Vine might have been the big hit at New York Fashion Week, but the majority of posts lacked somewhat in the innovation, quality or insight department. Monotony was the main issue as six-seconds of finale or panning audience shots were uploaded one after the other at every show.
Here’s a heads up then – the Matthew Williamson show in London is set to approach it with much more in the way of a strategy. Known for his intricate handcrafted garments, the designer will use Vine as a means of showcasing details up close to real, raw and beautiful effect, as introduced by the designer here (and see below). As the models head down the runway on Sunday, February 17, animated backstage shots by photographer Sean Cunningham (of Burberry Tweetwalk fame) will be posted to Twitter that zoom and magnify in on the embellishment and beadwork in a bid to bring followers a more detailed view than those on the front row.
The concept takes its inspiration from Williamson’s #MatthewMagnified campaign on Facebook, which uses the Pic Jointer app (as above) to show still catwalk images alongside close-up detail shots of the fabric.
Here’s what Rosanna Falconer, head of digital for the designer, had to tell me about their plans:
“#MatthewMagnified has been hugely successful for us, our most popular campaign but also what we really wanted to drive home about the brand; it shows and conveys the luxury of Matthew, which you just can’t find on the high street.
We were trying to think of how to do this in a dynamic way for our show at London Fashion Week. We’re working with photographer Sean Cunningham who has created incredible GIFs in the past for Burberry and SHOWstudio, but we wanted to find something unique for Matthew. Sean got incredibly inspired by #MatthewMagnified, and the idea of an animated image that zooms in and shows the detail.
So we came up with our own kind of animated GIF concept, which is about being able to see closer than the front row. The issue was finding the ideal tech to show it, and Vine really was that. Better yet, being able to show over Twitter really made it all very achievable; it’s one very simple step.
Sean started having a play with it, and has created some beautiful work already. I love the way it’s such raw footage; the idea of it being Cinéma vérité, which is a French term for true-to-life documentary filmmaking. Rather than being a final polished campaign image, it’s what’s going on right now, live from backstage. It’s really special being able to capture that. Six seconds is the perfect length too – from full look to the magnified detail. Our attention span is getting ever shorter and these quick clips will show the catwalk condensed in its raw, backstage form.
We’re trying to give our followers better than ever access with a real, up-close quality. In many ways, it’s like a digital version of the go-see, which are the appointments made by press and buyers after the show to view the collection in greater detail. It’s the beadwork, the detail and the craftsmanship of the product right there.
It’s also not about tech for tech’s sake. I’m a great believer in only using digital innovation where it’s a good brand fit and not just for the sake of it because something is new and hip. Obviously everyone is speaking about Vine, but the important thing here is that we’re using it with an established campaign, the most successful thing we’ve been doing on social so far, and a concept we’ve been wanting to take further. We were looking for the means to do so and it’s a happy coincidence that this came together with Twitter so well.”
The show takes place on at 6pm GMT on Sunday, February 17. Follow @MWWorld on Twitter, search for him via Matthew Williamson on Vine, and watch out for the hashtag #MatthewMagnified.
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