Twitter Mirror arrives at fashion week with Matthew Williamson

Matthew Williamson is introducing the Twitter Mirror backstage at its London Fashion Week show this season.

Already becoming a regular feature of events such as The Grammys, The Oscars and even NBA games, this is a tablet usually positioned off-stage that enables celebs to snap selfies and autopost them to the event in question’s Twitter feed.

This will be the first time it is used at a fashion week. Williamson will have it set up for models to interact with in the build up to Sunday’s show. Each shot will be placed in a bespoke frame by the designer that reflects the new autumn/winter 2014/15 collection and its inspiration.

According to the brand’s head of digital, Rosanna Falconer, the aim was to give fans of the brand access behind-the-scenes in much more of a natural way than ever before. In previous seasons, Williamson shows have seen Vine used to reveal the details of the collection in real-time. Without intending to be, the best ones have always been when the models wearing the looks have been a little cheeky.

“This time we wanted to strip away the camera and the photographer, so it was just the models left, and see what we ended up with,” said Falconer.

Vine will be used during the show itself, with three posts revealing key pieces in full narrative – from sketch, to beading and final look. The brand will also continue its #ohmw campaign, handing out props branded with the hashtag to encourage attendees to similarly tweet and Instagram photos of themselves.

Video highlight: Jean Paul Gaultier talks 2014 Barbican exhibition

There’s three types of good fashion films these days: the conceptual creative type (think features for seasonal campaigns), the product shots (more for selling, a lot shorter in length but ideally still tied to a story), and then the interview. That was an idea coined by Harriet Mays Powell of The Look Now (formerly fashion director at New York Magazine), speaking at the first Fashion Forward conference in 2011.

Her focus was that each needs investment, not just in terms of money, but in terms of a strategic approach. The better interviews for instance aren’t haphazard behind-the-scenes clips that don’t do a high fashion house any justice, but well-shot and insightful pieces in their own right.

This one (below) just released by The Barbican Centre in London serves as a great example. It captures designer Jean Paul Gaultier animatedly discussing his upcoming exhibition in its art gallery in April 2014. Set in his Paris studio, with shots of various items from his collections interspersed, he jokes about the retrospective being shown while he’s still alive, and highlights his appreciation for the city of London.

The entire video is such an enthusiastic insight into him and his brand, that when he says, “I am very lucky because I am living my passion”, at the end, the viewer truly believes him.

 

The exhibition itself also sounds like a winner. The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, as it’s called, will see more than 140 garments from 1970 to today presented. Included will be the infamous conical bra from Madonna’s Blonde Ambition Tour, as well as costumes for Kylie Minogue and films such as The Fifth Element.

The exhibition will also comprise catwalk footage, music videos, films, dance performances and snippets from Gaultier’s cult TV show, Eurotrash. It will be accompanied by an events programme and film season.

It has been initiated and produced by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in collaboration with Maison Jean Paul Gaultier, and will tour worldwide.

Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence features in making-of Miss Dior handbag ad

 

In case you hadn’t heard enough about Jennifer Lawrence this week (be sure to watch this and this by the way), here now is a video from the behind-the-scenes of her debut Miss Dior handbag ad.

Shot by Willy Vanderperre, it shows the new Oscar-winning actress posing for the spring/summer 2013 stills shots, all the while speaking over the top about her love of Dior and the timelessness of the bags in question.

“Dior represents beauty and strength in women and that’s how I feel when I’m wearing his clothes, they just make you feel so confident,” she says.

Kudos to Dior for adding her to their Academy Award-winning line-up: Marion Cotillard, Charlize Theron and Natalie Portman included.

On that note, Portman’s latest Miss Dior fragrance film, directed by Sofia Coppola, is also just out. “La vie en rose”, as it’s called, is a beautiful spot, and well worth the watch…

Dolce & Gabbana: #MFW’s social media winner

I started this post with every intention of writing only about the beautiful videos Dolce & Gabbana has been posting on Vine surrounding its Milan Fashion Week show this week. Three in particular stand out – each of them zooming in on the intricate detail of the brand’s autumn/winter 2013/14 collection; the Byzantine and Venetian mosaic dresses, the elaborate jewellery and the beautifully beaded accessories.

Alas, those six-second loops are only viewable within the app itself and not on the brand’s Twitter or Facebook pages where they could also have been posted. On those instead however, is such a wealth of rich and relevant content on the collection otherwise, that it still seemed worth highlighting.

The craftsmanship and the inspiration behind the line – that would be the golden mosaics of Sicily’s Cathedral of Monreale – are the focus.

“It’s all in the details: the shoes of the Mosaics Collection are as intricate as the clothes,” reads a photo album dedicated to footwear images on Facebook. It was posted less than 12 hours ago and already has 30,000 likes and over 5,000 shares. The shot below by itself, meanwhile, has 7,000 likes, nearly 2,500 shares and over 500 comments.

