The Recession’s Fashion Victims - How Online can Help
With the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in full-force this week (February 13-20) and the London Fashion Week kicking off Friday 20th, everyone is asking what this year will hold. As the recession is forcing many to cut down on costs, some are resorting to the internet as a much cheaper and “stickier” runway alternative.
As the economy is at a standstill and fashionistas are less inclined to splurge on $5,000 “it” bags, designers are opting for more thrifty ways of showcasing their collections. Most shows cost around $250,000 to produce, and many have either decided to share tents, change venues or cancel the show altogether. Other designers are embracing the power (and audience) of the web by debuting a story-driven fashion video online.
For example, Fashion label Halston have created a digital music video that they emailed to a select list of fashionistas last Friday. Their hopes were for it to grow virally, through the fashion bloggers and eventually as a clips on YouTube. The video below, produced by Blink Productions, features a “Halston lover” as she frollics around NYC showcasing the entire collection.
Haltson board member Tamara Mellon explained: “Everything is so fast now, and everyone sees the shows on Style.com. By the time it’s in stores, they have seen the next season. We thought this is another way forward. Particularly now, with the economic climate, a lot of people’s budgets will be cut and many won’t be traveling to see the shows, and this is a way to be inclusive.”
Not all designers are shying away from the big shows this year, as Tommy Hilfiger and Justin Timberlake’s William Rast line jumped in to replace the no-shows in New York. That said, even they are looking at online platforms to reap greater exposure. Runway footage of designer shows including Calvin Klein and Diane Von Furstenberg can be watched on various sites, most notably on The NewsMarket. Specialist sites such as Style.com , Vogue.com and many others will no doubt get a signifcant boost in traffic this period too.
See below video for a cheeky creative approach to fashion week. “Spiked Heel”, a comic-book inspired webisode featuring model mogul Heidi Klum as the “Kluminator”, has launched on Modelinia.com. Modelinia has piggy backed on the catwalk hype of New York Fashion week, as the Kluminator fights supervillain Faux Pas. What do you think? Good marketing for Maybelline, or too gimmicky?
So while its doom and gloom for some luxury brands, online platforms are proving to be a powerful and recession-proof alternative for garnering audiences and satisfying this years fashion fix. Designers are increasingly looking at interactive and engaging digital ways of reaching out to their audiences, relating to customers through video experiences and professionally produced scripted shows.
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