Digital snippets: Gap and DVF, JC Penney, Nike, eBay and Kate Spade Saturday, Burberry

A round-up of recent stories from around the web surrounding all things fashion and digital:

• GapKids launches photo filters and stickers with Aviary to promote Diane von Furstenberg collection (as pictured) [TechCrunch]

• JC Penney says ‘We’re Sorry’ and ‘Come Back’ with social media blitz [BrandChannel]

• Nike gears customised shoe campaign to Instagram users [ClickZ]

• eBay and Kate Spade Saturday to launch touchscreen store window [PSFK]

• Fashion meets music with Burberry’s new eyewear campaign [Vogue Australia]

• Condé Entertainment previews video channels for Vogue, Wired and Vanity Fair [WWD]

• Is Primark mad to ignore e-commerce? [Econsultancy]

• Making the best of a digital situation: what luxury brands can do to catch up online [Forbes]

• The best fashion/tech start-ups at NY Tech Day [Fashion’s Collective]

• Online, everyone can be a make-up critic [NYTimes]

Net-a-Porter’s Massenet uses Instagram to share her life story

The coverage of Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massanet’s talk at last weekend’s Vogue Festival might have been largely focused on her juggling motherhood and business, but for those that didn’t spot it, one of the most interesting things about her delivery was its accompanying digital component.

Massenet used Instagram – a platform she’s already very familiar with – to share images from her life. A digital autobiography if you will at nataporter_mystorysofar. It features over 120 shots, some of them photographs of her past, others quotes or captions, as well as titles marking off the chapters of her career. Each one is accompanied by a caption that explains its significance.

As Susie Bubble wrote: “It recounts her life, from her early years to studying at UCLA, to dabbling in modelling, film production and then moving into fashion journalism at WWD and Tatler to finally starting up Net-a-Porter in 2000.”

Do check it out here – it sparks some beautiful ideas on the way brands could have a little fun with the platform too.  As Bubble says: “You can’t peruse this Instagram autobiography and NOT be inspired and motivated to do something, anything.”

British Vogue hits one million followers on Twitter

The @BritishVogue Twitter handle has just reached one million followers after a period of significant growth off the back of its Vogue.co.uk site relaunch in September 2012.

The magazine added 250,000 followers in the past four months to hit the milestone, a fact it attributes to the “enhanced level of engagement that [its] users now have across platforms”.

“Social media is becoming ever more important and apparent in our users’ lives.  Our aim is to ensure that our Twitter feed remains relevant and entertaining, providing our core followers with up to the minute fashion news and authoritative fashion insight,” said Jamie Jouning, digital director of Condé Nast.

In comparison, @VogueMagazine (US Vogue) has 2.1m followers, @VogueParis has a similar following of just over 1m, @Vogue_Italia has nearly 275,000, and @styledotcom has just shy of 500,000. Alexandra Shulman herself has 11,000.

British Vogue has also just achieved 250,000 followers on Facebook and 10,000 followers on both Pinterest and Instagram.

Digital snippets: Juicy Couture, Gap, Harrods, Fendi

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

• Juicy Couture launching short shoppable film for holiday campaign (as pictured) [WWD]

• Gap Inc restructures brand leadership for global, digital growth [BrandChannel]

• Harrods partners with Stardoll to set up online store selling virtual copies of designer childrenswear [Marketing Magazine]

• Fendi flaunts fall handbag line via Rome-set spy flick [Luxury Daily]

• Bloggers on fashion’s front row [FT]

• Sally Singer named creative director of digital at US Vogue [Fashionista]

• Condé Nast UK expects digital to account for 30% of total revenues in 2014 [Media Week]

• Pinfluencer brings Pinterest contests to brands’ sites, Facebook pages [AdWeek]

• Here’s how consumers are shopping with their phones [Business Insider]

Vogue Paris tells #storyof1million Twitter followers with dedicated microsite

French Vogue has celebrated reaching one million followers on Twitter by launching a microsite dedicated to its digital history.

Storyof1million – available in both French and English – is an interactive experience featuring highlights of the @VogueParis Twitter handle, through images, music and video.

It documents over four years of coverage; from launch on September 4, 2008 to today. Its first ever tweet read: “Retrouvez dès le 5 septembre les télégrammes de Vogue.com en direct de la fashion week de New York” (See our Vogue.com telegrams from New York Fashion Week from September 5).

Sarah Herz, director of Condé Nast France’s digital operations, explained it as “a unique digital narrative with over 400 elements, created entirely by the editorial staff to celebrate the site’s most exciting and pivotal moments yet”. She added that the initiative was designed to express the magazine’s deepest gratitude to all the followers, fans and celebrities that have supported it.

The one million mark makes Vogue Paris the most followed French publication on Twitter. It continues to tweet from behind-the-scenes with its editorial team, covering everything from exclusive interviews to fashion week shows, news exclusives and after-party snippets.

Diana Vreeland documentary can teach the fashion industry something about marketing too

In the new Diana Vreeland documentary, The Eye Has to Travel, designer Diane von Furstenberg refers to the memos written by the late editor and museum curator, as being like a blog. “[Vreeland] was, in fact, the first blogger,” she jokes.

The wit, precision and bite-sized content of those memos however, makes that idea, albeit in analog form, not too hard to imagine playing out successfully online.

Vreeland wasn’t of course around to witness the explosion of the social web, but had she been a part of it, she most definitely would have done it better than anyone else.

The film itself, is truly incredible. As the write-up reads: “Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel is an intimate portrait and a vibrant celebration of one of the most influential women of the twentieth century, an enduring icon who has had a strong influence on the course of fashion, beauty, publishing and culture.”

