iPhone and iPad with an Android version due to follow, and costs 99c in the app store.
It also provides options for additional purchases including wallpaper and ringtones, suggesting future advertising opportunities could follow. It launches with a cross-promotional initiative with Frenzoo, developer of the Me Girl series.
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.
The initiative offers fans the opportunity to create their own cover picture alongside Betty (as shown above), as well as a game to participate in that provides them with the opportunity to win the new product.
Featuring a board of sparkling spots hiding one of the mascaras, the game cleverly encourages users to provide more personal information about themselves to the company.
To enter, they have to first provide basic details including name and email. They then get three chances a day to try and uncover the product. They can, however, request Betty’s help, which results in having to reveal their address for another three goes. Next they have to provide their telephone number and date of birth, which reduces the canvas size substantially, hinting at where the mascara might lie. If all fails, the game encourages users to return the next day.
There is also a series of tutorials about how to apply 24 different shades of eyeshadow to get one of three Betty looks.
The mascara is additionally being promoted with a short film starring Betty Boop alongside model Daria Werbowy. In it, the two are seen behind-the-scenes on a movie set having a conversation about their lines and how best to look the part – by applying the new mascara naturally. “Just say it with the eyes,” says Betty.
I’m playing a massive round of catch-up post work and leisure travel… more on the former to follow, but in the meantime, here’s a look at some of the biggest stories surrounding all things fashion and digital from the past couple of weeks. Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments below…
Uniqlo mesmerises Pinterest users with mass pinning for Dry Mesh Project [BrandChannel]
Abercrombie & Fitch models cover ‘Call me Maybe’, video goes viral (as above) [Abercrombie & Fitch]
Louis Vuitton’s new interactive site teaches you how to pack [FastCo.Create]
Nike becomes first UK company to have Twitter campaign banned [The Guardian]
J.Crew’s latest online venture, Hello World, invites Scott Schuman and Garance Doré to capture five global tastemakers [Refinery29]
Club Monaco launches Facebook Timeline app [Mashable]
Very cute animated video just released from Louis Vuitton, providing a “fantastic and surrealist voyage” inside a game case:
It was created by III Studio and said to be about “the universe of games, how they pass the time, evolve from one move to the next in different systems of transition”.
Look out for everything from chess, dominoes and backgammon to cards, dice and roulette, each featuring iconic Louis Vuitton prints and logos.
