Social stats from #LFW

This London Fashion Week was the most social yet, with over 225,000 online conversations, according to insights firm Precise.

It almost goes without saying the volume of chatter would be up on previous seasons, but it’s good to see that figure has reportedly almost doubled in a year. Better yet, over 95% of the posts overall were positive.

A few more interesting stats:

• Burberry led the way with over 21,000 mentions on Twitter, Facebook and blogs. Referenced in over one third of them however, was the presence of One Direction pop star Harry Styles

• Topshop meanwhile garnered 10,000 mentions, followed by Vivienne Westwood with 3,000

• Lady Gaga’s appearance at Philip Treacy’s show generated over 5,000 mentions in association with LFW, while Treacy himself only attracted 3,000

• When it comes to emerging labels, the two winners on social were Mary Katrantzou with over 2,700 comments, and House of Holland, with over 2,500

*Precise’s research is based on keyword analysis of every English language social media post created during LFW, followed by a qualitative examination of a sample of posts

Topshop show generates over 200m exposures

The Topshop Unique show held during London Fashion Week yesterday promised to offer consumers a social, customisable and shoppable experience through its live-stream on Topshop.com.

The result? A reported 2m people tuning in from over 100 countries across multiple platforms and devices.

Here’s a summary of some of the rest of the facts and stats from the event:

• A total of 200m people were said to be exposed to images and content from the show, in the main because of its “shoot the Show” tie-up with Facebook, which allowed consumers to share images straight from their video stream

• #TOPSHOP and #UNIQUE both trended globally on Twitter thanks to live-streaming through the platform for the first ever time, and a “tweet-off” invented by Topshop asking for followers to send in 140-character reviews

• Topshop also partnered with Elle magazine for a Tweetwalk that saw images shared live from backstage over Twitter on both accounts moments before they hit the runway

• The result saw Topshop.com clicked on by over 120 countries

• More traffic was generated to the site from the USA on one day than in its entire history. This was highlighted as particularly exciting in a week were the brand has opened 15 new stores in the country through a partnership with department store Nordstorm

• The “Customise the Catwalk” shoppable element of the initiative resulted in pieces selling out from the new collection within an hour

• Make-up products were also purchased during every minute of the show

London Fashion Week: your digital preview

This article first appeared on Mashable…

Once again, London Fashion Week is aiming to prove it has just as much muscle in the digital department as its counterpart in New York.

Innovation kicks off at Topshop. Newly installed chief marketing officer Justin Cooke, formerly vice president of public relations at Burberry, has developed an interactive, shoppable livestream experience for its Unique show on Sunday afternoon.

On Topshop.com, viewers will be able to browse product shots and color options for certain apparel and accessories as they come down the catwalk. Viewers can then place orders for delivery in six to eight weeks. Beauty products worn on the catwalk will likewise be available for purchase with delivery in 48 hours. And each look will be instantly shareable with Facebook friends thanks to a “shoot the show” feature developed in conjunction with Facebook engineers.

Jonathan Saunders is similarly offering fans the chance to pre-order his collection, this time on social platform Motilo, which allows users to shop together through live video and chat.

Ten of the looks from Saunders’s Spring/Summer 2013 line will be made available immediately following the livestream, which is being hosted in a specially-created hub on the Motilo site.

Visual diaries

The British Fashion Council (BFC) will be hosting livestreams of 47 shows at londonfashionweek.com/live this season, including those showing apart from the main catwalk venues, such as Christopher Kane, Mulberry and Paul Smith. The BFC’s in-house team will also be narrating the LFW story with behind-the-scenes snapshots on Instagram via the “BritishFashionCouncil” account.

Meanwhile, designer Anya Hindmarch, taking inspiration from Oscar de la Renta‘s bridal and spring shows, is working with the BFC to bring fans all the live action of her show via Pinterest.

Her experience throughout London Fashion Week, as well as of her show itself on Tuesday, will be pinned to the BFC’s board, providing a real-time visual diary for fans to engage with. Inspiration shots, backstage prep, even seating plans and invitations — not to mention the collection as it hits — will all be included. The Osman show on Monday will also be live-pinned.

The recently relaunched Net-a-Porter Tumblr promises to give a comprehensive overview of Fashion Week from both the front row, the street and, increasingly, backstage. The e-commerce site’s Fashion Fix blog meanwhile is equally as strong, hosting all manner of daily video insights and editorial content about trends.

