Home appliance manufacturer AEG has launched a 45-minute documentary called The Next Black focused on the future of clothing, with the goal to anticipate what washing needs are likely to look like down the road.
Featuring interviews with representatives from heavyweight brands such as adidas through to Patagonia, the film looks to understand what people will be wearing and washing totay and tomorrow, and how the industry can become more sustainable in doing so. It was produced together with production company House of Radon.
It also stars tech-clothing company, Studio XO; Biocouture, a consultancy exploring living organisms to grow clothing and accessories, and Yeh Group, which is pioneering a new way to dye clothes using zero water.
“We talked to designers, innovators and leaders from around the globe – people who are rethinking the way we use clothes. They have a fresh look for the future and are using their passions to fuel change. It’s not just about what we will be wearing but how we produce clothes, how we interact with them and how we care for them,” reads the write-up from AEG.
The content touches on such developments as Lady Gaga’s bubble dress; monitoring an athlete’s performance via their clothing in real-time; and materials grown in a bath tub out of bacteria.
Nancy Tilbury of Studio XO refers to her work during the interview as design engineering that just happens to be dressed up as fashion. “Philosophically as a project we’re really keen to tell people about this transformation in textiles,” she says, demonstrating how coding is being combined with clothing to bring about a fun, playful and curious result that is tranforming the way we dress.
Suzanne Lee of BioCouture meanwhile looks at how the most radical of future innovations could be organic, outlining her process for creating textiles as much closer to brewing beer or making food. The next step, she says, is taking such ideas and concepts from the lab to the market.
Imagining the future is exactly what this film sets out to do, check it out below…
Avid fashion blog followers may have noticed several high-calibre bloggers have simultaneously started wearing and drawing attention to Tod’s footwear of late. This is not down to coincidence – earlier this month the quintessential Italian brand launched a social influencer campaign to create buzz around its signature Gommino shoes.
On the campaign website, customers can check out the various style leaders who have been coveting the style, as well as submit their own photos.
Bloggers from all over the world have taken part in the so-called ‘Dots to Life’ campaign, including Italy’s Chiara Ferragni of The Blonde Salad, Switzerland’s Kristina Bazan of Kayture, and Shanghai-based Han Huohuo.
And it’s not just bloggers that have jumped on board – industry heavyweights such as Anna Dello Russo are also featured on site. The result: a showcase of the worldwide popularity of the Gommino, highlighting the shoe’s versatility and serving as outfit styling inspiration alongside.
The move for Tod’s to predominantly use bloggers over celebrities is a smart one in today’s online world. These stars – many of them now enjoying a level of celebrity status themselves – serve as influencers through their connection to existing customers and those highly engaged in fashion, but also yield influence over a much younger crowd who may not be as aware of the understated brand.
The endorsement should emphasise the brand’s heritage, reduce the ‘old person’s shoe’ stigma around the Gomminos, and boost its popularity among potential future customers. It’s helping the brand get it’s ‘cool’ back among the younger, digitally-savvy generation, effectively.
Tod’s is making the blogger campaign all the more social by inviting its Facebook fans to upload their own images to the campaign website. The post on its Facebook page has received over 22,800 likes so far. Participation through Instagram is also possible – with the tags #todsgommino and #dotsoflife.
This is a great example of an influencer campaign leveraging the power of social media as a means of inspiration and conversation. As with many campaigns, the site is curated and not all fan images are published. As with Burberry’s Art of the Trench, this creates a more exclusive feel and may inspire fans to put more creative thought into their snaps.
Tod’s is also pushing content over social related to the FIFA World Cup – recent posts have referenced the theme, I Cheer For My Colors. Working with bloggers seems to have yielded positive results for the brand in the past too. In February, for instance, it partnered with Ferragni of The Blonde Salad to promote its Touch handbag.
Dior has teamed up with director Harmony Korine for a new short film for its Dior Addict fragrance.
The Alice in Wonderland-inspired spot features model Sasha Luss stepping through a mirror and into a luscious world of flora and fauna offset only by the heavy beat of Die Antwoord’s track, Enter the Ninja.
The film ties to a wider campaign referred to as wonDiorland, which includes a dedicated Facebook page filled with additional content, and a mobile activation referred to as a “sensorial experience”. That experience invites the user to connect their smartphones and desktops by entering a four digit pin on the latter – from there they can explore the content by touch, swiping through a variety of additional footage, insight on the inspiration and behind-the-scenes information.
