Fashion News: The Latest Fad in Social Media

On many a blissful evening when I'm walking down Michigan Avenue (with a huge smile on my face) I stumble into my favourite retail stores. Lately, I'm beginning to observe that amongst their latest fashion collection would be the familiar innocuous logo of some social media site peering at me from between those high heels I've been eyeing for a while. So they're also on Facebook I think to myself quietly. It's almost become a fashion fad we cannot and must not ignore, lest someone think we're unfashionable.

A few months ago, we were blown away by "Art of the Trench," which was an ingenious attempt by Burberry to pick at your fashion sensibilities. That was quite the classy way to employ social media marketing tools that invited you to upload photos of yourself entrenched in a classy trench coat. In turn, you were rated for your look and received feedback and comments from fellow 'fashionistas.'

Well-known fashion blogger and photographer Scott Schuman was the man who shot 100 photos of models wearing trench coats. The Art of the Trench is admittedly, probably the only website in history I have ever been excited to land on! Oh, and the music! I "Shazam-ed" the song playing on the site just now- The Maccabees singing Young Lions- yeah, never heard of them but the idea of seeing a 100 thumbnails of people sporting trench coats and music playing makes a fashion addict like myself feel as if I just "died and went to heaven."

So what is the next best must-have item people are talking about today? Brian Morrisey at Adweek talks about Lil Bee. "Lil Bee is one of hundreds of blogs that are part of a network stitched together this month in a social media campaign from none other than the fashion giant Coach" whom if I may add, are a close to being worthy opponent of Burberry. Morissey states that: "The bloggers have added a small piece of code to their sites that acts as a mini discovery tool, along with a game for users to grow the poppy image on the site by their visits or using Twitter to broadcast a message. The Poppy Project, which promotes Coach's Poppy line of affordable but still luxury fashions, is an unusual approach for the fashion world. It's quite the fascinating trail and everyone must applaud the notion.

According to Macala Wright Lee, CEO of FashionablyMarketing.Me the fashion industry has included social media networking in their must-have list of items for the next season and are doing it in five major ways:

They are "getting cosy in communities" and almost any brand name boasts of a social media profile amongst which American Apparel, TopShop were some of the first and gained positively from the experience. Now, almost every brand from Target, Sears and JCPenney, to Oscar De La Renta, Burberry and Louis Vuitton, have created a presence on social media sites, the more notable being Facebook and Twitter.

Fashion retailers are "creating niche communities," by which Luxury brands Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Burberry have launched their own social networks or added social components to their existing web sites.

Most of these companies are "embracing mobile applications such as Style Caster and JustLuxe which offer users with several member benefits and there are currently about 41 fashion-related apps available for BlackBerry users alone!

The "rise of style bloggers" such as Gala Darling, Bryan Boy, 13-year-old Tavi, Scott Schuman of the Satorialist and Garance Dore have earned recognition from Dolce & Gabanna, Burberry and leading publications such as Vogue.

And last but not least, "the impact of user generated content," has taken fashion and social media a notch above compared to how it all began. And need I reiterate my "being blown" away by Burberry's "Art of the Trench" story again?

So most famous brands have used Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media networking sites to develop their social marketing strategies in order to raise online sales.

Some style divas are still struggling with the issue but at the same time are trying to "control brand perception and establishing metrics to measure its marketing value."

They also realise that user-generated content is key to engaging the general public and to get them raving over the next must have piece for the new season. We've already seen the rise of online streaming and mobile broadcasts of runway shows. There is a clear shift towards the trend of employing social media to promote brands and more fashion icons will dig deeper into the pockets of customers through social media. As long as you know that each time you will embark on that blissful walk, those little logos will be watching over you as well.

Photo Credit: mandiberg on Flickr