Blogger, illustrator and photographer Garance Doré is also creating a series of videos for Net-a-Porter from each city, introduced in New York with an inside look at her prep for the week, and continuing through London with a second release on Tuesday.

Expert commentary

For those looking for some more expert analysis and professional insight on the collections, the place to head is SHOWstudio. Here, an exciting dose of live commentary and conversation is taking place alongside the livestreams on a number of key shows.

Hosted by SHOWstudio’s Lou Stoppard and writer Camilla Morton, you’ll find panel discussions with fashion experts including journalists, stylists, buyers and image-makers. “It’s about communicating fashion in a raw, unedited and honest way… and bringing the excitement of the front row to a broader audience,” the team explains.

SHOWstudio founder and director, Nick Knight, adds, “There is so much potential to cover the fashion shows in an entertaining way that can involve and excite a huge range of people. Sport events, for example, are always explained to their public by a panel of ‘experts,’ whereas fashion is just presented as if its only audience is the industry. Fashion coverage is also so inoffensive; everyone is too scared to rock the boat. Any art form benefits from a strong and robust critical forum — including fashion.”

Whistles CEO Jane Sheperdson, writer Colin McDowell, filmmaker Ruth Hogben, artist Daphne Guinness and more will all be featured. The initiative is occurring throughout fashion month (so New York, Milan and Paris too) from the company’s headquarters in London. LFW will see three shows covered: Burberry, Christopher Kane and Fashion East.

The BFC is looking to Twitter as always too, continuing its #AskLFW conversations from @LondonFashionWk with guest tweeters this season, including New York socialite Olivia Palermo, designers Matthew Williamson and Roksanda Ilincic, and Grazia magazine’s style director (and soon-to-be fashion director at Harvey Nichols), Paula Reed.

Geo-tracked transport

And finally, Vodafone is set to help LFW VIPs get about the city more easily throughout the week, thanks to an innovative bespoke app.

Each of the Mercedes-Benz cars VIPs travel in will include a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet pre-loaded with “fleet management technology” so they can track their progress in the city. In other words, they’ll be able to view their location and speed — similar to how you would on an airplane — in relation to the press and photographer buses, helping them judge how long they have until the next show begins.

As Rosanna Falconer, digital marketing executive at the BFC, explains, “It lets them know how quickly they need to be there, and whether they have time to stop off for that all-important cup of coffee.”

The app also includes a calendar of the show schedule, a list of PR contacts, a Twitter feed displaying relevant hashtags and a stream of post-show videos from YouTube. The initiative helps ensure those all-important attendees remain as on the ball so as to keep providing content for the rest of us.

Despite being a city largely comprised of young, independent designers — with therefore decidedly low budgets — London’s support network sees it once again upping its game for Spring/Summer 2013, cementing itself as a true contender in the digital space. Of course, we will have to see what Burberry has planned for us on Monday.

Topshop #LFW show to offer customisable, instantly shoppable looks online

Topshop is focusing on personalisation with the online streaming of its Unique show at London Fashion Week on Sunday, launching a variety of innovative initiatives for consumers to engage one-on-one with, including customisable catwalk looks.

Its first under the direction of new CMO Justin Cooke, formerly at Burberry, the experience will allow fans to see product shots of a set number of apparel and accessories items as they watch the live-stream on Topshop.com and simultaneously change the colour of them to their preference.

Those pieces can then be pre-ordered for spring/summer 2013 delivery in six to eight weeks – cleverly giving Topshop incredible insight into what it is their target market would most like to see on the shopfloor, and importantly, in what colours.

The beauty products worn on the runway will likewise be available to buy, with delivery in 48 hours, as will the music playlist immediately via iTunes.

Cooke, who admits to being particularly excited by customisable handbag colours, said: “This show is all about the customer and creating what we call ‘social entertainment’ around our product. We want to take the energy and the excitement of our iconic Oxford street store to millions of people all over the world through Topshop.com. It’s social, it’s commerce and it’s entertainment all rolled into one.’’

A “shoot the show” feature will also enable viewers to share catwalk looks with their Facebook friends in real-time. The result of a partnership between Topshop and the social networking site, it will see a camera button sitting in the corner of the live-stream video (and on demand version) that when clicked captures the screen and opens an image for sharing.

“Fashion enthusiasts are sharing the things they love on Facebook now more than ever. This is where the conversation happens, it’s among friends and it’s where great brands need to engage. Topshop clearly understand this, they are a cool young brand with a deep understanding of their customers, and by developing the innovative ‘shoot the show’ functionality with Facebook, they are enabling millions of people globally to share their favorite moments instantly with their friends,” said Joanna Shields, VP and MD of Facebook.

