Just a few weeks ago during the haute couture catwalks, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Valentino showcased in their collections designs influenced by James Cameron’s Avatar and by Pandora’s indigenous population, the Na’vi.
Yet, apparently, the film didn’t only influence designers, but also many other people working in the industry, especially the marketing departments of many fashion houses and labels.
The fashion machine desperately needs to slow down if it doesn’t want to keep on producing young designers universally considered as geniuses one day only to be forgotten by the press less than three months after.
Yet slowing down is not on the agenda and there is a total war out there: fashion journalist or blogger, whoever publishes first the pictures or the video of a catwalk show, whoever mentions in their features or posts the name of the designer who will become “the next big thing”, wins another battle in the "I got there first" war.
London Fashion Week (LFW) has proved that whatever happens – even the tragic loss of your one and only truly talented designer – the fashion show must go on.
Possibly it must go on in style and via catwalk shows broadcast live on the Internet, a clever idea that proved LFW is truly one step ahead compared to the more established yet fossilised Milan Fashion Week, struggling to attract the attention of the press and the buyers.
During LFW, Burberry Prorsum showcased its collection in a genuinely technologically advanced way, offering the chance to carefully selected guests in New York, Paris, Tokyo and Dubai to watch a 3-D live stream of the show in specifically designed venues.
Nobody can deny this is the latest and probably most clever trick ever seen at recent fashion weeks to sell clothes.
Yet the experience could be considered as an exciting step forward and could have more interesting applications in the future.
Last year the most cutting-edge thing you could have done as a designer was presenting your collection with a short film or an avant-garde video.
Now you are truly unique if you sensationally opt to go 3D. In a way, if you carefully think about it, 3D is probably the most perfect medium when it comes to fashion since it allows you to see a design from different angles and perspectives.
For the Autumn/Winter season designer
Christopher Bailey was inspired by uniforms, cadet girls and aviator jackets he found in the archives.
As a whole the collection featured timeless garments for every taste, from military coats and double-collared voluminous shearlings to more practical cropped
jackets matched with fragile ruffled lace skirts and silk bandage
dresses, accessorised with studded bags; from Amazon-like thigh-high stiletto boots to sheepskin-lined buckled boots for urban dwellers.
It was interesting to note how it was actually a historical house that opted for presenting the catwalk in 3D and also launched another "virtual" initiative: from last night, Burberry fans are also able to pre-order items from the collection directly from the fashion house site.
The promotion lasts for three days and probably right now there are thousands of marketing managers all over the world banging their heads against hard concrete walls, hoping they had thought about such things before Burberry did.
It will be interesting to see the results of this pre-ordering in cyberspace experience, but it will be even more interesting to see what will happen from now to the entire catwalk experience and if any other designers will go down the 3D route.
For the time being Burberry is the winner of one battle of this war of Avatar proportions. Yet the war has just begun.
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