Awesome New Things

NEW YORK What does Facebook mean for fashion?

Thats the $104 billion question as the social-networking sites initial public offering takes off today, priced at $38 a share and potentially raising $16.4 billion the third largest in financial history. While pundits have spent the last few months poring over the most minute aspects of the Internet phenomenon including how rich its backers and founders will be after today the biggest issue is whether Facebook will have the long-term transformative and dominating impact of Google or Amazon or be more like Yahoo or eBay.

The fashion world, like almost every other industry, is still trying to figure that out. Theres talk surrounding where Facebook will focus its energies with its increased cash flow, ranging from further developments in its open-graph technology to further engagement, to mobile innovations to fuel brand partners brick-and-mortar shopping experience, to improving client account management services for companies. Observers also believe Facebook will become more aggressive in pushing its advertising model, stirring even greater competition with traditional media companies.

RELATED STORY: Fashion Brands Ramping Up Facebook Presence gt;gt;

At the moment, most brands have simply focused on the race to accumulate the most likes on their fan pages and to encourage engagement even those like Burberry and Sephora that advertise heavily on the site. How quickly Facebook can convince brands it can be more important to them than that will be key to its ongoing growth especially since its now widely accepted that early attempts to encourage e-commerce via Facebook have been a flop.

Maureen Mullen, director of research and advisory at NYU think tank Luxury Lab, or L2, said that the dirty little secret industry-wide is that companies have been spending money on advertising on the platform for a while, with Burberry leading that charge. The brand has been an aggressive advertiser on Facebook in the fashion world in the past 24 months, as have Chanel and Gucci. While this has greatly contributed to creating an aspirational aura around the value of Facebook, she thinks it is too early to know exactly how the IPO is going to play out with respect to the fashion and luxury sectors.

Facebook advertising is most effective for driving behavior within the platform, and specifically how most fashion brands use it successfully is to drive likes and to grow the communities on their pages, Mullen said. I think that will continue, but the question will be whether it can take those communities one step further and monetize them off the platform. I dont think in the short term well see massive generating of revenue directly from Facebook advertising or directly on the Facebook platform.

She doesnt foresee these brands abandoning Facebook anytime soon, but to guarantee success on the medium going forward, Mullen said its going to take the right mix of paid advertising and really strong content to increase engagement on a brands open graph.

Facebook, she contends, shouldnt be held to a school of thought that demands instant return on investment, because if one looks at where most fashion brands advertise print its not as if those ads generate immediate sales. [Print ads] generate aspirational values for the brand, awareness, editorial mentions, and for the most part, Facebook should be held to the same measurement, Mullen said.

Sucharita Mulpuru, online and multichannel retail analyst at Forrester Research, compared Facebook advertising to television in that theyre both entertainment vehicles with a huge reach but not a place where every brand finds value.

Its a place where you can discover things you might not have known about otherwise, and reinforce peoples loyalty to existing brands, and thats why some of the most famous brands in the world all have huge fan bases, Mulpuru said.

Because of the fast pace of fashion — and the even faster pace of fast fashion companies at reproducing and replicating designer runway collections — designers and brands have started making their collections available for purchase as soon as they hit the runway. Burberry has been one of the leaders of this business model. Retailers, too, have been quick to offer the same kind of service after recognizing that there are consumers who want immediate gratification. Even reality television has joined the bandwagon via the NBC show Fashion Star, which makes the collections shown on TV available at stores such as HM and Saks Fifth Avenue the very next day.

The same concept is being put on a larger scale in Singapore through Future Fashion Now (FFN), which the organizers of the Asia Fashion Exchange has dubbed the worlds first live-streaming fashion week that lets fashion aficionados shop real time. The New York designer Timo Weiland headlined the event along with Esther Perbandt of Berlin and Yeojin Bae of Melbourne.

There are three days of shows from designers all over the world and all are live-streamed on the FFN website. Viewers online can click on the clothes and make their purchases right there and then. A deposit will be required and the garment will be produced in about a months time. The collections will be available for viewing and purchase until the end of July.

This is the first time something like this is being done, said Tina Tan Leo, founder of the homegrown label and international success story Alldressedup. The brand is taking part in the Future Fashion Now initiative and the collection will be shown in Singapore on Saturday.

By making the clothes ready for purchase right after the runway show, designers get a better gauge on what pieces from their collections are commercial success. This will help a great deal in streamlining their production costs.

