New post from our guest blogger Fiona McKim from The Online Fashion Agency
On 19 February 2010 London Fashion Week will launch its first ever live digital schedule, groundbreaking in its blanket coverage of all British Fashion Council shows at Somerset House and selected shows in other venues across London.
Following in the footsteps of Nick Knights innovative Showstudio and the plethora of designers live streaming their shows during New York Fashion Week, the British Fashion Council will also be showcasing digitally presented fashion films from pioneering London designers including House of Holland, Twenty8Twelve and Hussein Chalayan.
With Fashion Week no longer only open to an elite minority, the democratisation of catwalk shows online means one thing for fashion brands; exposure.
Dolce and Gabbanna’s live streaming project “The Pre-Show diaries” showcasing their Spring/Summer 2010 collection generated approximately 16 million views globally on YouTube in September 2009, evidence of the audience scale for live fashion events.
Reaching a mass global audience of not only consumers but industry insiders can take a brand’s online marketing strategy past the current vogue for the immediacy of Twitter and into the absolutely instantaneous.
Online content, in particular blogging, has shaken up the hierarchy of fashion PR as more brands are beginning to recognise the power and influence of the style blog.
Live streaming enables these key bloggers to simultaneously watch a show taking place in London and comment from across the globe, generating buzz and creating instant brand ambassadors. It also provides a complete fashion show experience for every viewer by providing not just a flat, one dimensional photograph of specific garments but the anticipation, the lights, the music, the movement of the clothes and most importantly the message and ethos of the brand.
In embracing live catwalk streaming, London has once again proven itself to be the epicentre of innovation in fashion, casting off stuffy elitism and creating an interactive conversation with consumers, the press and the industry.
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For more fashion forward thinking visit:
http://www.theonlinefashionagency.com/category/retail-consultancy/fashion-business-services/
Tags: British Fashion Council, Dolce and Gabbana, Fashion, Fashion Week, Hussein Chalayan, London Fashion Week, Showstudio