Digital snippets: Peter Som, Bergdorfs, Prada, Jean Paul Gaultier, American Eagle

There’s been a lot happening in the fashion and technology space over the past couple of weeks, ranging from Proenza Schouler’s new site to Net-a-Porter moving into the beauty space. News of Pinterest’s new analytics platform and Facebook’s planned integration of the hashtag have also hit. Here are the rest of the highlights sourced from around the web…

Don’t forget to check out this wrap-up report from SXSW Interactive as it applies to the fashion industry too.

 

• Behind Peter Som’s 3.3 million Pinterest followers [BoF]

• Insider Access: Q&A with Cannon Hodge, Bergdorf Goodman [Fashion’s Collective]

• Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola made a Prada film (as per above trailer) [Fashionista]

• Jean Paul Gaultier launches responsive web design [Web&Luxe]

• American Eagle spoof video pokes fun at skinny jeans trend [NY Daily News]

• Neiman Marcus launches fashion contest on Pinterest [WWD]

• Justin Bieber plays drums in adidas NEO interactive lookbook [MTV Style]

• Aeropostale launching new tech for teens [Business Insider]

• Puma seeks to celebrate individuality with Worn My Way lifestyle campaign [Marketing magazine]

• 3D printing clothes at home could be reality by 2050 [PSFK]

• Google Glass app identifies you by your fashion sense [NewScientist]

• Zalando concept car spots fashions, transforms into changing room [Gizmag]

• China entering e-commerce and mobile “golden age”. So why are fashion brands lagging? [Jing Daily]

• What real-time branding means for luxury brands [Luxury Daily]

All the digital highlights from #NYFW: 360° live-streams to Twitter trolls

It might have been the season that everyone played with Twitter’s new vide0-sharing app, Vine, but so too were there numerous other digital happenings around this New York Fashion Week. Here are the highlights:

• Kenneth Cole reminded the audience to turn their smartphones ON during his show, pledging to donate a dollar to AIDS research foundation amfAR for every tweet with the #KCRUNWAY hashtag

• He also turned the cameras on the crowd when he sent models out during the finale clad with their own phones (see pic above)

• Tommy Hilfiger hosted a display featuring real-time updates from backstage, as posted on Twitter here and here

• Rebecca Minkoff was the victim of Twitter trolls. A huge learning in this one

• Kimberly Ovitz sent 3D-printed jewellery down the runway alongside her autumn/winter 2013/14 collection

• The Y-3 collection featured a 360° and interactive live-stream, including four different views of the runway and backstage on one screen

• Still to come tomorrow is Michael Kors’ All Access – All Angles initiative, another 360° live-stream experience, and the postponed Marc Jacobs show featuring pre-coverage with model Jessica Stam

eBay opens social shopping experience in London’s Covent Garden – pictures

eBay is hosting a “social shopping” pop-up in London over the weekend to tie in with what it predicts to be its busiest online shopping day of the year in the UK. Over six million people are expected to log on to its site this Sunday, and a significant number of those are likely to come from mobile, it says.

No surprise then, the Covent Garden setup is built around how to make the most of eBay using your smartphone or tablet, recognising at the same time how important social media is in that space too.

I just went along to check it out, as the pictures above and below show. On display is a real-time barometer of the most talked about gifts and products over Twitter, an augmented reality experience highlighting this year’s must-have toys (note the Furby in the below shot), an example of its image recognition technology in action, and more.

That latter one sees a number of fashion bloggers pictured on the wall alongside a fabric swatch they’ve picked out. Each one can be scanned using the eBay fashion app to bring up similar colours and items available across the site. We trialled our scarves to double check they weren’t preloaded results – it did of course work wonderful.

eBay says mobile technologies such as this, as well as augmented reality and 3D, will present the UK retail industry with a potential boost of £2.4bn by 2014.

Carrie Bienkowski, head of buyer experience at eBay, said it’s changing the way we shop. “Consumers now carry a global showroom in their pocket and are increasingly as inclined to seek recommendations online and shop mobile as visit the high street. At eBay we expect 2012 to be our most successful mobile Christmas ever with around 30% of the most popular Christmas products being bought through a smartphone.”

eBay’s social shopping pop-up space is open from today until Sunday – if you’re in the area, check it out.

Bloomingdale’s pushes wearable technology with Microsoft Printing Dress for #FNO

One of the technology highlights from yesterday’s Fashion’s Night Out in New York, was the presence of Microsoft’s Printing Dress in Bloomingdale’s.

A research project exploring the intersection of fashion and technology, it showcases real-time tweets by integrating computer components and a projector under the surface of its skirt.