To see and purchase the collections of Alldressedup, Timo Weiland and the other labels featured in the festival, visit the Future Fashion Now website.

Photo above are looks from Alldressedup courtesy of Alldressedup and Audi Fashion Festival Singapore

Read more from me on Style Intel

Two Cornell fashion design students have developed fabric embedded with insecticide to protect against mosquitoes and other pesky bugs.

With summer arriving, the inevitable days of the pestering mosquitoes and bugs are upon us. Some people can handle bites despite them being annoying, but if youre anything like me, bug bites are not only itchy, they can develop into allergic reactions that form giant bumps and swells. Still, remembering to apply bug repellent each time you step outside can be a hassle and harmful to your skin. What if the technology was instead embedded into your clothes? 

Two fashion design students at Cornell University have joined hands to develop a fashion line that contains malaria-fighting protection intertwined within the fabrics. The collection named Njehringe was inspired by the ongoing outbreak of malaria in Africa, where the creators are both from. The design team said the textile contain the benefits of insecticide that is safe to wear yet three times stronger than your average bug repellent. The fabric is also durable and can last for up to six months of wear before losing effectiveness.

The scientific development of the textile was accomplished with the help of fiber scientists who treated the cotton fabrics with molecules to help the material bind to insecticides. The look of the fashion pieces were also not for fashions sake: The netted jacket draws inspiration from mosquito nets, and the prints were all hand-dyed locally in the villages of Gambia. Matilda Ceesay, one of the student designers of Njehringe, also said the silhouettes were an intersection between Africa and the western world to help develop a new, distinct look with old-world necessities. 

I began to imagine what would happen if a group of natives found a chest filled with underwear from the western world without ever having interacted with westerners. How would they recreate a chest filled with corsets, bloomers, girdles and night robes? Ceesay told Designboom.

The designers hope to adapt the fiber technology so a mass production can help incorporate malaria-fighting powers to everyday clothes, with an estimate that collection could be available for sale within the next two years. While these Njehringe fashion pieces represent a certain quirk and style, we also hope a more casual selection of bug-repelling outfits will be around for daily wear.

FASHION stalwart John Cavill says consumer confidence is the worst hes seen in 36 years on Toorak Road.

Mr Cavill, who has six eponymous high-end fashion stores across the east coast of Australia, says low consumer confidence, penalty rates, recent changes to outworker laws, and political instability leave him no longer feeling successful.

He says its not just the rag trade feeling the pain, you can include restaurants, the real estate agents who are not earning commissions.

The annual White House Correspondents Dinner is the time when politicians get to rub elbows with Hollywoods biggest celebs and this year was no exception. Charlize Theron, Lindsay Lohan, Reese Witherspoon, and Kate Hudson were just few of the many starlets that stepped out to dine with President Barack Obama and his First Lady Michelle Obama.

Of course, such a formal event goes without seeing celebrities all dolled up in gorgeous ball gowns. So who wowed fashion critics? Which celeb underdressed for the occasion?

Click through the gallery to see the fashion hits and misses at this years White House Correspondents Dinner.

Be sure to check out the video below to see more of the impressive guest list!

Ghana makes fashion history as the organizers of Ghana Fashion and Design Week (GFDW) announce Vogue Italia as their international media partner for the upcoming event scheduled for October 5-7, 2012 at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra. The digital luxury fashion publication has joined forces with GFDW to bring exclusive coverage of the event to the world.

This collaboration is truly one-of-a-kind – with Vogue Black Italia high readership from all over the globe, GFDW mission is to provide international journalistic coverage of the fashion event. Making history for Ghana and the African continent, such collaboration has never happened before and the organizers hope this partnership lead GFDW commitment to the promotion of designers, ensuring international publishers are able to easily access official, sought after GFDW images, content and enabling designers to promote themselves to a global audience.

Vogue Italia will exclusively be covering the runway shows, with special backstage features and interviews. It is with great pleasure to add Vogue Italia to GFDW list of global partners, including luxury brands such as L’oreal and Porsche. This partnership provides participating fashion designers, models and sponsors with brand coverage in key markets; allowing them to be discovered by new contacts globally.

Ghana Fashion Design Week® is a contemporary international platform envisioned to direct, lead and promotes both emerging and established designers to a global audience. GFDW brings together creatively talented fashion and accessories designers in Ghana, and in the Diaspora alongside international designers, to showcase their collections to local and international retail buyers, Africa’s neo-fashion consumers, influential press, media, and fashion savvy celebrities.

