#SXSW Interactive in prep: a fashionable playing ground for 2013

If there was one thing I learnt from SXSW last year, it was that I absolutely had to go again in 2013. On top of the fact it’s the place to hear industry leaders  give expert insights, the place to learn about new innovations and source fresh inspirations, and the place where trends and directions for the tech world break… it’s also a breeding ground for incredible networking.

For anyone working within the fashion-meets-digital space, this seems especially the case this year, with more attendees headed to Austin from our industry than ever, as well as a host of relevant events to go with it.

Fashion’s Collective is hosting one of them, known as the Fashion Brain Bar on Monday, March 11 (as pictured above). It’s aim is to provide a bit of respite from the insanity of the festival, but also a space for everyone to meet the people they need to meet and have “the conversations that will play a key role in the advancements we’ll see over the next few years”.

Industry experts on hand will include Raman Kia, executive director of integrated strategy at Condé Nast through to Dave Gilboa, founder of Warby Parker. The full list can be seen here, as well as a space to submit questions to them in advance.

Another fringe event planned is called The Neighborhood. Created by AvecMode and 2nd Street District, it’s a move on from the Style X event of previous years, which brought a fashion focus (complete with runway shows) to Austin nearer the end of the festival. This time plans are in place from March 11 – 14 with a bit more of an industry edge. There are pop-up stores still, but also Q&A sessions with pros from the likes of Neiman Marcus, Michael Kors, Lyst, Refinery29 and more, as well as highlight interviews with menswear designers John Varvatos and Billy Reid.

The main SXSW schedule does of course feature a number of fashion-specific events too, including this one with Nina Garcia focused on the democratisation of high fashion. And this one featuring New York’s “digital it-crowd” in Aliza Licht, Cannon Hodge, Erika Bearman and John Jannuzzi (that’d be DKNY, Bergdorf Goodman, Oscar de la Renta and Lucky Magazine).

Fashion’s Collective has also published a survival guide to the whole five days, including must-attend events (lots of them non-fashion which I would highly recommend, there’s nothing like being inspired from outside your normal remit), as well as a handful of food and drink recommendations (indispensable).

I also love this guide from Andrew Hyde, called Ditch the Marketers, Find the Makers, it sums up the rest of the experience beautifully (be friendly to everyone, sit down when you can, put down your tech and look at people – yes really).

On that note mind you, if you’re going, drop me a line over Twitter. Assuming I can connect, I’d love to meet you.

Vine scores big with #NYFW crowd

The marc by @MarcJacobsIntl show live-streamed in six-seconds. Yes Vine! #marcjacobslive #nyfw vine.co/v/bvDVrl3FpIt—
Rachel Arthur (@rachel_arthur) February 12, 2013

If there’s one thing to note this New York Fashion Week it’s the enormous number of posts being shared on Twitter’s new video-sharing app, Vine.

Brands, media houses and industry personalities alike are getting into the habit, capturing six-second scenes from around the venues, backstage at the shows and of the collections on the catwalks themselves. Some of the big names include Victoria Beckham, Marc Jacobs, Oscar de la Renta, DKNY, Bergdorf Goodman, the CFDA, KCD, Glamour, Lucky, Elizabeth Holmes of the WSJ, Nina Garcia, Coco Rocha, Man Repeller and the list goes on…

It’s an obvious move for an industry that trades predominantly on visuals. Both Instagram and animated GIFs have been huge for exactly that reason, but the former was static and the latter too complicated to quickly create. Add them roughly together however and the result is something that shows fashion in all its glory – with movement and in real, raw detail. Better yet of course with Vine, in an instantly shareable format too.

“Vine is a big idea, yet it is a simple one—the two basic ingredients for a successful emerging technology recipe,” Raman Kia, Condé Nast Media’s executive director of digital strategy told Fashionista. “It is no wonder that some brands are quick to jump in and experiment with it. This is especially true of fashion brands which have often been amongst the first to experiment with emerging social media platforms.”

On Twitter, Amy Odell of Buzzfeed asked at the beginning of fashion week: “Are runway photos even worth tweeting anymore?? (Kimberly Ovitz) #nyfw pic.twitter.com/VS1wLOfv.” Model Coco Rocha replied: “@amyodell the only worthwhile means of sharing the runway this season is Vine.”

It’s still early days however, with certain refinements including sound, zoom and drafts needed on the platform. There are likely developments to come on what people opt to post too – the endless finale shots from fashion week have become somewhat repetitive for instance, albeit successful when from a good angle. (Note my attempt at better quality by cheating with the live-stream of marc by Marc Jacobs above).

Either way, expect to see a lot more in this space. In the meantime, here are a handful of the highlight Vines from #NYFW so far:

Backstage at this morning's AW13 show #NYFW vine.co/v/bv5zArrvT1j—
Victoria Beckham (@victoriabeckham) February 10, 2013

one week to the show. vine.co/v/bnbhFvMXhTe—
  (@OscarPRGirl) February 05, 2013

Rebecca Minkoff finale. #nyfw vine.co/v/bnYwEzAuZrQ—
Elizabeth Holmes (@EHolmesWSJ) February 08, 2013

Show time at @marcjacobsintl #fashion #nyfw vine.co/v/bvD16hdHLFn—
KCD (@KCDworldwide) February 12, 2013

Backstage #DKNYMen vine.co/v/bnnTBHPq3MK—
DKNY PR GIRL® (@dkny) February 06, 2013