Adding to the entertainment is a challenge on Twitter. Branded the “tweet off”, it encourages fans to review the show in just 140 characters. The best will win VIP tickets to attend next season.

Watch the video below to see some of the plans in action…

London menswear shows to benefit from multiple digital initiatives

London’s first dedicated menswear fashion week is focusing on engaging with consumers via digital, thanks to multiple innovations backed by the British Fashion Council.

London Collections: Men, which kickstarts Friday and runs through Sunday, will incorporate everything from live-streaming to pinning, as well as a film programme and augmented reality-enabled windows.

Here are some of the highlights:

Pinterest
Leading industry figures such as Jeremy Langmead, editor-in-chief of e-commerce site, Mr Porter, will share their moments from the week’s events by pinning onto the British Fashion Council’s newly launched Pinterest page. The public is also invited to participate by using the hashtag #ManAboutTown. The request is for menswear street style photos, whether taken at the event or anywhere else around the world. The resulting images will be collated on a dedicated pinboard and in a Facebook album in a bid to “provide a crowd-sourced visual collection of the best of British men’s style”.

Twitter
On Twitter, @BFC is not only pushing conversation around the #londoncollections hashtag, but hosting a series of Q&A sessions with members of its Fashion 2012 Menswear Committee, including Alex Bilmes, editor of UK Esquire magazine, and designer Richard James. The live interviews can be followed via #AskLCM.

Interactive image gallery
In celebration of The Prince of Wales officially launching the event at St James’s Palace tomorrow, the BFC has published an online image gallery dedicated to his style. Within it, users can explore outfits ranging from highland tartans to Savile Row suits, discovering the origin of each and learning more about the brand that made it. His preferred London labels are also plotted on a map alongside a picture of the related garments.

Aurasma
Following in the footsteps of Net-a-Porter’s Fashion’s Night Out and Karl initiatives, Mr Porter has teamed up with augmented reality technology company Aurasma, to bring the windows of The Hospital Club (the main hub for the event) to life. By scanning the life-sized catwalk illustrations with the Mr Porter Style Help app, users will be able to see the latest show footage.

Film and live-streaming
There is also a screening room within The Hospital Club that will run the BFC’s Fashion/On Film programme, sponsored by high street retailer River Island. Included will be an evening hosted by Test Presents with DJ and fashion luminary Jeffrey Hinton, who will show excerpts from his 80s film archive; as well as panel member Kathryn Ferguson discussing fashion film with female menswear designers, Carri Munden (Cassette Playa), Katie Eary and Martine Rose. Every show held at The Hospital Club as well as those at the Topman Venue will also be live streamed, both online and on mobile.

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:

Fashion week: designers divided over digital media

Although the fashion industry has been quick to use digital media to become more accessible to consumers, certain designers are using the same tools to keep catwalk access exclusive.

While I watched the ICB by Prabal Gurung show at New York Fashion Week it struck me that although the fashion industry is embracing the openness digital media provides, the backlash against it is also beginning.

I wasn’t at the Lincoln Center; or any other grandiose venue across Manhattan, but rather in front of my computer screen.

However, the difference to any other live-stream of a show during a fashion week, was that this one was online-only.

I am a strong proponent of watching shows from the comfort of my own home or office anyway. As media editor of an online trends service, my defence is that I’m actually the geek that prefers being able to more easily tweet while still focusing on the collection. The biggest bonus of all is that you get a far better view of the garments first time around via the stream, than you often ever do when you’re there next to the catwalk.

As Christina Binkley, style columnist for the Wall Street Journal said on Twitter: “Watching the ICB by Prabal Gurung online fashion show is like watching football on TV. You’re not there, but you see more than if you were.”

However, what you don’t often get with either, unless you’ve headed straight backstage or you’re booked for follow-up salon appointments, is that close detailed view; a true second look. Believe me there have been many times when I’ve peered forward from my seat, or better yet hit pause and CTRL + to zoom in on the screen – it’s not quite the same.

But this is why ICB was perfect. Every look was already there in high-res jpeg form. And every detail had a dedicated picture too – the fabric textures, the handbags, the prints and the make-up choices. There were also informative notes on each piece and a video of Gurung discussing his inspirations. All can be replayed and revisited.

And what’s even more interesting about all this, is that the ICB show was also invite-only. Even my colleague next to me couldn’t login – her email address wasn’t on the list.

