Next month will see several fascinating projects kick off as a trio of trailblazers (and LS members) get even busier
LVMH-owned Online Magazine To Play Matchmaker
Nowness.com, LVMH’s digital luxury lifestyle magazine, recently announced that it will broker a deal between an aspiring film director and his or her fashion designer of choice in order to promote the increasingly popular ‘fashion film’ genre. Film treatments received before the 15 September deadline will be considered by editors of Nowness.com and The IdeaLists. The director ultimately chosen will also be introduced to a production company and allocated a $10,000 budget. Find out more by clicking here.
“We’ve premiered work by many of the industry’s most talented directors, including Todd Cole, Ryan McGinley, Poppy De Villeneuve and Matthew Donaldson, who have created some spectacular visual narratives for fashion houses including Dior Homme, Dolce & Gabbana and Rodarte,” reads the site. “Now we want you to have a go.”
Kamel Ouadi, EVP of Nowness.com and global digital media director of Louis Vuitton
ASVOFF, the “Oscars of the Fashion Film Industry” Kicks Off
The third edition of A Shaded View on Fashion Film (ASVOFF) festival will take place from 24-26 September at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Along with the founders of SHOWstudio, Diane Pernet is one of the pioneering personalities behind the genre, which has led her to partner with several powerhouses of the luxury industry such as Italian Vogue and collaborate with many luxury goods brands (by curating or commissioning films showcasing the collections of Alexander McQueen, Prada, Maison Martin Margiela, Sergio Rossi, Chanel and Gucci). Details on the forthcoming screenings and prizes can be found here.
“The ‘fashion film’ was born out of the need to breathe life into the old static medium and set fashion in motion through the magic of cinema. The two disciplines have grown even closer thanks to the impact of the digital revolution, new commercial realities and a mutual fascination between fashion and film industry leaders,” says Pernet.
“The genre makes perfect sense in today’s world where we have the live streaming of catwalk shows, video look-books on e-commerce sites and video fashion ads as the online media grows in importance. At the same time, fashion is a hot topic for reality TV shows; there are biopics of fashion designers coming out left, right and centre; designers are moonlighting as Hollywood film directors – and actresses as designers. I don’t think there has ever been a better moment for a festival like ASVOFF than right now.”
Indeed, thanks in part to Pernet’s efforts, the moving image has exploded as both a commercial and editorial means for luxury brands to access fashion customers online. Imagine Fashion is one of several new platforms trying to capitalise on the movement. Katrina Judd, that site’s marketing and communications director released a statement that described one interesting feature of the soon-to-be-launched business. “Viewers of the site will have the opportunity to interact and click on all featured fashion clothing and accessories in these films to make instantaneous purchases,” she said. To see how prolific the genre is becoming, follow LS editor-in-chief, Imran Amed’s posts on the Business of Fashion.
Diane Pernet, founder of ASVOFF festival and the founding fashion critic for the fashion blog www.asvof.com
www.ashadedviewonfashionfilm.com
Making a Thriving Business out of the Art of Trend Forecasting
What WGSN is to fashion, Stylus will be to the world interiors. This is the ambition of Marc Worth, the entrepreneur who founded the hugely successful B2B fashion trend forecasting company in 1998 and sold it in 2005 before embarking on this new venture three years later.
Stylus.com, which launches next month, is modelled after WGSN’s online corporate subscription service but will focus more on what Worth calls “big picture forecasting” and macrotrends. Although the site will begin with interiors and product design, it will soon expand into forecasting for a host of other consumer-facing industries, including the all-important luxury sector of each category. Worth’s mission and motives have been outlined by a statement from the firm’s publicist at Camron PR.
“The creative industries are having to develop product offerings much more carefully. Yet the core activities – designing, producing, buying and merchandising – are supported by limited means, with information sourced from expensive reports, narrow sector coverage in monthly magazines or daily blogs, and time-consuming searches through low quality sources, combined with individual guesswork and gut instinct.”
“Professional creatives have clearly been underserved, with a lack of dedicated, inspiring content. There is a need for a definitive, all-encompassing resource that can be customized to individual requirements and accessible while on the move.”
Previews of the firm’s glossy, enlightening reports are available to download via twitter and a recent feature in The Independent serves as a very good introductory business profile.
Marc Worth, founder of Stylus.com
