5 Top Tech Innovations Of London Fashion Week 2015
Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.
PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.
In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”
The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris
While Paris Fashion Week continues in full swing, event company Decoded Fashion takes a look back at the luxury fashion brands that stole the show with digital innovations at last month’s London Fashion Week.
While Paris Fashion Week continues in full swing, event company Decoded Fashion takes a look back at the luxury fashion brands that stole the show with digital innovations at last month’s London Fashion Week.
It’s time to say “ta-ta” to the newly housed LFW! London Fashion Week felt refreshed in its new Soho location, with another wave of brands ensuring tech was embraced in the British fashion capital. So, who was killing it in the digital stakes this season?
Burberry’s Snap-Show
Given its track record of using tech to its advantage, it was little surprise that Burberry became the first brand to showcase its latest collection on Snapchat. Ahead of its S/S 16 show on Monday, the brand launched a featured Snapchat story that gave fans a preview of the collection on the app before it hit the runway, plus a look backstage. Models Cara Delevingne, Suki Waterhouse and Jourdan Dunn, as well as Burberry CEO Christopher Bailey, also featured in the Snapchat collection.
Hunter’s Periscope Headliners
British heritage brand Hunter opted to use Periscope in the build-up to its S/S 16 Hunter Original show. The Twitter-owned, live video-streaming app gave Hunter the opportunity to showcase the bands lined up to play at the event – including Fear of Men and Tropics – before it began, as well as some behind-the-scenes action.
It wasn’t all done with existing Hunter fans in mind, though – the brand’s creative director Alasdhair Willis told Wonderland Magazine he hoped to reach “a broader audience that might not traditionally engage with London Fashion Week”.
Topshop’s Pinterest Palettes
Clued into taking the power of fashion week beyond the catwalk, Topshop collaborated with Pinterest to create Pinterest Palettes – a collection of shoppable Pinterest boards that use technology to spot emerging colour trends on the runways.
Topshop.com customers can also use Pinterest Palettes to find their “colour DNA” by submitting one of their own Pinterest boards to the system; customers then receive personalised shopping recommendations from Topshop based on their colour preferences.
Pinterest Palettes will remain online for the duration of the remaining Fashion Weeks and will conclude on October 8.
Henry Holland’s Invisible Tech
In an interesting move, House of Holland partnered with Visa Europe Collab to create what Henry Holland dubbed “connected jewellery”. At the brand’s S/S 16 show on Saturday, costume rings embedded with NFC technology were given to VIP guests, enabling them to shop the collection directly from the front row.
When guests – including Alexa Chung and Daisy Lowe – decided they liked something on the catwalk, they could buy it instantly by sending out a signal through their jewellery. “For me, it was about making the technology invisible, so that the items are desirable pieces you’d want to wear regardless,” said Henry Holland.
“ Expect to see bigger, better fashion-tech projects in future seasons ”
IMG to Step Up London’s Tech Game
Finally, it has just been announced that IMG, the corporate brain behind many of New York Fashion Week’s best tech moments this season, has become a patron of the British Fashion Council. Expect to see bigger, better fashion-tech projects in future seasons at London Fashion Week.
Interested in who’s innovating at Fashion Week? Next month in New York, Decoded Fashion and W Magazine will launch the Fashion Futures Awards, celebrating talent across the fashion and technology industries.
To further investigate luxury brand innovation on Luxury Society, we invite your to explore the related materials as follows:
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