A little Bill Cunningham on the hunt for street style vine.co/v/bv50Je1X5Xj—
Bergdorf Goodman (@Bergdorfs) February 10, 2013

Brightening everyone's NYC day! @katespadeny vine.co/v/bnE2lKdmwpd—
CFDA (@CFDA) February 08, 2013

The finale. @Zac_Posen #nyfw vine.co/v/bvneYXeiWgV—
Coco Rocha (@cocorocha) February 11, 2013

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]

Digital snippets: Oscar de la Renta, Hugo Boss, Nike, Michael Kors, Dove, Target

Some more great stories from around the web surrounding all things fashion and digital over the past week:

• Oscar de la Renta sells five Resort tees in first day via TheFancy (as pictured) [NY Times]

• Hugo Boss hosts New Dimension Beijing event, live-streams new collection and campaign in 3-D [Hugo Boss]

• Nike’s interactive ad challenges viewers to find secret content [PSFK]

• Michael Kors opens new store via email, social video invite [Luxury Daily]

• Dove seeks ‘brand love’ with strategic shift to Facebook [Marketing Magazine]

• Target rolls out Shopkick app [BrandChannel]

• E-commerce in China: how the world’s biggest market buys online [Mashable]

• Op-Ed: Are we failing to fulfill the potential of fashion film? [BoF]

• IFB launches interactive Instagram campaign for summer [FashionablyMarketing.Me]

Digital snippets: Oscar de la Renta, Victoria Beckham, Kate Spade, Bloomingdale’s, Nike

Some more great stories from around the web surrounding all things fashion and digital over the past week:

• Oscar de la Renta live pins bridal show (as pictured) [The Cut]

• Victoria Beckham’s social whirl [WWD]

• How Kate Spade New York uses social media to sell handbags [Business Insider]

• Bloomingdale’s virtual reality windows let shoppers try on shades [NY Daily News]

• Nike creates new Twitter RSVP system to facilitate shoe releases [Stupid Dope]

• New Balance Boston’s digital community board gives real-time running updates [PSFK]

• LVMH on managing its brands on Facebook [WSJ]

• US Elle tries Facebook commerce, launches shoppable trend guide [Mashable]

• Fancy hits 500,000 users, 1,000 merchants [Gigaom]

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

Oscar de la Renta crowdsources creative ideas through #theboard

Oscar de la Renta is inviting consumers to become a part of his creative process by launching a virtual pinboard open for anyone to post their ideas to.

In a new take on crowdsourcing, “The Board“, says the designer, is a call for anyone and everyone to help him out with ideas for his next collection.

“Don’t tell me, show me…” reads the tagline.

In an accompanying video address, he says: “Come with us, give us ideas; things that we haven’t thought about that you think will be great… I would love to embrace anything that you have to say.”

The initiative launched following this evening’s autumn/winter 2012/13 show in New York. There are already posts by the likes of Marie Claire fashion director Nina Garcia, Erica Domesek of P.S. I made this, and bloggers Tom & Lorenzo.

It follows hot on the heels of the fashion industry’s love affair with Pinterest.

Those viewing submissions can also share the inspiration of others on their own Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest pages.

Digital snippets: Oscar PR Girl, Daphne Guinness for Printemps, Narciso Rodriguez, FashionStake

Some more great stories from around the web surrounding all things fashion and digital this week:

• Oscar PR Girl joins Pinterest (as pictured) [Pinterest]

• Here’s why Pinterest works better than Google+ [ReadWriteWeb]

• Daphne Guinness to play virtual mannequin at Printemps using cutting-edge three-dimensional scanning technology [WWD]

• Narciso Rodriguez to create exclusive line for online retail store Rent the Runway [PSFK]

• Why brands including Tiffany & Co, Puma and Burberry are using Instagram [AdAge]

• New e-commerce business models, including personal subscription, social merchandising, mass customisation and collaborative consumption [BoF]

• Fab.com acquires FashionStake after seven months of rapid growth [All Things D]

• Women’s Wear Daily launches on iPad [Mashable]

Oscar de la Renta launches exclusive fragrance ring via f-commerce

Oscar de la Renta has turned to f-commerce with the launch of a limited edition cocktail ring featuring a solid concentration of its Esprit d’Oscar fragrance, available exclusively for Facebook fans from today.

Thanks to technology provided by social commerce company 8thBridge, the initiative allows users to shop the product end to end, therefore without leaving their Facebook feed.  (All you have to do is “like” ODLR to access the offer).

According to Erika Bearman, vice president of communications, aka Oscar PR Girl, this marks the beginning of a number of f-commerce exclusives that will follow from the brand, each one designed with its fans in mind.

It also demonstrates Oscar’s continuing dedication to social media, and belief that when it comes to sales, its various platforms (Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook) are particularly suited to its fragrance business. The company won back its fragrance licence just last year, and launched Esprit d’Oscar via a Facebook campaign in April 2011.

Digital snippets: Oscar de la Renta, Giorgio Armani Boudoir, ASOS, Jimmy Choo

Some more great stories from around the web surrounding all things fashion and digital over the past week:

 

• Why Oscar de la Renta is so “haute” on social media [Mashable]

• Giorgio Armani’s “Boudoir” fashion film for autumn/winter 2011/12 by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott (as above) [KARLISMYUNKLE]

• ASOS launches transactional mobile app [NewMediaAge]

• Jimmy Choo’s Tamara Mellon launches Tumblr blog [Racked]

• Fashion bloggers to spur online luxury sales [Reuters]

• Personal shopping site JustFabulous raises $33m funding [Forbes]