13
Sep
2013
0

Social Media Preview: London Fashion Week S/S14

Over the next 5 days London Fashion Week will play host to 58 shows, 15 presentations and 52 official events and that doesn’t even begin to cover the scores of unofficial events (think backstage parties) and fashion ‘moments’ that will be Instagrammed, Tweeted, Facebooked and blogged about like never before.

In short, whatever fashions emerge on the runway, one certain trend to emerge from London Fashion Week will be the increasing use and integration of social media.

With a recent increase in funding announced by sponsors, London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2014 is set to be the biggest and most seen to date. Chairman of the British Fashion Council Natalie Massenet said about the upcoming shows, “our visual message will travel digitally to let people all over the world feel the excitement – and that drives desire and sales.”

Earlier this year saw we London’s most digitally accomplished fashion week ever, from designers like Matthew Williamson using the (at that time) newly released Vine to showcase runway looks, to TopShop’s collaboration with  Google Glass  for the Future of the Fashion Show. Over the coming week we’ll be following brands, designers and guests with interest to see how they use social and digital platforms to engage with fans and of course ultimately, and most importantly for brands, drive sales.

TopShop Partner With Chirp App For Innovation and Interaction

Having had arguably, the most talked about show earlier this year, TopShop are making digital sound app Chirp a central feature of their Spring/Summer 14 show. The iPhone app which bills itself as a way to ‘sing’ information from one phone to another using soundwaves is perfect for large-scale events of this kind. The beauty of Chirp lies in its ability to share information amongst a group of people gathered in the same place without requiring users to register email addresses or ‘follow’. Content shared via Chirp at the show can be tapped to reveal ‘hidden’ extra content ranging from backstage footage to detailed collection info.
For those unable to attend the show, TopShop have created a Chirp and Twitter Garden at their flagship Oxford Circus store that fans can visit and interact with. The garden will feature the latest updates and images from behind the scenes as well as looks direct from the runway. In addition, the Unique SS14 show will be live-streamed online via Facebook where those watching can discover more about the indivdual pieces as well as shop and customise the look with additional items.

Pinterest Create London Fashion Week Photo Hub

Pinterest have teamed up with designers, bloggers and other fashion notables including Burberry, Fashion Foie Gras and The British Fashion Council to create a London Fashion Week photo hub. Pinterest’s  Head of  Community, Kate Garlinghouse, explained that the photo-pinning platform was an ideal fit with London Fashion Week for its ability to democratise fashion by making it accessible to all. Garlinghouse commented, “millions of people already turn to Pinterest for their fashion inspiration every day, so we’re excited to highlight some of the best boards from London Fashion Week to give people around the world a behind-the-scenes peek from some of fashion’s biggest names.”

This LFW Burberry will be pinning looks from its new collection straight from the runway to Pinterest. The digitally savvy British brand revealed that their choice to use Pinterest was because it provides “a rich canvas for us to tell the many stories around our shows and collections in a highly visual, highly shareable way”.

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