The experience is designed to reflect the mirror Luss is seen stepping through, the page reacting as though pulsating to the user’s touch and activating dream-like pieces of content on the larger screen.
Dior released its third Secret Garden film on Friday, garnering over two million views over the weekend alone.
Directed by Inez Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin and styled by Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele, it features Daria Strokous, Fei Fei Sun and Katlin Aas running through Versailles to Dépêche Mode’s track, Strange Love.
The trio of models are said to evoke The Three Graces – goddesses of antiquity embodying beauty, charm and joy, who inspired masterpieces by Raphael and Botticelli, says Dior. In line with this theme, the brand has proclaimed that this film showcases “the three faces of the Dior woman”.
Russian model Strokous enjoys the most exposure throughout the one-minute clip. She is shown walking down a corridor inside the palace, her clothes from the brand’s pre-fall 2014 collection changing as she walks. Later she is seen taking a hidden passageway and running through the gardens. At times she is pictured running away from her co-stars, while at others we see her running towards them.
As the camera cuts from close-ups of Strokous to Aas or Sun, as well as washed out flashes of them all together, the trio are pictured wearing a number of dresses in the same cut and print (see stills below). This leaves the viewer wondering whether Sun and Aas are figments of Strokous’ imagination or rather parts of her personality – or could all three women just be ghosts that are floating through the “elegant and dreamlike” Versailles grounds?
The film ends on a pose reminiscent of those ancient goddesses, and yes, it’s as enchanting and on-brand as the past two Secret Garden chapters before it.
Alexander Wang has been spreading summer cheer in Hong Kong with a black ice cream truck stationed outside its Harbour City store for the past two weekends. The branded van has been handing out free ice cream to customers and passers-by.
The ‘Eat Me’ campaign, developed in collaboration with HK boutique, Joyce, was launched to celebrate the two year anniversary of Alexander Wang Harbour City. Those who commemorated their ‘Eat Me’ moment on Instagram using the hashtags #joycehk and #alexanderwanghk had the chance to win an Alexander Wang gift.
Sure enough, the initiative drew quite a crowd – people of all ages were captured queuing up for the chance to enjoy ice cream out of the branded ice cream cones. The result was Instagram buzz from young and old alike, with winners of the competition receiving prizes such as a yoga matt and a domino set.
Y-3 has launched a short film for the autumn/winter 2014/15 season tying together a superhero theme with Japanese manga inspiration.
Shot by Cedric Buchet with creative direction by Lloyd & Co, the spot is designed to be a playful exploration of good versus evil. “This dichotomy of opposing forces is the underpinning of this season’s story, creating a powerful, visible energy that resonates in the movements of the characters through fight-inspired scenes,” reads the write-up.
Models Katya Riabinkina and Adam Butcher are featured against graphic colours and daring patterns that nod to the comic book theme. A line screen dot treatment heightens the creative further, as do text boxes that appear to narrate the journey amd their impending conflict.
The manga theme also ties straight to the inspiration behind the season’s collection created by Yohji Yamamoto. “The collection pays homage to the couturiers of the 60s. I wanted to infuse this spirit into it. I was also thinking of superheroes and the kind of clothes they wear. Cut for an active and fighting lifestyle. So I brought these two worlds together,” he said.
The campaign will also appear in print and in-store display. It will be launched globally in September 2014.
Will.i.am, Kate Bosworth and Jamie Oliver are among some of the first celebrity names to be using a new music discovery app called Tunepics, while brands including Paul Smith, Chloé and asos are also on board.
Ever wanted to share a song with your photograph to help sum up the mood of the scene more than a filter alone can do? Now you can. Tunepics – launched in the app store for the iPhone and iPad today – enables users to pair images with relevant songs thanks to the iTunes API.
“Over 500 million pictures are uploaded to the internet every day, and over 100 million songs are downloaded each week. Together, that’s dynamite,” says the brains behind the new social network, Justin Cooke, former CMO of Topshop, now founder and CEO of innovate7. His aim is to help create the “soundtrack to your life”.
The experience is an intuitive one: you upload an image, place a filter over the top, then search the 35 million songs in the iTunes library by keyword to add them to your shot. The result appears in a feed alongside those from the friends you opt to follow; each one auto-playing a 30-second preview of the track as you scroll over it, as well as offering a ‘download’ button to buy the full version.
