MAIYET | Colombia Hand Casting from M A I Y E T on Vimeo. You’ll probably be hearing a lot about Maiyet in the coming months. The year-old label, which just showed its second collection during Paris fashion week last week, launches at Barneys tomorrow. Maiyet is named after the Egyptian goddess of truth and Read more →
Chloé diffusion line See by Chloé, which has never formally shown–in any format–will debut a fall 2012 collection tomorrow and you won’t have to fly to Paris to see it. It will be the second commercial fashion brand to stage its inaugural runway show through PR powerhouse KCD’s new Digital Fashion Shows platform.
Last week, fashion PR power house KCD listed a digital coordinator job on our careers page and we thought, ‘Hmm…is KCD beefing up their digital side?’ Indeed they are–and the ground-breaking fashion show platform they’re launching might revolutionize the way fashion is seen (or at least make our lives easier).
The company, who were quick to embrace digital (a rarity in the digi-phobic fashion industry), are introducing Digital Fashion Shows, a platform to deliver online-only fashion shows to buyers and members of the press, which will launch during New York Fashion Week with Prabal Gurung’s inaugural lCB collection for Onward Kashiyama on Febuary 15. It’s an ambitious project and offers way more than just a show livestream.
If you want a career that will inspire your creativity, challenge you in the best ways, get you major connections and allow you to grow in the fashion biz, you’ve come to the right page. Our careers page is packed with the latest job and internship opportunities in all facets of the fashion industry. Just Read more →
The fashion industry has a love/hate relationship with celebrities. Paris Vogue is just one of the European glossies notorious for choosing models over celebs for their covers. Last year, Marc Jacobs banned them from his front row because he thinks they distract people from paying attention to the show.
Kanye West definitely experienced this relationship during Paris Fashion Week this season. The rapper and fashion enthusiast managed to score invites to shows like Valentino and Givenchy, but not everyone in Paris was so welcoming.
KCD, arguably the most powerful fashion public relations firm in New York, has set up a digital shop.
Much like competitors PR Consulting and Starworks, KCD will now have a dedicated digital team, lead by digital director Danielle McGrory, formerly a marketing manager at Intermix. McGrory will report to agency vets Keith Baptista and Rachna Shah, who will serve as managing directors of the new division. (They’ll also continue in their roles of senior vice president of production and senior vice president of public relations for the entire firm.)
Why set up a separate digital division? For one, it’s a different service at most PR firms. A client can buy traditional PR, but now they have to pay extra for digital PR. It makes sense, given the additional work it takes to manage a brand’s online presence, including a Facebook page, Twitter account, etc. Instead of hiring two firms to do the PR–one traditional, one digital–a brand can now go to KCD and have them do it all. (Not that they weren’t embracing digital before: From a blogger’s perspective, KCD has always been respectful and encouraging of online coverage. And it’s been greatly appreciated by all of us.)
Seeing as how fashion month has just ended, I thought it would be appropriate to write about what a stylist’s role is on runway shows. On some shows, I merely choose shoes for the looks, and on others I am involved six months before the show, from creative conception to the completion of the show. Stylists cover the gamut for a designer by bringing in an outside perspective and fashion expertise of what is relevant, irrelevant and “new.” Stylists are needed on a runway show to edit the looks, ensure the designer is showing the most innovative pieces from a collection and that the hair, makeup, and models are on target with everything else happening in the world of fashion. A great stylist can take inspiration from the designer and translate it into every element of the runway show, from the manicure to the music.
When I am working with a design team from the beginning of the creative process, I can spend the six months before thinking about inspiration, hair, and makeup. It gives me a chance to fully flush out the ideas and details for all of the “creative,” giving the designers much more bang for their buck. Working with a designer and his/her team from the get go creates a more complete picture of the intention of the collection, and helps me figure out how to better style the show. I edit, make recommendations, and style the collection to be relevant to what is going to be happening on the runways. While designers and their teams tend to be in their amazing self-made bubbles, we stylists are out there seeing everything, allowing us to make powerful suggestions for shoes, accessories, and new silhouettes that are truly original.
When it comes to technology, the fashion industry is resistant to change. For fashion shows, publicists use unwieldy seating charts, using stickies to seat and reseat editors and buyers up until the last minute. Editors at big glossies arrange their books so they’re spread out, page by page, along a wall or table (you remember that room in The September Issue where Vogue’s book was laid out right? The one Grace Coddington kept popping into to see how many pages of her spreads had been cut?) Designers send out thick glossy lookbooks after their shows so editors and buyers can request the looks they saw on the runway. Invitations to shows are bulky (though their heft and shape is part of the fun) and sent via snail mail or hand delivered.
But the industry has slowly but surely begun to embrace technology wholeheartedly (without losing the glamor, of course). A lot of the credit is due to a small startup called Fashion GPS. This year, Fashion GPS is managing 80% of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week’s shows, and 184 shows total during New York Fashion Week. That means they’re providing the tech systems that manage contact lists, provide online invitations, handle RSVPs, and seating. Last season, they managed just 40 shows.
Two weeks ago, we broke down a few Fashion Week myths. This time around, we asked a handful of publicists what they’d like to tell the world about how to act during fashion week. RULE #1: BE NICE Bonnie Morrison, who went from Publicity Director at KCD to Special Projects Editor at Men’s Vogue and Read more →
Here’s something we never do – the answer to last week’s tent-to-salon blind item was Zac Posen. But it’s not anymore because KCD’s request form (where you list the shows you’d like to attend next to their time and place) says that Zac’s show will be held at the Altman building – a popular albeit Read more →
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“My resolution for 2009 is to project a healthy lifestyle for myself, of course, and for the people in my industry. I feel like it’s our responsibility to take care of the kids we are working with and let them know that if this isn’t the industry for them and they can’t be in it Read more →
