More on the street style/self-style phenomenon that only seems to be growing. Last week saw the launch of Jimmy Choo’s 24:7 Stylemakers which follows on from what Burberry did with Art Of The Trench and Armani did with Frames Of Your Life. Users of the 24:7 Stylemakers site upload pictures of themselves wearing Jimmy Choo either via the site itself or with Facebook/Instagram (using the #choo247 hashtag). (more…)
Ive just finished writing 2000 words on the power of the stylist but frankly 2k wasn’t nearly enough to write about this ever-changing subject. Stylists and fashion editors are now becoming overall content curators as evidenced by initiatives like Anna Trevelyan and Simon Foxton’s stints as guest curators for SHOWstudio’s Tumblr and Nicola Formichetti’s hugely popular personal Tumblr.
Latest on this phenomenon is the news that Hanneli Mustaprta has been tapped as a contributing editor to Calvin Klein’s Tumblr. Not a stylist in the traditional sense, but a ‘self stylist’ with a creative eye, this is a fresh way for brands to work with those who share their visual point of view. I quite like this new strand of content curation for the attention-deficit generation. If anyone wants to hire me as their Tumblr editor* (but pref not the naughty brand who picked my brains and then vanished without a trace) then let’s talk!
*PS: my beauty Tumblr is here
My take on The Future Of Fashion Magazines is generally that the collectable bi-annuals will continue and the commercial monthlies will eventually migrate to online-only. My Self Service magazines with their endless photo-editorials and long-form interviews have stood the test of time because they’re not topical (there’s no news or celeb interviews promoting their latest film-slash-beauty contracts), so the content is more ‘pure’. All the attention right now is on Carine Roitfeld’s forthcoming ‘fashion book’, CR Fashion Book (which is really a bi-annual magazine) and from this WWD article, the format looks to follow my theory. Only spreads and long form articles will be featured while the gaps between the twice yearly issued will be filled with more immediate, newsy online content.
Obviously, this switch won’t happen overnight. There’s still a huge market for print mags (evidenced by my own monthly tower of glossies), but the generation in its early teens now most likely won’t have the nostalgic connections to print magazines as we know them, so won’t continue to buy the Glamours and Grazias as we do.
And there’s another big development in magazines coming very soon indeed. Hearst’s tie-up with Youtube, a fashion channel called Hello Style launches on Saturday. I imagine these weekly digital TV shows from the likes of US Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar and Cosmopolitan will have far reaching implications for the editorial industry as we know it, so I’ll be watching closely. Will you?
As with a still photo shoot, there are a number of elements that have to add up for a fashion film to get my tick of approval. The casting, the clothes and the narrative are important of course, but for moving image, the acting, music and cinematography are crucial. Danish retailer Only has created a compelling five minute film with all these elements executed to perfection. But the clever part is that ‘The Liberation’ also incorporates interactive storytelling as well as shoppable and social media functionality to make this a really game-changing marketing move. (more…)
