As the fashion world descends on London, and with many of our clients showing at the event, we at Folk have been taking a closer look at the explosion of digital during London Fashion Week. The main feature of next week’s event has to be the record number of shows being streamed live as the British Fashion Council expands its digital schedule.
A total of 44 designer collections will be watched live, with 22 shows being shown at the Courtyard Show Space at Somerset House, 12 from the Embankment Galleries Show Space, eight from Topshop’s venue at 1 Old Billingsgate Walk plus shows from around the city including Burberry Prorsum and Roksanda Ilincic.
It appears the fashion world, and particularly the newly innovative BFC, have realised the potential that digital can offer such an illustrious event. By streaming these shows live online at www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/live brands allow customers and fans a chance to watch and, more crucially, buy from the catwalk without having to visit the capital.
Of course one of the most interactive, accessible and influential marriages between fashion and digital has come about thanks to the domination of Twitter, Tumblr and the notorious style bloggers.
Editors, celebrities, bloggers and designers will all be posting snaps of their favorite pieces as models sashay past them on the runway, meaning any fashion fanatic can buy into the latest trend before the glossies have even hit the newsstands.
To capitalise on this online infatuation, the BFC are also working closely with Twitter during the shows. Question and answer sessions will be held over the six days with guests including designers Anya Hindmarch and Alice Temperley and Dylan Jones, editor of GQ and chair of the Fashion 2012 Menswear Committee.
There’s no doubt that digital will continue to dominate the world of fashion in 2012, the only question remains who will be best in the online show?