There are also albums dedicated specifically to the collection as a whole, the handbags individually, and the action backstage at the show. Each were originally posted on Swide.com, the Italian brand’s editorial property, which also hosts pages all about the sunglasses, the jewellery and the textures, not to mention the architecture and the mosaics of the cathedral itself.

For record – albeit a little repetitive by this point – there are also multiple posts on the brand’s Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr pages.

A pre-show video meanwhile documents in a beautiful 30-seconds the artisans at work on their “slow and precise” mosaic-making. “The Mosaics Collection is perhaps one of the most intricate yet by Dolce & Gabbana which makes the video and crafts displayed all the more special,” reads the write-up.

And that’s the point here – the craftsmanship, talent and beauty of fashion is what so often makes it speak for itself if you just push the content out in the right direction. You don’t even have to like this collection to see why it works so wonderfully on social media.

 

Topshop teams up with Google for LFW show

Topshop came out guns blazing with the announcement of its partnership with Google for London Fashion Week last night. Showcased via a very cool trailer from the team at Google’s in-house creative labs (as below), the initiative includes everything from a live model-cam to streetview access inside the autumn/winter 2013/14 show’s impressive Tanks at Tate Modern venue.

The idea is to use all of Google’s platforms to give viewers access to every aspect of the show as if they were “the model on the runway, the buyer in the audience, the make-up artist backstage, the designer fitting a look or the celebrity arriving”.

News quickly spread across the web, from Vogue to The Business of Fashion, and continued this morning on the likes of Wired and The Next Web. A headline from The Guardian, read: “Will Topshop and Google change fashion shows forever?”

Said CMO Justin Cooke: “By partnering with Google we are broadcasting the show to the consumer from every single perspective. A fashion show from concept to creation.”

So here’s the gist of it:

• Models including Cara Delevingne and Jourdan Dunn will all be wearing real-time, HD micro cameras that will enable viewers to experience the show from their perspective. Pre-stitched into the clothes and bags, these cameras will show detailed footage from the runway as well as backstage. They have been developed with SIS Live using the ‘Hawkeye’ technology from major sporting events like Wimbledon. Said Cooke: “The model-cam will steal the show and this partnership with Google will feed that. Viewers will search for ‘Cara on the runway’, and their content will get propelled around the world”

• Exclusive access to these models will also be provided over Google+, where a ‘Road to Runway’ digital diary will feature everything from the first fitting to the moment they hit the catwalk. There will also be a Google Hangout inviting viewers to see behind-the-scenes at Topshop’s headquarters ahead of the show and ask the design team questions as they apply finishing touches

• Topshop’s YouTube page will feature a live feed on show day in a bid to broadcast the event much like the Oscars. Hangouts will air from the red carpet, backstage and the front row hosted by the likes of editor Melanie Rickey, blogger Chiara Ferrangi of The Blonde Salad, and beauty blogger Tanya Burr. Cooke said: “Our customisation of YouTube is a big deal, it’s not just Hangouts with one or two people; we’re using it as a live broadcast, like the Oscars, like a live behind-the-scenes documentary”

• Google+ will also enable fans to ‘Be the Buyer’ with a hangout app that allows them to create moodboards of their favourite items from the runway while seeking video advice from Topshop’s own buying experts as well as those from Selfridges and Browns. This will feed data back to Topshop on what items or colours resonate the most with consumers

• As with last season, every element of the show is also shopabble, from the new collection, to the make-up, nail varnish and music. The shareable Shoot the Show and Customise the Catwalk initiatives will also continue, evolved this time based on customer feedback

•  Finally, there will also be a custom designed Google+ animated photo booth in Topshop’s Oxford Street flagship. Fans can try on outfits and have their pictures instantly uploaded to the store’s interactive digital window and Google+ page

If Burberry hadn’t already put London on the digital map, Topshop just did. Watch it all from 2.30pm GMT on Sunday, February 17.

Whistles model throws a tantrum in comedy advent calendar video

We’ve already had digital advent calendars from Jean Paul Gaultier and Love magazine this holiday season. Now, Whistles is getting in on the act, releasing a calendar that’s stacked full of prizes for its fans every single day in the run up to Christmas.

Liberty London Girl announced the exclusive yesterday, and she’ll be tweeting on the mornings with the two biggest prizes too. They include “a trip to Paris for two, including two nights in a 5* Tablet hotel and a gift voucher to spend in the new Whistles concession in Printemps department store. Or a trolley dash in your nearest Whistles store, so you can race around the store and grab all the things you’ve been lusting after in one fell swoop?”

What I love however, is the genius behind-the-scenes video that goes along with it. That’s one miffed model…

 

Farfetch celebrates Christmas with designer augmented reality wrapping paper

Farfetch.com’s augmented reality gift wrap by (left to right) Meadham Kirchhoff, Melinda Gibson, Margot Bowman and Gary Card

Online marketplace Farfetch.com is launching augmented reality gift wrap for the holiday season using image recognition technology from Aurasma.

Based on exclusive illustrations from four emerging creatives, the wrapping paper can be scanned using the Aurasma app on smartphone or tablet devices to reveal behind-the-scenes videos of the respective design process.