It continues: “During her fifty year reign as the “Empress of Fashion”… [she invited] us to join her on a voyage of perpetual reinvention and take part in the adventure of life. Through her trained and diligent eye, she opened the door of our minds and gave us the freedom to imagine. Her images and accomplishments are as fresh and relevant now as they were then, and her spirit is just as vibrant and relevant today.”

Part way through the film, one of the many high profile old colleagues, friends and family members (from Richard Avedon and Lauren Bacall to Hubert de Givenchy) featured, says: “She was about ideas, the magic of fashion.”

And it’s that that resonates.

It reminds us once again why the fashion industry can be so incredibly good at marketing: it’s all about storytelling and imagination. Or as Vreeland so aptly says in the film: “We live through our dreams and our imagination. That’s the only reality we ever really know…”

Most definitely something there to be learnt in how to approach digital strategy.

Go watch the film.

 

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.

Vogue.co.uk relaunches

Vogue.co.uk has unveiled a re-imagined website that ties a new navigation structure with a sleeker, more elegant visual approach for its 1.3m unique monthly users.

Informed by information architecture, it debuts a new left-hand browser bar as well as ‘Topic Timeline’ pages that see everything from news stories and catwalk shows to galleries and Vogue covers come together by brand, people or events. The search therefore becomes an important research tool for users, and the site even more of a “definitive, constantly developing archive of each of fashion’s most influential names”.

Editor, Dolly Jones, said: “Inspiring and informing millions of users worldwide, for nearly 17 years Vogue.co.uk has been at the forefront of fashion online, and this re-imagining is the culmination of all we’ve learnt to date, simultaneously taking advantage of the most sophisticated and innovative technologies available. The visual appeal the site delivers as a result of its expansive and engaging images is immediate.  Retaining the unique Vogue spirit and position as the pre-eminent fashion media brand, while capitalising on the smartest innovation going, we could not be in better shape to continue to dominate the sector.”

The new site also allows the Vogue team to mix image sizes and post videos, music playlists and quotes for the first time.

Meanwhile, during catwalk season, a new immersive gallery will incorporate all aspects of a show at once, including backstage, front row and the collection itself. The top panel on the homepage, which normally features a single large image related to one main story, will also be broken up to showcase multiple designers over this period.

As for the commercial aspects of the redesign, it aims to provide a bigger creative canvas than ever before. Jamie Jouning, digital director of Condé Nast, said: “Full screen, responsive HTML5 ads are available for key sponsors, and our best-in-class gallery experience provides advertisers with the opportunity to run hugely impactful gallery interstitials.  In-depth site analysis also guided us towards the creation of bespoke “in-content” ad formats that sit elegantly within the main article experience.”

Built in HTML5 and CSS3, the site is also device responsive, meaning it adjusts to suit the screen being used. Ralph Lauren acts as launch sponsor with a series of ads taking advantage of the technology to showcase its autumn/winter 2012/13 collection.

January to June 2012 statistics show Vogue.co.uk received an average of 29,945,632 page impressions and 1,292,805 unique users per month.

Digital snippets: Isaac Mizrahi, Lanvin, Helmut Lang, Lady Gaga, Vogue

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

 

• Isaac Mizrahi to sell fashion line exclusively on LivingSocial [Mashable]

• Lanvin reveals new campaign film starring real models from print ads (as above) [Fashionista]

• Helmut Lang launches guest blogging series [WWD]

• The rise of the blogger designer [Telegraph Fashion]

• How to make a perfume ad go viral: just be Lady Gaga [AdAge]

• Product videos nudge apparel shoppers toward register [eMarketer]

• Vogue mines intel from 2,000 fashion-focused females with virtual focus group, Style Society [AdWeek]

• Le Book selects fashion videos for New York Film Festival next spring [Vogue.co.uk]

• Infographic: for brand engagament, visuals rule [Mashable]

Vogue launches trailer for new monthly iPad app

We all know video has become a massive part of fashion marketing, but what’s a touch newer is movie-style trailers to preview what’s on offer from the industry.

Mashable recently reported on one example from Esquire magazine to showcase a forthcoming issue, so too was there another from Burberry ahead of its spring/summer 2012 show. And now, British Vogue has released one to celebrate the fact its iPad app has just gone monthly.

Featuring exclusive video footage of cover star Karlie Kloss supplied by Nick Knight, and rotating imagery by Nice Images, it demonstrates the best of what’s included in the title’s September ‘International Collections’ issue (as above).

The move to monthly digital editions for Vogue follows an initial one-off launch with its December 2010 issue, and again for June and December 2011. The new offering includes a full version of the print edition alongside additional interactive content. Included in this first issue, now available to download from Newsstand on the App store, are 90 editorial fashion pages, as well as behind-the-scenes videos and images of models Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Georgia May Jagger on their Olympics shoot.

Editor Alexandra Shulman, said: “This month is the biggest international collections issue of Vogue I have produced in 20 years as editor. Simultaneously we launch the new British Vogue app for iPad, now available monthly for the first time, which will enable you to experience the magazine digitally and allows us to bring some of its print features to life. Nick Knight’s shoot ‘Midas Touch’ is an excellent example of how the magazine and app can work together. It brings a new depth and enjoyment to the images you will see in these pages.”

There are also three brands who have launched media rich enhancements on their ads in the iPad issue, including Anya Hindmarch, Velvet and The Australian Wool Industry. “They are smart, stylish and show great originality,” said Rachel Reavley, associate publisher of the magazine.