Designers opine that virtual shows will be more dynamic than ever before to connect with customers
Manpriya Singh
Karl Lagerfeld must be still unsettled in his grave ever since Chanel’s cruise collection debuted digitally on June 8. Imagine front row being swapped for live-streaming! Even though a cruise collection at a time when the world is suffering and the economies sinking was considered politically incorrect, the platform was still lauded. Online is inevitable.
Which is why none other than luxury giant Dior followed suit; by replacing the conventional runway with a fashion film, Le Mythe Dior, for its autumn/winter 2020 haute couture collection. Conceived during lockdown, the miniature mannequins take centrestage in the 15- minute film as the audience is taken on a virtual tour to one of the ateliers, seamstresses giving finishing touches to a magical-mythical forest. “We knew we couldn’t do a real show, it was very clear from the start,” the artistic director Maria Grazia Chiuri said in an interview about how the collection had to be tied to a theme of fantasy and magic. The latest to budge in the uppity world of haute couture is none other than French Fashion Federation, which kicked off Paris Fashion Week online about a week ago. It’s digital just for the time being, they clarified.
Home front
Closer home, Amit Bharadwaj, co-founder, 6Degree, which organises Lakme among other fashion weeks, feels, “Virtual shows will be more dynamic and have wider engagement with audiences; we’ll see brands making more capsule collections.”
Earlier, during the initial days of lockdown, Google Art & Culture partnered with over 500 museums and art galleries across the world, thus facilitating virtual tours and exhibitions. The list includes names like Louvre, Paris.
Nishit Gupta, director, brand Kalki Fashion, agrees that the industry should see the change as an opportunity, “Digital showcase of the couture is going to be the path towards innovation, which will best fit our needs today.”
Body scanning
What next? Online film festival, probably. The red carpet could be laid at home, fittings done online. By the way something which happened with digital Cannes and speaking of online fittings, brand Samshek has probably been one of the first in the country to introduce 3D body scanning technology in India. “The measurements are taken by 3D body scanner, which extracts 150 measurements in five seconds with an accuracy rate of 99 per cent,” says the brand co-founder Samiksha Bajaj, who feels digital is not just the way forward, rather it’s the only way forward. “Moreover the advantages of going virtual cannot be overlooked. Back to Cannes; yes, apart from fashion, there are films too. Which are already premiering and airing online!
manpriya@tribunemail.com
