Goddesses of beauty, charm and joy inspire Dior’s third Secret Garden film

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.

See it below…

By Anna Abrell

Topshop launches Kate Moss video series ahead of new collection

Topshop has revealed the first in a series of videos in the run up to its new Kate Moss collection launch.

The line will hit stores on April 30 for the first time since 2010. Accordingly the retailer has teamed up with NOWNESS to tease its arrival through a total of eight films dedicated to the “supermodel, muse and designer”.

Each one will feature one of Kate’s friends and fashion contacts shot by Leigh Johnson, and providing “never before seen access to the notoriously private Kate”, as Grazia puts it.

The first, as above, stars BBC Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw. Others will include Charlotte Tilbury, Amanda Harlech, Beth Ditto, Cara Delevingne, Vivienne Westwood and Natalie Massenet. That makes a total of seven, meaning the eighth may star the always-elusive Moss herself.

Here in the meantime is an additional Topshop teaser featuring the model talking about the collection from behind-the-scenes at the Topshop design studio:

Digital snippets: The North Face, Instagram Direct, Target, Barneys, Harrods, Karmaloop

The big news over the past couple of weeks in the retail and fashion tech space was of course the concept of Amazon drones, but multiple other stories grabbed the headlines too. Here’s a highlight of the best ones…

• IBM’s Watson explores the great e-commerce unknown with The North Face [AdAge]

• What Instagram Direct means for fashion brands (as pictured) [Fashionista]

• Pinterest just figured out how to make shopping awesome with Target [The Washington Post]

• Barneys creates holiday .gif guide to appeal to younger consumers [Luxury Daily]

• Harrods’ Christmas Weibo campaign engages London’s Chinese tourist influx [Jing Daily]

• Karmaloop targets millennials with YouTube and Snapchat holiday plan [AdWeek]

• Kmart’s ‘Ship My Pants’ gets the Dickens treatment for Christmas [AdAge]

• Native advertising: the pros and cons [WWD]

• Designing the next generation of wearables, with women in mind [Fast Company]

• With 3-D printing, clothing that leaves out the sewing machine [NY Times]

• Mallzee is a Tinder-esque shopping app that lets your friends play fashion police [TechCrunch]

• Start-up Thread is building a scalable personal styling service, blending human stylists and intelligent algorithms [BoF]

• Instagram is the ‘best platform for brands’ in 2013, beating out Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ [Venture Beat]

• Retailers look to their best customers, not bloggers, as the new influencers [Fashionista]

• Achieving press-worthy initiatives through technology partnerships [Fashion’s Collective]

• Gap’s ad with Sikh model Waris Ahluwalia defaced with racist graffiti, drawing incredible response from company [Huffington Post]

Kohl’s goes for emotion in Holiday Surprise campaign

 

Call me a softie, but Holiday Surprise from Kohl’s is one of my favourite campaigns this Christmas.

Based on the very festive theme of kindness, it’s a simple 30-second spot that sees a young couple rushing to decorate their elderly neighbour’s apartment before she returns to the building. It cleverly tugs on the heartstrings of all those viewing when it ends with a shot of the expression on her face once she does so.

Set to a cover version of Bob Dylan’s Forever Young, the lyrics set the tone: “May your wishes all come true. May you always do for others. And let others do for you.”

It’s a different move for the retailer, which, like many of its counterparts, usually focuses heavily on promotional messaging at this time of year. As AdAge reported, this emotional broadcast is in a bid to “stand out from the promotional maelstrom of the season”. While Kohl’s is still pushing its discounting alongside, this ‘brand’ spot layered in aims to be disruptive in a different way, said its chief customer officer, Michelle Gass. “We know what people remember are the moments of giving,” she said.

Though there are yet to be any postings, Kohl’s is also inviting consumers to share their stories of kindness over social media with the hashtag #ShowKindness.

Dior leverages Robert Pattinson campaign with additional video content

Dior has released another series of short videos revealing extended scenes from its Dior Homme fragrance film starring Robert Pattinson, which originally launched on September 1.

Six 30-45 second spots have aired in the past week, including The Pool, The Piano, The Elevator, The Bedroom, The Beach and The Ball (as below).

They’ve each received anywhere from 8,000 to 18,000 hits to date, joining the nearly 15 million on the full film’s uncensored official director’s cut.

Chanel places big ad spend around Monroe N°5 ad

The latest ad for Chanel N°5’s  starring old footage of Marilyn Monroe is getting an enormous amount of TV airtime in the run-up to this year’s holiday season. Gift inspiration one might assume…

The 30-second spot is based on a newly-discovered recording of Monroe from 1960 talking to Marie Claire editor-in-chief, Georges Belmont. Explaining her famous quote of only wearing Chanel N°5 to bed, as per her 1952 interview in Life magazine, she says: “You know, they ask me questions. Just an example: ‘What do you wear to bed ? A pajama top? The bottoms of the pajamas? A nightgown?’ So I said, ‘Chanel N°5,’ because it’s the truth… And yet, I don’t want to say ‘nude.’ But it’s the truth!”

