Fashion 140 Conference

Members of our Fashion News Live team, Juliana Shadlen and Molly Fitzgerald, attended the Fashion 140 Conference in NYC on May 4, 2011 where they listened to 60 leading speakers, met with 1,000 attendees, and interacted online with nearly 17,000 others. Finding a balance and bridge between social media and the fashion industry is crucial in a day in age where technology is a main form of communication.

What Fashion News Live Learned

Dmitri Spiegel, Urban Outfitters Executive Director of Marketing

• Social Media is a process of connecting, listening, and measuring your reach.
• You must form a bond with viewers and readers, allowing them to trust your journalistic knowledge.
• It is crucial that you convey the spirit and essence of brands in a taste-driven society.
• Friends and Followers: Quality over Quantity

Joanna Blakely

• We can not underestimate the power of women in social media.
• Online apparel sales are surprisingly low and social media will help in the upward transition.
• Fun Fashion Fact: 60% of male clothes are purchased by women

Tom Guarriello, True Talk, Psychologist, School of Visual Arts Teacher

• “Fashion is the new black”
• No matter who you are, you care about fashion. You don’t have to be in fashion to care about fashion.
• There is a specific psychology of branding that bloggers and social media experts must understand prior to building their brand.
• Strong Female Fashion Industry Leaders Examples: Anna Wintour, Tavi Gevinson
• How much does your customer care about your product? What should I do?  1-Pay careful attention look, listen, appreciate and imagine what your customer is like. Be able to say I understand you. 2- Engage: careful to attract and hold fast and interact emotionally, connecting with empathy. Be able to say I feel with you. 3- Help caringly (ex Zappos, gift of happiness): Most important question to ask yourself ”What would I say or do right now if I really cared about this person?”

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff – Director of Fashion for Lincoln Center

• It is crucial in the fashion industry to create professional supportive community — One that share thoughts creatively, freely, and is accessible to everyone

Greg Bettinelli, Hautelook

• Everyday is an “event” and there is a high demand curve unlike in most businesses.
• Members of online sample sale sites often plan their days around events (Some people sure have a lot of time on their hands).
• IMPORTANT: Seek engagement, not entrapment
• Be where the viewer/consumer (Jessica) is and don’t try to bring her to you.
  (Jessic: term for female consumer living in a metropolitan area like NY or LA who has an iphone etc)

John Carles, Style Find, VP of eCommerce

• Draw in readers by making them feel and look good
• Online retailers pursuade you to buy, while customer reviews give you a sense of confidence to buy.
• Woman will consider a product if she is familiar with the celebrity endorsing the product (Ex: Rachel Zoe for Piperlime).

Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, Founder Gilt Groupe

• Email dominated market with vast exposure because they offer local experiences
• Gilt Groupe has recently expanded past the Internet market and into Television (i.e Product Placement: Gossip Girl)

Mr. Joe Zee

• Social Media and blogging connect young upcoming designers with bigger companies and is not always about marketing (He does NOT get paid to Tweet)
• Twitter becomes an insider source, providing the “inside scoop” on industry professionals.

Yuli Ziv, Style Collalition Founder

• If social media and fashion intertwine, why isn’t Anna Tweeting?! (We’d like to know the answer to this as well!)
• Social media has changed NYFW coverage: 2008 offered collaborated coverage of NYFW, got together with 50 bloggers to post all coverage

Rich Tong, Tumblr, Fashion VP

• Tumblr is the multi-media Twitter
• Tumblr offers the ability to humanize brands such as Oscar PR Girl, Kate Spade, and Eva Chen, Teen Vogue

Blogger Panel: The Glamourai, Saucy Glossy, PS I Made This

• There is a transitional stage and growth process that accompany blogging as a hobby and blogging as a career.
• Bloggers don’t find the news, the news finds them.
• There is a major debate over the following question: When do you pay a blogger and when is it an editorial?
• Successful blogging can lead to books, collaborating with brands, events, hosting speaking events, clothing/accessory lines
• It is all about branding yourself

Virtual Fitting Room Panel

• Fits Me:  Allows you to take measurements of yourself and a custom dress form is made, which you can put clothes and shoes on.
• Optitex: Ability to sketch and make 3D representations to reduce cost
• Clothia- Web cam to tape yourself and to size item to body, providing additional virtual closet option

Photography and Information Provided by Juliana Shadlen and Molly Fitzgerald