A Snapchat Fashion Campaign? How Tech is Changing the Fashion Industry
It's hard to ignore the many ways in which social media and app interfaces have revolutionized the world of high fashion–from redefining the meaning of ready-to-wear (many designers allow their collections to be purchased the minute their looks hit the runway) to propelling new faces and brands to the forefront of the industry through their skillful navigation of platforms such as Instagram.
It seems as if user friendly, fast fashion has reached an all time fever pitch–from designers scouting their next cover girls through Instagram competitions to unveiling campaigns online or over social media weeks before their printed release. Most recently, Snapchat became an essential platform for sharing the ins and outs of fall/winter ready-to-wear fashion weeks around the world. The app highlighted city specific "Snapstories" for the New York, London, Paris and Milan Fashion Weeks, which featured a compilation of Snaps from famous bloggers, models, designers and show attendees. Magazines also took matters into their own hands, with Vogue and W magazine inviting industry insiders to take over their accounts to document each day.
Leveraging social media has become an integral aspect of the continued success for fashion industry favorites like Lucky Blue Smith and Hailey Baldwin; image via
Snapchat, it appears, is the latest go to platform for major fashion labels. Tommy Hilfiger recently announced over Instagram a competition that offers five lucky fans the opportunity to join current campaign stars Hailey Baldwin and Lucky Blue Smith in Hilfiger's latest #HilfigerDenim photoshoot. The instructions simply prompt Snapchatters to tell the label why they deserve a coveted spot on the campaign in a creative way, and of course, under the constraint's of Snapchat's ten second video limit.
Personalized Snapcodes are affiliated with all Snapchat accounts and allow users to easily add one another; image via
Similarly, British brand Burberry is utilizing Snapchat as a platform for sharing their latest Mr. Burberry mens fragrance and grooming products campaign. The advertisements can be viewed via the Snapchat Discovery feature, which was also utilized to advertise the brand's fall/winter collection during London Fashion Week. Burberry and Snapchat are also collaborating on Snapcodes—"scannable in-store promotions that enable consumers to unlock Mr. Burberry-themed content using mobile devices" (RetailDIVE).
There is, of course, a caveat to this mutually beneficial merger between fashion and tech. Among other issues, these collaborations frequently eliminate or throw into question the role of traditional advertising, marketing and print industries within the schema of the fashion and technology.
featured image via