The ad is accompanied by archive footage of the late actress. It follows on from the French fashion brand’s ‘Marilyn and N°5 – Inside CHANEL‘ film in 2012, which explains the history of the star’s relationship with the fragrance, and also airs the recording. This two-and-a-half minute spot has had over two million views on YouTube.

Chanel will also launch a print campaign this season based on an archive image of the star posing with a bottle of the perfume shot by Ed Feingersh.  

Jingle all the way at Kmart with #showyourjoe Christmas ad

In the running for best Holiday campaign 2013? I’d say so:

Digital snippets: Michael Kors, Banana Republic, Macy’s, Kate Spade, John Lewis, L’Oréal, Juicy Couture, Sephora

A short break here means there’s a stack of content to catch up on. Below are the top links for stories surrounding fashion and digital during my recent fortnight of travels. Hours of fun…

• Michael Kors’ widely hated Instagram ad was actually a massive success; received almost four times as many likes as the average post [Business Insider] 

• John Lewis 2013 Christmas ad beats 2012 ad total YouTube views within days of release [The Drum]

• Banana Republic, CNNMoney and CNBC among top Twitter accounts during TWTR IPO [TechCrunch]

• Macy’s Santa mail campaign invites mobile users to submit images [Mobile Commerce Daily]

• Like what you see? Kate Spade video ad designed for instant shopping [Mashable]

• L’Oréal Paris launches make-up vending machines in NYC subway [Fashionista] 

• Juicy Couture to be first brand to advertise using Snapchat Stories [The Drum]

• At Sephora, mobile-first means ‘connecting’ the customer’s experiences [eMarketer]

• Neiman Marcus teams up with Shapeways to offer 3D printed holiday capsule collection [PSFK] 

• Printemps sets e-commerce strategy [WWD] 

• Cartier North America CEO stresses importance of carefully curated digital presence [Luxury Daily]

• How can retailers make it easier to buy jeans online? [Econsultancy]

• Engineering the perfect big-data bra [Fast Company]

• On the same theme: This app can find your true bra size by taking two selfies of your breasts [Business Insider] 

• Vanessa Traina launches new curated e-commerce venture The Line [BoF]

• Fashion bloggers see a missed opportunity to monetise Instagram posts – why aren’t links allowed? [AdWeek] 

DSquared2 wins with turnaround of #TikiGirl show video

 

I recently wrote a piece for Mashable about the value that exists for brands in live-streaming their fashion week shows.

One of the key learnings was that the content surrounding such an initiative needs to be given just as much attention as the collection it is showcasing. Said Dan Clifford, a former VP of marketing at Victoria’s Secret. “We need to be as careful with the content as we are with the product. That’s what reaching the individual that doesn’t have the luxury of being there is about,” he said. “Too many brands isolate the runway as a moment in time and don’t consider the pre and post opportunities that they could be harnessing and leveraging across the whole season.”

It’s for that reason I wanted to highlight the video DSquared2 released less than 24-hours after its runway show in Milan this week. Rather than just your typical 10-minute look at a catwalk show, it opens with two-minutes of content dedicated to setting up its 1950s #TikiGirl theme. Models dance for the camera shaking maracas, quick peeks are provided backstage as well as close-ups on the collection and its accessories, and a killer soundtrack plays over the top. Even designers Dean and Dan Caten both feature before the show itself begins.

Check it out above.

Rodarte focuses on narrative with new short fantasy film

 

The Rodarte sisters, Kate and Laura Mulleavy, have released a short fantasy film based on the mythological and medieval inspirations from their spring/summer 2013 collection.

Their third collaboration with director Todd Cole – last seen shooting Elle Fanning for the brand in 2011 – the 13-minute video is called “This must be the only fantasy”. It’s a whimsical endeavour, but one that successfully ticks the box for narrative that so many fashion films forget…

It stars 19-year-old newcomer actress Sidney Williams, alongside model Guinevere Van Seenus and actor Elijah Wood, in what Vice magazine refers to as a “VFX-driven ode to fantasy role-playing games”. There are unicorns, cloaked horsemen, sword fights, and glitchy projections of a fairy (Van Seenus); all of whom Williams encounters on her quest to find Wood who appears in his room amid a sea of bulky 80s gaming equipment. What you never knows is whether it’s real or what she’s imagining as she herself is playing a game.

Importantly, it’s those questions you ask at the end. The clothing is beautifully weaved in throughout, but it’s not pivotal to the story. Rather than a catalogued look at the line, it’s a tale with a beginning, middle and end. “It’s an artistic expression… so it’s not necessarily about here’s this collection we did and we want to show it,” said the designers in a behind-the-scenes video that accompanies.

They reference inspiration from films such as The Dark Crystal, Lord of the Rings, E.T., The Princess Bride, The Never Ending Story, La Belle et La Bête, The Wizard of Oz and Spirited Away. “You live your life in the every day but then in this other world—in your mind, your imagination—you get to transform into the hero, and this is the duality that we wanted to capture.”

The film was produced by The Creator’s Project, a partnership between Vice and Intel. It is set to a soundtrack by Beach House.