The incredible world of Viktor & Rolf

“Hi, welcome to our house. Enjoy your stay.”

This is what you hear from Viktor and Rolf themselves (or actually their virtual versions) when you enter the website called House of Viktor and Rolf (www.viktor-rolf.com). They are dressed in black-tie and walk down a beautiful stairway covered with snowflakes. In the background, music that suggests you are entering into a magical world.

In my post from 23 February (How is the Internet changing the fashion shows role?) I had already mentioned the leading duo of fashion designers as an example of how the internet was being actively used by the majors in the industry – they have replaced real catwalk shows by internet versions to showcase their collections.

Their website reinforced the idea that they are taking the internet very seriously as their main marketing effort. The website design is amazing. You really feel you are wandering around a luxurious mansion, in a world of dream. And as you walk around the house, you can enter in different rooms to discover some “treasures”. In the Library, you have loads of archives with information about the designers. In the Grand Salon, you can watch their previous shows. In the Perfumery, you will find a modern sculpture made from their fragrances bottles. The fragrance Flowerbomb has a poem dedicated to it. Unfortunately, at the time we did the research you are still not able to smell the fragrances online…

And if you are really passionate about this fantasy world, you can sign up to be a member of the Secret Service, to discover “Viktor and Rolf’s best kept secret and enjoy the privileges”. We haven’t gone so far, but nevertheless we strongly believe Viktor & Rolf are very efficient in using the internet to bond with their customers and to increase their image within the fashion world – both virtual and real ones.

WGSN – Fashion information leader in the information age

This week your Bloggetta Veneta would like to highlight a business which is a true example of success in the Internet arena. It’s called WGSN (Worth Global Style Network), www.wgsn.com.

This is a portal updated daily, a world leader in online searches, trend analysis and news about the fashion, design and style industries. It was born in 1998 in London, founded by two brothers, Julian and Marc Worth, with the vision to be the prominent real-time information network in the fashion and related industries.  

They have 35,000 customers in the style and fashion industries across the world, covering 25 different market sectors and more than 80 countries. From the catwalks of Milan to the streets of Tokyo, they offer information and insights to designers, buyers, marketers and executives. For many brands and advertising agencies they have become the answer to their prayers.

WGSN’s editorial team is composed by more than 200 members, who travel around the globe to investigate local and global trends. They also team up with a network of photographers, journalists, researchers and trend-seekers in all the world’s relevant cities, tracking what exists of avant-garde in terms of shops, designers, brands, trends and innovations.

Last year, to celebrate its 10^th anniversary, it launched a microsite open to the general public – people who don’t have the $27,000 to pay the annual subscription fee (which boasts a renewal rate of over 90%). The microsite summarizes some of their insights in a range of topics during the last decade.

It was due to work only until December, but I just checked and it’s still working, so go there before they take it out of air! >>> www.wgsn.com/10/

How is the Internet changing the fashion shows role?

This week in Bloggetta Veneta we are going to talk about the impact the internet is having in one of the most famous symbols of the fashion industry: the catwalk shows. They have always been the most prominent elements in showing the trends and insights of the world’s best designers. And they have always been very exclusive events where only a few hundred of people would be able to attend, and the invitations for them were an important sign of prestige in the industry.

Today their importance is changing fast with the web reality. One story that gives a good example was told by Cathy Horyn from the New York Times. She talked about the time when she was excluded from the Armani presentation – she just laughed as minutes later anyone could access the collection online.

Now everyone can be front row at the fashion shows. Websites such as www.vogue.co.uk or www.net-a-porter.com present videos of the catwalk shows in a much easier way to check what is relevant than the real thing. And now some times the real thing does not even exist anymore. Last season the design duo Viktor & Rolf decided not to do a traditional catwalk show and instead opted for an internet presentation. This way people from the industry can watch the shows from their own offices, already discussing with each other the relevant aspects of each one and deciding in which way the shows will affect their business.

According to Marion Hume from www.style.com, Natalie Massenet, founder of Net-a-porter, believes that counting bums on seats on the night of a show has become "very 20th-century," and points out that more than two million viewers a month now log on to her site to view fashion shows. "Just because the way we see fashion is changing doesn't mean the appetite for fashion is declining."

And it is not only the internet that is changing the fashion shows reality. The current economic climate is also a strong drive for smaller and less shows, making it even more sense to do them online.

Trying on clothes online – As good as in a shop?

When I discussed the idea of shopping for clothes online in my post from 15 January (http://bloggettaveneta.blogspot.com/2009/01/asos-magazine.html), many people commented that they think it is not a good experience because you cannot try on the clothes as you do in a shop’s fitting room.

Well, this argument is not a strong one anymore. With the online tool provided by My Virtual Model (www.mvm.com), you can try on clothes online in your own avatar! It works like this: you upload your info such as type of face, body shape, height, weight, bust size and waist for women (it works for men with slightly different info). You can even upload your own picture of your face, and put different backgrounds to see for example how the outfit would look with you on the beach… The service is currently provided in the US to some brands such as H&M, Sears, Land’s End and Speedo.