This new exclusive online-only strategy has made me wonder – is this a step towards an anti consumer all-access sentiment? Are Gurung’s team trying to buck the trend for offering everyone around the world a “front row seat” via the web? Could this be the beginning of a backlash to the fashion industry’s rapid adoption of burgeoning social media platforms?

We first saw it with Tom Ford, who has a strict no photographs and no reviews policy for at least three months, and Phoebe Philo at Céline, who likewise calls for no shots or tweets from backstage at her shows. Those decisions have been met with mixed reception, but both are essentially attempting to close the gap between the hype of a new collection and the time (on average six months later) it actually hits the shop floor.

ICB is adopting the same exclusive strategy, albeit with a less established brand and solely on a digital platform.

“The password is just a replacement for your seat number,” said Ed Filipowski, co-president of PR company KCD, who was behind the concept. “To me, it’s not MTV, it’s not YouTube. It’s for the industry.”

While the time lag wasn’t enforced (I for one was tweeting as I watched), it seems, if anything, at least an attempt at rediscovering a sense of authority in the industry. Enabling the likes of Vogue and the major newspapers to be the first to comment once again, rather than your dime-a-dozen blogger is an interesting step.

Likewise, the British Fashion Council is reinforcing the importance of focusing on the press and buyers who attend London Fashion Week this season. Although consumer access to the event, which kicked off on Friday, has become increasingly open over the past few seasons, and is set to be its biggest yet with 46 shows streaming live, those in the trade are being prioritised once more.

For the first time, their passes to the fashion week grounds provide a constant stream of live content, thanks to an ongoing partnership with image-recognition app Aurasma. By scanning them, they’re directed to live news from the London Fashion Week organisers. While that content isn’t exclusive, it is confirmation of ensuring the experts have easy, on-the-go access to everything they need, especially given the fast-paced nature of such a week.

But on the other hand, London is also seeing a continuing focus on consumer-first. Burberry kickstarted it with the Tweetwalk last September – offering those on Twitter a glimpse of each look seconds before those actually in attendance. The same is planned for tomorrow’s show, with a delayed version of the image-stream also being posted on the giant Cromwell Road billboard in London (Europe’s longest advertising outdoor space).

The brand’s main focus is reach; getting out to as many of the public as possible, which is why they’ll also be live-streaming to Liverpool Street Station, as well as on mobile and tablet device.

Harrods is taking it one step further again by handing the buying decision of the forthcoming Burberry collection over to its Facebook fans.

On Tuesday, the day after the designer’s show, the department store will post images of every look on its Facebook page. Those that receive the most ‘likes’ will be incorporated into the store’s purchases for the season.

The argument almost certainly is that it’s common sense those outfits proving the most popular at this stage will end up being the ones that sell once they hit the floor later in the year (although the profile of the Harrods Facebook fan versus the actual Harrods shopper could be questioned).

Similarly, back in New York and Oscar de la Renta turned to crowdsourcing, inviting consumers to become a part of his creative process by launching a virtual pinboard open for anyone to post their ideas to. The idea is similar to Pinterest, the new picture-based social network, that has been attracting lots of attention of late.

“The Board” is a call for anyone and everyone to help the designer with inspiration sources for his resort collection.

Both of these initiatives aren’t just about providing consumers with increasing amounts of access anymore then, but actually involving them in the entire behind-the-scenes process; from concept to sales rail.

Combined with ICB, the result of these conflicting digital strategies is an overwhelming sense of the fashion industry being drawn into a “whirlpool”. There is now a battle between a tightening industry grip on the one hand, and an all-access opening to consumers, on the other.

Neither side is right or wrong, but there’s still that gaping hole from one extreme to the other, and more importantly from the season we’re seeing to the season we’re buying.

The question is can the industry, defined by these biannual fashion weeks, the world over, adapt fittingly while continuing to embrace the benefits of digital media?

This piece originally appeared on The Telegraph

Burberry to debut catwalk collection via animated GIFs on Twitter

Click here for the lowdown on all things digital planned for the Burberry show at London Fashion Week today: Mashable

Only Burberry would launch a trailer for its #LFW show

 

Watch it live on Monday at 4pm GMT – www.Burberry.com

Beyond Burberry: how London Fashion Week is ramping up digital

Burberry might be the hot ticket when it comes to pioneering digital initiatives during London Fashion Week, but that doesn’t mean a wealth of other British brands aren’t giving it a go as well…

Read the rest of my Mashable piece, here – Beyond Burberry: how London Fashion Week is ramping up digital