The event incorporates outstanding display of fashion shows and a creative Exhibition hub that gives fashion and creative businesses in Ghana, and across the globe the opportunity to exhibit their collections and related creative business services alongside the catwalk shows.

The annual event celebration of Ghana’s Fashion and Creative business industry is set to epitomize the fashion scene in Ghana, with platforms that celebrates Ghanaian and international designers. The organization is structured with an aim to develop and educate emerging talents in Ghana through its mentoring platforms and inspirational industry seminars to involve internationally. GFDW is strategically placed to support and strengthen the fashion, textiles and apparel manufacturing industries in Ghana.

Noelle Mayer, Denise Coles and Morgan Mercieca are among the 90 students involved in putting on the fashion show. They are all wearing fashion show T-shirts on sale for $7 each. Sarcoma Foundation bracelets will also be available for $1 each. Proceeds will go toward cancer research.

Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review-Journal

Deirdre Clemente, right, shows her University of Nevada, Las Vegas fashion history class a handmade dress from after World War II at the Nevada State Museum at the Springs Preserve. Eleven students are in the class. Buythisphoto

Due to prom fashions becoming a little skimpier in recent years, questions have resurfaced on what styles are appropriate for a school-based function.

With long slits and cut-out dresses showing up on the red carpet, these styles find their way to prom designers and onto the bodies of younger girls.

Suzanne Giovino, owner of Jons Bridal by Suzanne in Allentown, says her shop caters more to the classy, elegant style of prom that is more bridal-inspired. There are many new fashion trends including more ruffles and bold
patterns that are current and stylish, but are also more suited for
teenagers attending a school function. She says she has not sold a lot of the more risque, cut-out dresses that were popular last year and are making a resurgence again this year.

But part of this, she says, is due to many girls coming in from schools that just wont allow these dresses.

However, not all schools are finding it necessary to outright ban certain dresses or set steadfast regulations.

Nazareth Area High School Principal Alan Davis says they have not had a problem with the way students dress at their prom in the past, so they have not felt the need to implement a dress code this year.

We pretty much say, Common sense … whats appropriate for school is appropriate for prom, he says.

He says most of his students know the prom is a formal function so they need to look formal. He says if there is, or ever would be, a problem, they would deal with it on a case-by-case basis by asking the student to put something on over their dress.

He says fashion is really the least of their worries on prom night and he also doesnt want to provide a complete disruption on how well the prom usually goes.

Taking initiative
Superintendent for North Warren Regional School District, Brian Fogelson, has not implemented a dress code either, per se. But he says the student council has offered guidelines on how students should dress for the occasion.

Weve never had any problems at our prom and I dont expect (we) will, he says. But with fashions being what they are this year I think the students have taken the initiative to prevent problems.

He says the student council even showed a PowerPoint presentation to students on what is acceptable and not acceptable to wear so there would be little gray area.

Our kids are usually up-front on things, Fogelson says. Which is why we are proud of them.

Current style
Anne Fraley, owner of Fashions by Anne in Bethlehem, has been a seamstress for 30 years — 13 of which she has spent in the Lehigh Valley. She has had many of her clients through all of their proms and even for their weddings later on in life. She has seen many styles come and go and some return. In both making and altering dresses this year, she says she is still seeing some of the cut-out dresses.

However, she says she cant pinpoint one certain trend this year. From what she has seen, styles have been more of a combination of everything, including splashy colors and more wedding-style dresses.

Really theres nothing written in cement, she says. People wear whatever they choose to wear.

Ideally, to look the most appropriate, she says to make sure the dress is the best fit for your body type. Fraley has had to alter many dresses so they look more appropriate when worn.

This fashion faux pas is something Jons Bridal by Suzanne also addresses. Giovino says this is a service you wont get from ordering a dress online but that you will get by going into a shop to purchase. She says colors and styles often look completely different and then once they get the dresses in the mail, they are disappointed or realize the dress may not be a fit and may look inappropriate.

But guidelines or no guidelines, making sure the dress fits and is suitable for prom well ahead of the big night is the key.

Theres one simple way to prevent any uncertainties.

You need to put it on, Giovino says.

Lauren Deloach owns Damp;R Style Consulting and Category5. For details, go to www.category5style.com. Email fashion questions to her at lauren@shopcategory5.com. Check out Laurens fashion tips every Friday at 7:45 am on 98.9 Liberty with Jen Towner and on Virginia This Morning each Friday at 9 on CBS 6.