One potential problem that I found when asked for some female friends to try the service is that women can tend to be a bit optimistic about their virtual model’s body… This can lead to some problems of tight clothes when they are delivered, and they will claim the guilt is with the online tool… On my side, I found my virtual model a bit weird, and the clothes not that realistic… I don’t know if I would try the tool.

The ones who have tried it before please share your experience. The ones who thought this was the main problem about buying online please tell what you think of the tool. And don’t mention about the texture feeling and the scent of the clothes, I’m pretty sure that soon you will be able to feel it online as well…

DNI capabilities democratize fashion objects of desire

In the previous weeks we talked about the success of online clothing retailers asos.com and the influence in the fashion industry of the photo blog thesartorialist.com.

This week we will talk about a very interesting kind of online business, that thanks to the infamous DNI (digital network individualization) capabilities of the Internet are democratizing people’s access to their fashion objects of desire.

How does it work? It’s simple. Instead of spending hundreds or thousands of pounds to buy one handbag or one dress, that you will probably wear only a few times, now you can hire for a short period and at a reasonable price a gorgeous handbag or dress and then return it afterwards. Some websites offering this service are www.girlmeetsdress.com and http://designerhandbaghire.com.

The first one with its nice domain name (much more appealing than the dull name of the second one) is if course a website where girls can browse, borrow, wear and return the dresses of their dreams. The prices start at £31 a day. Currently they promise delivery by post in three days anywhere in the UK, but soon they will have a same-day delivery service in London. The labels are top ones such as Fendi, Marc Jacobs and 3.1 Philip Lim.

The second website offers a similar service with designer handbags. You can rent a bag from £30 for up to a month. And if you become a member for £9.99 a month you have discounts in the rentals. There are all the usual suspects: Prada, Chloe, Chanel, etc.

I think all this business models would not be feasible in the bricks and mortar world, for problems such as keeping stock, attracting customers willing to try it, scopes of scale, etc.

The DNI world has made it possible. This is fashion democracy. This is online revolution. Are you up for it?

Drapers Etail Awards

From drapersonline.com:

My-wardrobe.com was named overall winner at the Drapers Etail Awards last night at Sketch in London.


Asos, Sarah Coggles and Radley were among other businesses to pick up an award at the inaugural awards event.

The winners were:

Best Customer Experience, sponsored by HDNL
Winner: Asos.com

Best Etail Innovation, sponsored by Fashshot.com  
Winner: my-wardrobe.com

Best Etail Marketing Initiative, sponsored by e-style   
Winner: Mio Destino

Best Etailer, sponsored by PayPal  
Winner: Asos.com

Best Independent Etailer
Winner: Sarah Coggles

Best Multichannel Retailer, sponsored by Adobe Scene 7
Winner: Schuh

Best New Etailer, sponsored by Ventura Network Distribution
Winner: Radley

Best Single-brand Etailer   
Winner: Mulberry

Best Specialist Etailer   
Winner: Soleheaven

Gold Award: Overall Winner, sponsored by Venda
Winner: my-wardrobe.com 

Photo blog of fashion-conscious ordinary people

Continuing our trip to the online fashion world, after talking about a major fashion e-tailer last week, today we are going to talk about an outstanding fashion blog.

The blog The Sartorialist (http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com) has become a real “authority” in the online fashion world, both in the usual meaning of authority – an expert in his field – and in the internet theory definition of “a network member with a large number of inbound links”.

The Sartorialist is an innovative street-style blog grounded in finding and showcasing style. Last year, Time Magazine even named it as one of the Top 100 Design Influences.

Scott Schuman, the creator and driving force behind The Sartorialist, worked in fashion sales and marketing and even opened a showroom in 1999. However, he ran into trouble after Sept. 11. He closed the showroom in 2001 and began to focus more on photography.

One day, Schuman ended up on an interior design blog and was inspired. He felt blogging was a good medium to share his photographs and his point of view, one that was unique yet understandable.

The idea is simple: Schuman uses his Canon 5D to take photos of ordinary people strolling the streets of the cities around the world. He’s based in New York, but he is always travelling to cities such as Paris, Milan, Moscow, New Delhi and Rio.

Now, over 90,000 people a day visit his blog. There’s nobody in the fashion world that does not go there once in a while. Each picture can be commented by dozens or sometimes hundreds of visitors. The blog has several frequent visitors, who post comments everyday, and also some people who appear in the photographs with some regularity – normally people from the fashion industry that he meets in fashion events around the world.

“The Sartorialist now seems bigger than me,” Schuman said. “I write a little about my point of view, take pictures, but I leave it to the audience.”

Being selected and photographed by Schuman has become an international stamp of aesthetic approval, a kind of certificate of style in the 21^st century global world. Some people sent their own pictures to the blog, which are promptly deleted. Only Schuman has the gift to choose, shoot and make people famous for 15 seconds.  

Please post your comments: if Scoot Schuman came to LBS to shoot, who do you think he would choose?