Digital snippets: Burberry, Donna Karan, Chanel, Oscar de la Renta, Sephora

As a final post for 2012, here’s one last round-up of stories from around the web surrounding all things fashion and digital over the past week.

We’ll be back in January, as previously mentioned with a very exciting update… Until then, happy holidays!

• Square to announce payment trial with Burberry, its first luxury brand partner [TheNextWeb]

• Donna Karan launches new celebrity dressing app (as pictured) [WWD]

• Chanel strengthens digital brand experience via site relaunch [Luxury Daily]

• Oscar de la Renta taps social media to recruit focus group [L2 Think Tank]

• Sephora wins digital innovator award in prestige category [WWD]

• Dream memes: fashion gets funny in 2012 [Fashionologie]

• The 20 biggest brand fails of 2012, featuring Harvey Nichols, Gap and La Redoute [AdWeek]

• Fashion 2.0: amongst promises of a perfect fit, what fits and what doesn’t? [BoF]

• Shopping sites open brick and mortar stores [NY Times]

• Retail display plays product demo when customers select various items [PSFK]

• How Stylistpick used personalisation to increase conversions by 33% [Econsultancy]

Broken JPEGs cleverly feature in new Harvey Nichols’ ads

I love this campaign from Y&R Dubai for Harvey Nichols in the United Arab Emirates. Called “Be Seen”, it plays on missing or broken images online, displaying instead a white silhouette surrounding the familiar error icon.

One model in the centre is seen in full wearing items from the new spring/summer 2012 collections.

[via The Inspiration Room]

Infographic: UK retail’s earned media mentions in February

Harvey Nichols proved one of the highest mentioned retailers in the UK during London Fashion Week thanks to its exclusive launch of the Victoria by Victoria Beckham collection, according to a new barometer released by Gorkana looking at earned media trends in February.

Topshop and Asos were also present, alongside the perhaps more surprising PC World and Curry’s; the result of a designer dress made from 500m of electric cables.

Overall, the lead retailer in both mainstream and social media mentions during the month, was Tesco, with 11,180 and 99,07 references respectively. Other grocery stores including Asda and Sainsbury’s also feature on both lists, an interesting comparison with the fashion industry, which saw mainstream media focusing more on department stores including Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and House of Fraser, compared to social media’s reference to Asos, Topshop, Primark and H&M.

Other big subjects mentioned in February included Valentine’s, of course, as well as David Beckham for his new Bodywear line at H&M.

See the full infographic with all the stats below:

Christmas 2011: the best fashion videos

From Bergdorf’s pups, to Harvey Nichols’ walk of shame, here are my top ads from across the fashion space for the festive season…

Bergdorf Goodman’s Unleashed – a tale of true doggy heaven, and perhaps the cutest take on Christmas ever:

Kate Spade’s Give Colorfully – a fun spot based on gift wrapping all shapes and size:

Tommy Hilfiger’s House Par-tay – festive fun at home with The Hilfigers, which despite being on repeat play in the back of every New York taxi cab for the past month, is still enjoyable to watch:

Harvey Nichols’ Turn a Walk of Shame into a Stride of Pride – an amusing twist on Britain’s booze culture:

Tiffany & Co’s Some Holidays Are Unforgettable – a celebration of true love featuring Nat King Cole’s The Very Thought of You:

And finally, I couldn’t help but add in Apple’s festive spot for the iPhone 4S, featuring Santa and his new pal Siri:

Be sure to also check out the ones from John Lewis, Loewe, Harrods and Macy’s.

Merry Christmas all!

‘Vogue experience’ to hit London June 8

Franca Sozzani, editor of Vogue Italia is set to host a day dedicated to showcasing life behind-the-scenes at her world famous magazine at London department store Harvey Nichols next week.

The “Vogue Experience” follows in the footsteps of similar events held in Milan and Rome. With Lisa Armstrong of The Times and UK Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman as co-hosts, it will offer visitors the chance to learn about working in the fashion industry.

Designers including Christopher Kane, Manolo Blahnik, Philip Treacy and Giles Deacon will also play a part, as will Sarah Mower, Katie Grand and Ronnie Newhouse.

“Vogue Italia’s aim is to actively support the creativity of fresh talent, thus helping to build up a new generation of designers, photographers and stylists able to play a dynamic role in the world of fashion. London is a lively, inspirational city, and I am very happy to share this experience with those who live here and those whose ideas and creativity have made a huge contribution to the fashion system in its broadest sense,” says Sozzani.

It will take place on Wednesday June 8, from 11am – 5pm in a designated area of the store’s fashion and lifestyle fourth floor. To register to attend, visit www.vogue.it.

For those not able to get down to Knightsbridge, however, the whole event will also be live streamed from Sozzani’s blog throughout the day.