These fly-on-the-wall films document the gift wrap from sketchpad to sign-off, alongside interviews with each of the four creatives: design duo Meadham Kirchhoff (film shown below), photographer Melinda Gibson, artist and DJ Margot Bowman, and set designer and illustrator Gary Card.

The designs will be printed on 40,000 reams of wrapping paper and dispatched with all Farfetch orders from now until December 19.

CEO and founder of Farfetch.com, Jose Neves, said: “We are delighted to be collaborating with four dynamic names from the worlds of art and design, bringing these one-off creations to our online platform and sharing with a worldwide, fashion-forward audience. The campaign as a whole will offer users and customers exclusive access to the entire ‘Unwrap’ journey, creating what we hope will be an unrivalled online shopping experience.”

That ‘Unwrap’ concept will also see each design featured as wallpaper on the site (as with Meadham Kirchoff below) for a week, and a social Pass the Parcel game. Here, consumers are invited to click to win daily designer gifts and then share the parcel with their friends to gain more entries into the grand prize draw. The game also includes a world map that features a live feed of players around the globe.

In another phyiscal translation of the campaign, the Meadham Kirchoff print is also wrapping two London taxis (also shown below) from November 26 for a week. Passengers jumping in for a ride will receive festive cakes from food blogger April Carter of Rhubarb & Rose, and another chance to win designer gifts from Farfetch.com.

Archive Lanvin film reveals founder at work in atelier

 

Lanvin has released another video of its founder Jeanne Lanvin, this time at work supervising fittings and making final adjustments on her collection before its unveiling to the press.

The historical, recently-discovered footage shows the designer, who lived from 1867 to 1946, busy with the last-minute preparations at 22 Faubourg Saint Honoré, which remains the flagship store of the brand today.

A beautiful glimpse into fashion history, it documents the launch of her “Sorbier”, “Tubéreuse” and “Azalée” eveningwear designs. It also provides a look inside her office. “This is not just a dressmaking studio; it is a veritable cabinet of curiosities furnished by the famous Eugène Printz and houses her fabric library,” read the notes.

The notes also suggest films resurfacing from the founder’s era such as this one are “thanks to the digitalisation of cinematic archives by companies such as INA or Gaumont-Pathé”.

Matthew Williamson launches on Twitter, announces new digital strategy

British fashion brand Matthew Williamson launched on Twitter today, marking its first commitment to a new digital strategy headed up by Rosanna Falconer, previously of the British Fashion Council.

Created to give followers an insider view, the @MWWorld handle will capture all the action from behind-the-scenes of the collections and the studio. It kickstarted this morning with the above tweet, and has since continued with a photo of Matthew mid-meeting as well as a link to his YouTube page where a video documenting the shoot for his forthcoming XV film starring Sienna Miller, Poppy Delevingne and Valentine Fillol-Cordier exists (as below).

Matthew himself will also be sharing his insight, inspirations and travels.

As a follow on, the website and e-commerce platform will soon be relaunched to “reflect developments in technology, including mobile, and capture the brand digitally”.

Matthew Williamson will celebrate its 15-year anniversary this spring/summer 2013. The XV film will be officially unveiled next week.

Lyst turns to Google Plus for backstage Hangouts with key influencers during NYFW

Social shopping site Lyst is set to host live Google Plus Hangouts backstage during New York Fashion Week this season.

The initiative will see pre-show video interviews taking place with influential editors, bloggers and the designers themselves at the venue, while seven other people invited by the platform connect in remotely and ask their own questions.

Fans will be able to watch the Hangouts as they happen live on YouTube, as well as send in questions in advance to be asked by the host.

The first one will take place tomorrow, Friday, September 7, with the Rebecca Minkoff show at 3pm. Hosted by Teen Vogue’s Eva Chen, the coverage will see interviews with Rebecca, as well as with the hair and make-up artists behind-the-scenes.

On Saturday, September 8, the Tibi show will include an interview with blogger Leandra Medine of The Man Repeller.

“Google+ is becoming a great place for people who are passionate about fashion to meet, share style tips and promote new brands. We’ve been impressed and excited by the ways Lyst is using Google+ to connect with fashion enthusiasts and build a global fan base by the hundreds of thousands,” said a Google representative.

After each of the shows, Lyst will send out the video along with a collection on the site of the favorite looks from the influencers interviewed.

Meanwhile, Lyst has also invited Nina Garcia and Olivia Palermo to broadcast their favourite looks live from the runway. This “Live Lysting” program will see them both share their top items with their followers on the platform.

As individuals add them to their own lists, they guarantee an alert will reach them as soon as that item comes into stock in any store worldwide. This runway tracking tool was launched by Lyst a year ago.

“Lyst is all about letting people craft their own fashion experience by following their favorite brands and influencers – in Nina and Oliva, we’ve got two of the industries most exciting curators for our users to follow,” said Chris Morton, CEO of Lyst.