Fashion’s Night Out 2009
In a global initiative to pump life back into the fashion retail industry, Vogue and the CFDA are urging people to shop again with Fashion’s Night Out. And what better way to kick off the event than to start on this fall’s New York Fashion Week on Sept 10th.
I had recently gone to New York city over Labor Day weekend, and it was hard to miss Fashion’s Night out as there were buses and monstrous billboard ads splashed across the urban landscape. For the occasion, over 700 stores will be open from 6pm to 11pm in New York, sprinkled with celebrities, musical performances and of course, shopping galore.
The event isn’t limited to New York only, it will simultaneously spread across Europe all the way to Japan. So if you’re lucky to find yourself into some of those fashion capitals tomorrow night, take advantage of it!
And what about Canada?
The Hudson Bay will also be partaking in Fashion’s Night Out tomorrow through their 7 The Bay flagship store across the country, according to CNW Group. The Bay’s CEO, Bonnie Brooks, states that the department store will be the only store in the country participating in the event. Montreal’s downtown flagship store is included in the list, although details of what each store will do isn’t really given except for a vague description: “…a variety of in-store events and exclusive vendor activities including makeovers and workshops, expert consultations, fashion shows, special gifts with purchase, prize raffles, music, food and drink, and an opportunity to meet designers and celebrity stylists.”
This is also to reiterate the fact that The Bay is really trying to lure shoppers back to its aisles by introducing new products and designers to the Fall lineup, and valiantly trying to put itself back onto the fashion map as it once did. For some reason, I’m also secretly rooting for them to be brought back into prominence, and give some real value to all that square footage of retail space.
The Model As Muse on New Media
The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York has for the past couple of years, really embraced spreading its amazing fashion exhibition through online means. Last year, the Met Museum created a special blog dedicated to some of the most remarkable fashion pieces of past and present. Though now the project is closed, the blog remains online for any curious viewers who would like to learn more about the pieces, sort of like an online museum.
Recently, there was much talk about the Met’s new exhibiton called “The Model as Muse” taking us through the relationship between fashion models and their designers. The museum goes further by putting up a soundless video of their exhibit on YouTube, photos on Flickr and announcing the whole shebang on Twitter. It’s the kind of online relationship we all wished we had with our museums. A must-see.
Image credit: Alex Hills for Met Museum
[Via Twitter]
The Model As Muse at The MMOA
Thinner Than You Dress
"Thinner Than You" By Maureen Connor
Dress Codes: Clothing As Metaphors is an exhibit found at the Katonah Museum on the outskirt of NYC.
Just thought this photo was awesome.
[Katonah Museum via The Moment]
Gucci.com Gives Canada Their Own Online Blip
Let’s face it Canada. We’re not exactly country numero uno when luxury brands think about the list of countries that deserve their own slash subfolders in their URLs. It’s actually more of a question for demand, but still. Canadians usually have to click over to the US site to view stuff, but can never order since they don’t ship over to Canada. It’s fine if third party sites like ShopBop and Net-a-porter are able to ship over to you from that “Choose your country” drop down list, but many labels will usually only have a US, UK, or European only shop sites.
Thus, it comes to as a surprise that Gucci has come up with Canada’s own slash subfolder URL, and had initially reached out to Canadian fashion bloggers first to tell you about it. It’s ground breaking in the sense that such a huge company like Gucci not only gives a new blip for Canada as a country deemed worthy of their own site, but also that Gucci is following through with their “fashion blogger outreach program” as I’d like to call it.
If you recall, last year, Gucci had launched their flagship store in New York and had invited 5 fashion bloggers (including Susie Bubble, now a staple fashion blogger icon) to blog about their experience. This was a new venture and I think every fashion blog in the loop were talking about it and dying of envy. Also through Business of Fashion, I had learned that Gucci also had their online banners splashed across Hint Magazine’s front page (which is now boasting ads of the likes of Seven New York and Swarovski).
It’s a healthy sign that luxury brands are turning towards online sites to promote as well as earn extra revenue through their shop sites, as more and more people are purchasing online instead of visiting stores. What with the iPhone allowing users to purchase on the spot, it seems that shoppers don’t even have time to stay on a computer to shop. I mean, just look at what Business of Fashion has said on WWD yesterday, that the future is online for luxury brands.
The site itself is pretty much a replica of the US site, with horizontal browsing, several angle views of the products, etc. Overall a pretty seamless shop site and offers you practically the entire collection at a click of a mouse. For Montreal especially, we’re not graced with a Gucci stand alone store, let alone Gucci clothes, so it’s a nice added bonus that it is possible to break the bank without breaking a sweat. It’s obvious, things don’t come cheap.
But it just goes to show that even a huge company like Gucci can recognize the value of the online experience and it’s users. So who will be next to step it up for fashion bloggers (and Canada)?
Images courtesy of Gucci