Posts can also be ‘re-tuned’ to your own followers, and shared via Facebook and Twitter where they will appear as a ‘tunecard’. For the likes of Will.i.am, that of course makes the app an appealing proposition for its potential to help drive record sales. It also provides a revenue stream for innovate7 through affiliate sales from iTunes (there’s no advertising model planned on the platform for now otherwise).
Cooke is particularly excited for the opportunity that lies in music discovery, both for consumers using the app and for young, emerging talent to start gaining recognition in a new way. On that basis, it launches with a specially commissioned soundtrack from British band, Ellerby, called Colour Me In.
But the premise of the app, which was built by agency AKQA, otherwise goes further than just being about music sharing and discovery. The aim is to provide multisensory experiences that evoke an emotional response.
“When you hear a picture, it changes everything; it awakens your senses. We want [Tunepics] to be like a cinematic celebration of your life,” said Cooke. “Music is the most powerful way to express the things we see and feel; nothing else comes close.”
To that end, the emotional response that posts receive from followers is also fully visible. Each is accompanied by an ‘emotion wheel’ (the design of which also makes up the app’s logo). This features a spectrum of 16 colours users can choose from, representing different feelings such as happy, moved, jealous and heartbroken.
Said Cooke: “A like doesn’t tell a story on its own anymore. When [Nelson] Mandela passed away, we didn’t want to say that we liked it, but that it moved us. This is all about enabling an emotional experience.”
Which is why this app also makes sense, from the off, for brands. Beyond the initial celebrity appeal, there are also the likes of Paul Smith, All Saints, asos, Dazed and Airbnb already on board.
The expectation is that embedding music into their social content will help heighten the moments they want to talk about. An example post from Paul Smith featured a collection of paint pots and the Rolling Stones track Paint it Black. “His response was that he couldn’t imagine life without music. That’s so powerful, and so true,” Cooke explained. In fact, a similar quote from philosopher Nietzsche features on the Tunepics introductory video from the innovate7 team: “Without music, life would be a mistake.”
Clare Waight Keller, creative director of Chloé, said the choice to join Tunepics from day one was an instant decision after a two minute pitch. “I just loved the added layers of emotion, simply adding music to an image really brings it to life. It’s like a way to capture what was going through your head in that moment.”
She also appreciates the emotion wheel. “[It] will be really interesting. ‘Likes’ have almost become empty gestures now, it takes no real thought to ‘like’ a picture. But to take the time to select the feeling the image inspired in you, shows real engagement. It’s a great way for Chloé to connect with our audience,” she explained.
Brands will also begin to benefit from the data said emotion wheel collates. Mood charts are displayed beneath each tunepic showcasing people’s responses, which suggests valuable consumer insights could be gleaned should the numbers creep high enough. Unlike Instagram, it is also possible to add hyperlinks to every post, which will prove quite the draw for the likes of Paul Smith again, and all those others with e-commerce capabilities.
It may come as no surprise to learn that prior to his role at Topshop, Cooke spent six years helping to lead the charge at Burberry – a brand not only with a longstanding music initiative in Burberry Acoustic, but with an unquestionable focus on emotive content tied to measurable business results.
Topping it all off is the fact those aforementioned filters are based on the weather – another theme familiar to Burberry fans. Every photograph uploaded can be enhanced with true-to-life overlays of the snow, raindrops, sunshine or even a rainbow.
“I’ve always had a fascination with music, colour, images and the weather, and how they influence our mood and emotions. I want people to be able to share the depth behind the moments they experience and to articulate all the ones that they dream of having,” Cooke explained.
Marc Jacobs is celebrating its 30-year anniversary with an online gallery of never-before seen imagery.
The content dates back to 1984 when the partnership between Marc Jacobs and Robert Duffy began, and so far features everyone from Sarah Jessica Parker and Winona Ryder, to Christy Turlington.
Reads one of the posts on the site: “Robert Duffy created 10 original company guidelines to help ensure the success of Marc Jacobs Intl. He reminds us that we must always foster an environment that encourages risk taking, maintain irreverance, and most of all, always have fun!”
The content can also be found collated across social sites under the hashtag #MJ30. The designer has released two exclusive items alongside the campaign – the Timeline Tee and 1984 Tee.
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