FOREVER 21'S JAW DROPPING HOLOGRAPHIC FASHION SHOW USES NO LIVE MODELS, WOWS THE CROWDS, COULD SPARK A NEW TREND

Fashion retailer Forever 21 is hosting a series of unique fashion shows worldwide that use holographic images instead of live models.

The promotion, conceived and produced with the help of digital agency space150, kicked off last week in Vienna, Austria. A total of eight shows are currently scheduled, including Brussels (June) and London (July).   Says Los Angeles-based Forever 21 Marketing Manager Kirstin Nagle. A New York show, currently the only U.S. show scheduled, will be in the fall.

The Vienna show, timed to celebrate the opening of the flagship Vienna retail store, gave invited fans and customers the chance to see breaking fashion trends in a runway show comprised entirely of holographic models. It was both a press and consumer event, she says.

FOREVER 21 Holographic Fashion Show - Vienna Austria: 04/29/11 from space150 on Vimeo.

Nagel told Marketing Daily,

"Consumers obtained invites to the event through becoming fans of our Facebook Grand Opening event page.  For our upcoming events marketing and outreach will also be done through social media. Depending on each market and size of venue, a certain number of consumer invites will be given."

The show features a runway first: no live models. Holographic models, wearing designs from Forever 21's new line, walk the runway, disappear into starbursts and climb invisible staircases that light up underfoot.

Says Nagle,

"We know that our customers are tech savvy and stay on top of trends in both fashion and technology.  These shows are a way of connecting with our consumers in both areas."

Forever 21's program of digital brand entertainment began in June 2010 with the introduction of an interactive Forever 21 billboard in Times Square, New York. Also conceived in partnership with space150, the board located on the site of the iconic Virgin billboard, features giant onscreen models interacting in real-time with customers on the streets outside the store. Models snap Polaroids of the crowd in real-time or pick people up and drop them into a store shopping bag.

The brand operates 450 stores in the United States with operations internationally in Bahrain, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand and UAE (Dubai and Abu Dahbi).

COMMENTARY:   I love Forever 21's leading edge use of holographic technology that does not use live models could be come the way future fashion shows will be staged.  You shoot the fashion show once, using live models, shoot the show using holographic cameras, then take the show on the road.  

Forever 21 repeated its incredible holographic fashion shows in London, Brussels and Glasgow. Here are the videos for these groundbreaking holographic fashion shows:

Forever 21 Holographic Fashion Show in London:

  

Forever 21's Holographic Fashion Show in Brussels, Belgium:

 

Forever 21's Holographic Fashion Show in Glasgow, Scotland: 

 

Forever 21's Holographic Fashion Show in New York City:

 

Holographic fashion shows are destined to become the latest new trend in fashion technology.  The folks at Burberry and Diesel thought so too, and held their own holographic fashion showa:

 

 

Billy Jurewicz, founder and CEO of space150 leads agency’s evolution and approach to modern marketing.

Billy started space150 in March of 2000, during the height of the dot-com crash (I was also there), with only $20,000 of working capital.  Since then, space150 has grown to 140 employees and was named to the Growth 50 by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal in both 2005 and 2006. (The publication also recognized Billy as a member of their "Forty Under 40" in 2005.)

Before founding space150, Billy worked in the creative department at Fallon Worldwide, on accounts such as Starbucks, Miller Lite, EDS, and Lee Jeans. Prior to Fallon, he worked for the DDB Needham affiliate Milici Valenti Ng Pack in Hawaii, and on several major accounts for BBDS in Chicago, including McDonald’s, Sheraton Hotels, Sprint, Midwest Express, and Aloha Airlines.

Says space150 founder and CEO Billy Jurewicz,

“Forever 21 is a phenomenon. They’re a leader in bringing accessible, up-to-the-minute fashion to customers everywhere.  We designed these holographic shows as a more advanced way to premiere a new line that is more controllable, less hassle and has much greater impact for the same price as a traditional runway event.

Our whole approach at space150 is about destroying convention to create demand. We’re not saying the traditional runway show has seen its end, but this technology and concept really rethinks the idea of what a runway can now do.”

Says Linda Chang, Forever 21's senior marketing manager,

“Our customers are always searching for the next big thing, or fashion trends before they happen. We love that about them, so we are always thinking about how to surprise them, show them things they’ve never seen before and give them new exciting ways to get involved with Forever 21.”

Fashion shows can be very extravagant and costly affairs.  In an article dated November 23, 2009 appearing in New York Magazine, this is what they said about the fashion show costs for Victoria's Secret fashion show (see above)held during New York's 2009 Fashion Week:

"If this past Fashion Week didn't teach you that trying not to be extravagant out of respect for the economic climate and the hardships induced on much of the population is a thing of the past, the Victoria's Secret fashion show is here to remind you! The show, which taped last Thursday in New York, included 35 models along with host Heidi Klum, 1,034 guests, and one $3 million Harlequin Fantasy Bra  (see my blog entry dated October 25, 2010) worn on the runway by Miranda Kerr. Designed by Damiani, it includes more than 2,300 diamonds in various shades. The total cost for the whole affair? About $10 million (not including the bling bra, presumably). But to be fair, they do two tapings." 

Fashion show savings and efficiences could be considerable, including reductions in talent agency fees, make-up and hairstylists, wardrobe transportation, maintenance and storage, travel and entertainment, venue rent, and the list goes on.   I am sure that the model agencies and their models are not going to like the holographic fashion show format since this drastically cuts into their talent fees.  

Forever 21's clever use of social media to market and communicate their fashion shows is part of a growing trend in the fashion industry.  In a blog post dated September 8, 2010, I wrote about the use of social media during the 2010 New York Fashion Week.  Retail designer brands Marc Jacobs, Ann Taylor, Bluberry are just a few of the names that made use of Facebook and Twitter to market and promote their fashion show events and engage with their fans.  Social media marketing is taken so seriously, that there is even a Fashion 2.0 Media Awards event held during New York's Fashion Week, to award the brands and agencies with the best social media marketing campaigns. 

Forever 21 has 4.4 million fans on Facebook and 159,00 followers on Twitter.  They need to get moving on Twitter.  You can read all of @forever21's tweets about the Vienna holographic fashion show HERE.   

In another blog article dated September 14, 2010, I wrote about New York fashion designer Betsey Johnson's (she's one of my favorites) desire to reduce her marketing costs, and her use of location-based social media to promote her brand. Betsey Johnson's use Facebook Places, was the first time that location-based marketing was used in the fashion industry.   

Forever 21's historic holographic fashion show is truly a pioneering effort, but it is still too early to tell whether other fashion designers will adopt holographic technology for their fashion shows.  I am still trying to find out more information about this technology.

Courtesy of an article dated May 3, 2011 appearing in MediaPost Publications Marketing Daily, an article dated November 23, 2009 appearing in New York Magazine

Comments

[Cecelia Harris]

This is really the big thing in fashion. My friends and I always watch for your next show. We are a big group which always follow your shows.

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The company's profile should also contain simple information about where the association is headed. A good Fashionwear Manufacturers profile gives a lifetime importance and added your customers for you business.

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