Farfetch celebrates Christmas with designer augmented reality wrapping paper

Farfetch.com’s augmented reality gift wrap by (left to right) Meadham Kirchhoff, Melinda Gibson, Margot Bowman and Gary Card

Online marketplace Farfetch.com is launching augmented reality gift wrap for the holiday season using image recognition technology from Aurasma.

Based on exclusive illustrations from four emerging creatives, the wrapping paper can be scanned using the Aurasma app on smartphone or tablet devices to reveal behind-the-scenes videos of the respective design process.

These fly-on-the-wall films document the gift wrap from sketchpad to sign-off, alongside interviews with each of the four creatives: design duo Meadham Kirchhoff (film shown below), photographer Melinda Gibson, artist and DJ Margot Bowman, and set designer and illustrator Gary Card.

The designs will be printed on 40,000 reams of wrapping paper and dispatched with all Farfetch orders from now until December 19.

CEO and founder of Farfetch.com, Jose Neves, said: “We are delighted to be collaborating with four dynamic names from the worlds of art and design, bringing these one-off creations to our online platform and sharing with a worldwide, fashion-forward audience. The campaign as a whole will offer users and customers exclusive access to the entire ‘Unwrap’ journey, creating what we hope will be an unrivalled online shopping experience.”

That ‘Unwrap’ concept will also see each design featured as wallpaper on the site (as with Meadham Kirchoff below) for a week, and a social Pass the Parcel game. Here, consumers are invited to click to win daily designer gifts and then share the parcel with their friends to gain more entries into the grand prize draw. The game also includes a world map that features a live feed of players around the globe.

In another phyiscal translation of the campaign, the Meadham Kirchoff print is also wrapping two London taxis (also shown below) from November 26 for a week. Passengers jumping in for a ride will receive festive cakes from food blogger April Carter of Rhubarb & Rose, and another chance to win designer gifts from Farfetch.com.

New Nina Ricci campaign film evokes enchanted exorcism

In case you haven’t yet seen it, Nina Ricci has just released one of the best films for the autumn/winter 2012/13 campaign season.

Directed by Inez & Vinoodh, it encapsulates a beautiful yet distorted dream sequence as model Kati Nescher undergoes a form of enchanted exorcism. Opening on expansive green gardens, it twists and turns to the sound of New York electro-pop group Avan Lava, and a stream of backward-playing vocals.

But it’s the tie-in of British artist Jo Ratcliffe’s work (also seen in the GIFs released for the brand’s recent La Rue bag campaign) that cements the mood  – a delicate white line-drawn cobweb surrounds Nescher, before a deer emerges from her, floats into the sky and transforms into a flock of birds.

Check it out…

Kenzo teams up with Quentin Jones for stop motion film

 

Another great stop motion film from London-based illustrator Quentin Jones, this time for Kenzo’s pre-fall 2012 collection.

Frenetic but fantastic, the spot is a mish mash of collage work playing with the letters that spell out Kenzo, as well as a number of sporty props and accessories including hoops, ribbons and scaffolding to climb on.

It was shot in a warehouse in East London, and then digitally layered with handmade moving elements and frames of the models, Jones explained in an interview on the brand’s blog.

“It is kind of like sewing together different visual ingredients over a timeline,” she added.

On the role film plays in fashion, she said: “I think film allows a brand to create a moment of escapism into a world of their vision and personality. If they are successful, the audience gets to experience what it means to ‘live’ that label from their desk or bed. They need to be entertaining to capture new audiences, and not just pretty moving images.”

She referred to Stephanie Di Giusto’s Le bel été for Vanessa Bruno, and Barnaby Roper’s Iris for Nowness as two of her personal favourites.

Jones was also behind the Victoria by Victoria Beckham video for spring/summer 2012.

Below are some of the behind-the-scenes images from the Kenzo film:

Teaser videos: Maison Martin Margiela for H&M

By now, you will have all heard H&M has confirmed the rumours Maison Martin Margiela is the next designer set to collaborate with the store. It’s perhaps an unlikely pairing, as reported by Fashionista, but one H&M’s creative advisor, Margareta van den Bosch, expects to be a “great and memorable fashion moment”.

The collection doesn’t launch until November 15, but in the meantime, there were also a couple of very cute teaser videos revealed today, one for womenswear and one for menswear showing sketches of a darted sweater, and a car coat respectively. Check them out below:

 

Highlights from Ted Baker’s digital drawing room initiative

Ted Baker’s saw a 75% increase in reach on Facebook, and a 1000% rise in Twitter mentions off the back of its “Ted’s Drawing Room” campaign on March 17.

The initiative, created by agency Guided Collective, invited 11 top illustrators to recreate consumer looks from Instagram as pieces of original artwork, as previously reported here.

Footage of the illustrators at work in Ted’s London HQ, was broadcast back into stores throughout the day, as well as on Facebook. Over 2000 viewers tuned in, for an average of 26 minutes each. The stream was also viewed in over 23 countries ranging from the UK and USA to Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan.

Below is a summary video of the event, as well as several more of the final images. Check out Ted Baker’s Facebook page to see the whole gallery.

 

Ted Baker to launch digital portrait service in-store, turning Instagram looks into original illustrations

 

Ted Baker is continuing to focus on bringing digital initiatives into the retail space with a new campaign that will see 11 top illustrators recreating consumer looks from Instagram as pieces of original artwork.

Following on from the brand’s “It’s Rutting Season” project last season, “Ted’s Drawing Room” will invite consumers to head in-store and try on pieces from the new collection, before being photographed in their looks.

Those images will then be sent to Ted’s London HQ, where a team of illustrators will be sat ready to draw the shoppers they feel the most inspired by. Those involved range from pure fashion illustrators like Jacqueline Bissett and Niki Pilkington; to watercolourist Michael Frith.

The other artists include Miss Led, Emma Lofstrom, Viet Tran, Harry Malt, Serge Seidlitz, Dale Edwin Murray, Damien Weighill and Matthew Green.

The initiative ties in with the brand’s spring/summer 2012 campaign “The Great Exhibitionist and his Private Views” (as the above video shows). It will take place across Ted Baker stores in the UK and New York on Saturday, March 17.

A film crew will also be on hand to capture the illustrators at work, with the footage being broadcast back in-store and on Ted Baker’s Facebook page.

100 customers will receive both a digital copy and a one-off, signed and framed version of their portrait. For some, there will also be a time-lapse video of their piece being created. The same will appear on Facebook, alongside the original photos that inspired them.

Three illustrators have been commissioned in advance to demonstrate the variety of styles that will be involved on the day. Pilkington has recreated a womenswear look from the season’s collection, Green has done the same with menswear, while Malt has produced an image of the elusive Ted Baker. Each are below…

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