style x design x culture x music x amber

Using video to showcase fashion and related design work is a burgeoning trend. These are not so much “viral” videos, rather films (and motion graphics) that build presence, reflect a brand’s personality and champion offerings in a fresh way. As the Business of Fashion says, it is about “creating reverberations amongst the press and consumers”.

I feel like we’ve all seen the standard interpretations like Gareth Pugh’s film that was launched in tandem with his AW09 collection. So I’ve put together a few alternative examples of ways brands work with motion:

HAIR, THERE AND BACK AGAIN

[New Zealand hair salon] Stephen Marr “teamed up with Auckland’s top fashion design talent to present Belle du Jour, a collection of six drop-dead looks for the ball season.”

The result is a time stopping to-and-fro that reminds me of Toshiba’s Time Sculpture advertisement.

MOVING MAGAZINES

Russh magazine’s latest issue – as seen on a ‘vidflip’:

I like this way of creating anticipation and desire for the physical paper product, rather than just slapping it up as a 2D flippable flash file. A few thousand people have viewed it so far, not too bad… and rather tempting to buy.

REALITY RETAIL

UK retailers ASOS lets you view clothes using a quick ‘catwalk’ video for each garment.

Thank god – you can finally see that cute jumpsuit has a saggy ass (a harem onesie, really?)… Video – saving women the world over horrified disappointment! This feature definitely builds trust.

SHOW STOPPING ANIMATION

When it comes to fashion animation, who can forget Heal Fashion Lab’s quirky look book. Experience the full out by going to their collections page and popping your headphones on.

I have so much love for that lobster dress and the pinching limbs I think my heart might burst. Local Auckland brand Skylark Boutique also uses animated gifs on their splash page – adding movement and a bit of intrigue.

THE TRAILER FOR THE FILM OF YOUR LIFE

Not quite a fashion brand – it’s a blog! But there’s a promo video! I found this tidy little number used to promote IMBOYCRAZY.COM incredibly clever.

Boy Crazy Promo from alexi wasser on Vimeo.

Groundbreaking. How many other blogs out there have a timeless video calling card? (As an aside, it’s a fabulous site well worthy of some serious browsing. Totally stuffed with smart, realistic advice from girl who really does know where you’re coming from.)

VIDEO KILLS

I see many extensions of video – Etsy sellers promoting themselves with crafty little clips, more bloggers producing timeless promo clips, make up artists peddling their ways through new expressions (the We Have Band video comes to mind – it was made by an ad agency, was there a chance for endorsement?).

Yep, if you approach them from a slightly different angle, videos are incredibly effective tools for building brands. They can be used to:

1. Inform – Answer questions like ASOS  does – ‘how does this garment sit?’ etc. Keep asking, what what do consumers really want to know?
2. Inspire – create fantasies, test the limits of your product or consumer’s imagination. Give me a taste of the benefit.
3. Engage – with a video you become multidimensional. Why not give your brand a soundtrack, an aural hook that people will associate with you forever?

Shopflick TV’s Patrick Yee sums it up well:

“Video is an extremely powerful tool in building the designer’s brand, providing backstory and context, as well as demonstrating how pieces fall, flow and move. Video provides deeper context and heightens detail in a way that images alone cannot.”

Finally, video is extremely accessible. With faster broadband connections and higher quality video equipment available to all, why not test a few ideas out? The sky is the limit!

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