Vogue

понедельник, 25 апреля 2016 г.

Вербное Воскресенье с Данилой Козловским и Ксенией Раппопорт - Vogue

Благотворительный вечер фонда “Б.Э.Л.А. Дети-бабочки” и ювелирного дома Axenoff Jewellery

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#CNILux Day One: The Future of Luxury - Vogue

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The only question more important than how and why luxury businesses should embrace technology is when they should embrace it, says Sophie Hackford, Director of Wired Consulting and all-round pioneering "future thinker". The answer? Immediately.

"What I really want to drive home is a quote by US General Omar Bradley: 'We should be navigating by the stars and not the light of every passing ship.' There seems to be a lot of passing ships at the moment," said Hackford this morning, who went on to outline the key technologies on which the luxury industry should set its sights. Bringing digital information to physical forms through smart surfaces; sensors embedded in our clothing; and virtual reality are the key players in the new landscape.

Hackford believes that virtual reality will soon replicate human interaction much more reastically, using avatars to mirror our expressions, feel the texture of surfaces, and even recall memory. The end goal? That we widen our perspective and recognise this development not as something only relevant to the online gaming community, but as a luxury experience that can be a shared across continents. Today's web is made up of pages, but instead we should think about web places, Hackford said.

"Today's kids will be virtual natives. We are moving away from the rectangle screen towards a 3D world," she explained. "In order to have a profound impact on the world, we need to be intuitive." Hackford doesn't want Silicone Valley's tech community to be the only ones to embrace these changes; instead she believes it is designers who will bring creativity to the new "Metaverse" experience.

The benefits of this new technology are abundant for the creative field. Analysing online data, "businesses can be turbo-charged by information" and "make the real world searchable", Hackford explained, meaning designers and retailers can only benefit from connecting with their customer easily and seeing how the competition is doing. "It won't be a tidal wave, it will be a creep - but as it becomes more useful, it will become more normal. We are entering a virtual age."

Hackford advised the audience, "It's important to ask big questions about the coming years — there are enormous technologies that have already left the gate and are doing transformative things in the world. We're not suffering from lack of technology, but a lack of imagination as to what to do with it. Technology has a place in luxury. We are all becoming entangled with machines in ways that we haven't before. So keep your eyes on the stars and not on the lights of each passing ship."

{s:'/upload/iblock/666/666d26a4a8335d0072b3782f8187b748.jpg',t: 'From left: Sophie Hackford was later joined by Marie-Claire Daveu of Kering, Nadja Swarovski and Suzy Menkes to discuss her analysis of the tech and luxury retail sectors'}

By Scarlett Conlon, reporting live from the CNI Luxury Conference in Seoul

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Facebook.com/SuzyMenkes

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#CNILux Day One: Fashion And The Power of Social Media - Vogue

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If there are two people that know the power of social media in the fashion forum, it's Eva Chen and Olivier Rousteing. The King and Queen of Instagram (Chen is Head of Fashion Partnerships and Rousteing, Creative Director of Balmain, is its most ardent fashion-designer advocate), the pair came together on day one of the Condé Nast International Luxury Conference in Seoul today to debate the impact social media has on the industry.

"Fashion has always been about the future, it's always moved quickly, and yes — it has been accelerated by social media," said Chen. "It's such an interesting time, with enormous opportunity. The velvet ropes have come down in fashion — the future of fashion is democracy and the ability to adapt with the consumer. It's a new way of storytelling. So many luxury brands use the word 'storytelling' and what else is Instagram than storytelling? There's so many ways to do it now through Instagram."

{s:'/upload/iblock/1cc/1ccc44f796a854194cde1e18ecce6927.jpg',t: 'Instagram’s Eva Chen outside the Dongdaemun Plaza in Seoul'}

"You're right, it's storytelling," Balmain's Creative Director agreed, explaining his original reason to join the platform. "At the beginning I was the Balmain baby and now Balmain is my baby. It was important back then to use Instagram to invite people to discover who I am. I'm adopted, I came from an orphanage, and I wanted to show people that dreams can come true; to give a positive message and say that if you believe in yourself and you believe in a dream it can happen."

"You can reach so many people through Instagram," Rousteing continued, speaking about his #BalmainArmy hashtag. "Now, after a show I can invite people to understand the Balmain world. If they want the Balmain world they can have it and follow; if they don't like it, they can unfollow."

Accessing people and getting them to buy into the brand is, of course, one of the most important ways to harness the power of social media — indeed, it has been one of the major catalysts for the recent "see-now-buy-now" movement. That designers could monetise the buzz created by social media around a show to sell through immediately to the consumer has financial benefits, but has divided opinion.

{s:'/upload/iblock/1bc/1bc124b952007a146a4b61bb43ab8ce3.jpg',t: 'BalmainRousteing’s collection for Balmain, Autumn/Winter 2016'}

"I believe in see-now-buy-now — we have to stay connected and go faster," revealed Rousteing, hinting that releasing capsule collections immediately after the show (as many other brands have chosen to do, as opposed to making the entire collection available) would be the route the brand would take. "We are probably going to head for see-now-buy-now, for sure. But it's important to keep key pieces that you will sell later and also have pieces that are available immediately after the show. It's good to have a mix of price points too.

And I believe that Instagram and couture can work together — you can invite people to discover how you work. With Instagram I can push and explain the details." "A lot of designers are showing the detail through Instagram," added Chen, who believes that Instagram can be used in a positive way to spark excitement about what is about to land on the shop floor. "Designers also use long-form explanations

— which are becoming increasingly popular - that allow them to explain what inspires them. Marc Jacobs, instead of telling the audience who the model was and photographer was, took the time to explain why each model meant something to the campaign, which gave his followers a closer connection."

And connection is what the platform is all about — as Chen's parting words for the conference summed up concisely. "Remember that Instagram is truly a community - and it can be a great ice-breaker."