Consumers were encouraged to tag their Twitter posts with #MSBloomingdales to then see them appear on the dress.

The award-winning protoype (first presented at the Design Exhibition at the International Symposium of Wearable Computers in San Francisco in 2011) is otherwise made almost entirely out of black and white rice paper.

Although at this stage it’s essentially an art installation, the dress could also theoretically see wearers typing messages on the keyboard incorporated in its bodice to then project for everyone to see.

Bloomingdale’s was also playing host to the Swivel virtual dressing room from FaceCake in its window displays, which makes use of Microsoft Kinect to allow consumers to try-on items by interacting from the other side of the glass. See more in the video below, and read what else Microsoft is up to during New York Fashion Week, here.

Digital snippets: adidas, Garance Doré and Kate Spade, Bergdorf’s, Hipstamatic

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

• adidas builds on Olympic success with ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ Team GB video (as above) [The Drum]

• Super blogger Garance Doré launches collaborative collection with Kate Spade [Vogue.co.uk]

• Bergdorf Goodman’s online push [WWD]

• adidas creates sneakers that display real-time tweets [PSFK]

• W magazine partners with iPhone photography app Hipstamatic [Mashable]

• Faces of NYFW aggregates real-time data from fashion week [Fashion Notes]

• The potential of e-commerce in China [MaoSuit]

Digital snippets: London 2012 #Olympics special!

London 2012 has been dubbed the “social media Olympics”, and rightly so given the overwhelming growth seen all things digital even since Beijing in 2008.

All the usual platforms are proving relevant, from YouTube to Instagram, and of course Twitter for real-time updates. Facebook launched a special page featuring links to athletes, teams and sports, while so too is there an official Olympic Hub from the IOC, and a partnership between LOCOG and Foursquare. There was even a dedicated hashtag to keep what happens during the opening ceremony a secret: #savethesurprise.

And then of course there are the brands. Official sponsor or not, the online space is awash with those tapping in as closely as they can to sporting fever.

It all kicks off officially from tonight, but until then here are a couple of the best campaigns we’ve seen across the digital space so far:

• adidas and David Beckham surprise fans: This one might be a real-world activation, but there’s nothing quite like a viral video to get everyone talking about it: 2.3m views and counting of adidas surprising shoppers having their pictures taken in its #takethestage photo booth with a guest appearance by David Beckham (as below) [YouTube]

• Coca Cola’s Move to the Beat campaign: In the aim of connecting younger people to the action, Coca Cola teamed up with Mark Ronson and turned to music. The Grammy Award-winning producer recorded the sounds of five different Olympic sports and used the resulting beats to create a track, as shown below. The brand is also inviting fans to have a go at remixing themselves via a dedicated app [Coca Cola]

• EDF uses Twitter to dictate colour of London Eye: London’s infamous Ferris wheel is set to become a giant mood ring as EDF Energy teams up with Sosolimited to display different colours based on the sentiment of tweets around the Games [Mashable]

• Nike’s Find Your Greatness spot pushes Olympic advertising rules: The first non-sponsor to mention is of course Nike. An expert at ambush marketing (Write the Future a case in point), the brand has launched an ad that references other places around the world also called London (as below). “Greatness is not in one special place, it is not in one special person; greatness is wherever somebody is trying to find it,” says the narrator. It is also backed by a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #findgreatness [Fast Co]

• Visa invites consumers to send in cheers: Part of Visa’s Go World campaign for the Olympics invites fans to submit a cheer to the participating athletes in the form of a click, post or video via Facebook. A lucky few will go on to feature in special-edition spots celebrating the achievements of Team Visa athletes in real-time [TheInspirationRoom]

• Nastia Liukin pushes Fantastic Gymnastics Dora doll and app: The latest doll from Dora the Explorer is a London 2012 gymnast special being promoted by Team USA five-time Olympic medallist Nastia Liukin. It also comes with an augmented reality app for kid’s to watch her come to life [BrandChannel]

• Harrods welcomes everyone to London: A very simple one here, but nonetheless noteworthy. Harrods posted a collaged picture featuring multiple icons of London associated with its own store as well as the Olympics on Facebook. The accompanying text read: “Over the coming weeks, London will play host to many visitors. We would simply like to say… Welcome to our wonderful city. #LoveLondon” [Harrods]

In case you haven’t seen them, there’s also the incredible Best Job spot from P&G (almost 5.5m views), Specsavers’ response to the Korean flag blunder, and the giant Jessica Ennis #homeadvantage image from British Airways on the Heathrow flight path (as pictured top).

Spot any more? Do add them to the comments…