Twitter Goes to New York Fashion Week

Happy Fashion Week, everyone! No matter if you’re in New York or you’re on the west coast wishing you were at Fashion Week, you too can attend Fashion Week at all hours by living vicariously through the hashtag: #NYFW.

And, similar to Twitter’s microsite (shown above), I added an RSS feed of the hashtag #NYFW to the right column of this blog. Of course, it’s not as advanced, but I didn’t want you to miss a second of Fashion Week, no matter where you were on the web!

Now, Twitter built a microsite aggregating and organizing every tweet and picture with the hashtag #NYFW. Sponsored by American Express and partnering with @Modelina, @WomensWearDaily, @Bergdorfs and @AskBobbiBrown, Twitter has also created @nyfw account bringing content from a number of reputable sources.

“What’s useful about the microsite is that it allows followers to hone in on the topics they’re most interested in, whether that’s runway news, designer interviews, beauty trends or behind-the-scenes gossip. For those who aren’t interested in following Fashion Week minute-by-minute, Twitter has also made it easy to catch up with daily recaps and archived footage,” reports Mashable.

How are you tracking spring New York Fashion Week? If you’re attending the shows, are you also using Twitter to follow the shows you may be missing?

Twitter CEO Evan Williams Fireside Chat

Last night, I had the opportunity to sit front row at a fireside chat with Twitter CEO Evan Williams. The event was put on by Girls in Tech in San Francisco at Kicklabs in the Financial District.

It was such a pleasure to meet Evan and to find out he is just as authentic as Twitter is transparent in sharing public information in real time. He had a few quips I shared through my Twitter handle, @ConsumingPR, I’d like to now share with all of you here:

– Twitter CEO @EV says their T-times, where depts present their work every week, are the linchpin to the company’s success

– Twitter CEO feels that blog posts are better than press releases for announcements (source: @hopmonkey)

– Most successful people are those who are truly themselves. Like Napoleon Dynamite! –  says Twitter CEO

– Why 140 characters? @EV says, It used to be, for SMS, 160 minus user name minus two. But that was too confusing.

– “Just unfollow,” says Twitter CEO @EV to a guy asking what to do when he reads dumb tweets.

– “A lot of things seem strategic in retrospect,” says Twitter CEO. “We didn’t plan the celeb thing on Twitter.”

– “I’m less likely to tweet when I’m drunk,” jokes Twitter CEO

Evan Williams on PR for Twitter

Where Will Twitter Be in 10 Years?

Baby Phat Struts Down The Twitter Runway

I hope everyone followed @BabyPhat on Twitter last night during their Fall ’09 show! The collection layered light-weight fabrics paired with stylish outerwear that were true to the feminine form. It was fun to experience the madness and excitement that goes on backstage from their perspective. I felt as if I were standing right next to their PR people at the show! @BabyPhat described the crowd,  the fashions, the make-up and even the after-party in real time. The tweets were very personal with statements like, “Kimora has arrived. She looks stunning!” and “10 minutes til show time!” @BabyPhat even used Flickr, shown below, to give people an insiders perspective.

Many readers have predicted this is just the beginning of scheduled Twitter sessions during large events. Jack with FashionVoices.com predicts that more labels will be utilizing Twitter this time next year and even posting video. Accessibility is key to building trust in an audience and Twitter is one of the best social media tools to employ. As I have said before, Twitter is on it’s way to changing the face of the fashion industry. Baby Phat is just one of many labels to make this intelligent change and bring their audience closer to the action.

Baby Phat Gives Consumers a Backstage Pass With Twitter

Baby Phat is showing their Fall ’09 collection tonight at NY Fashion Week. The high-class hip-hop label will also be giving fans an  insiders look into what goes on backstage at one of their shows. Baby Phat is going to tweet in real time through a live Twitter feed from backstage at the Baby Phat show tonight, February 17, 2009 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. E.S.T. Fans will be able to log on to www.twitter.com/babyphat and get a backstage pass to find out what goes on behind the scenes at one of the most fabulous shows of the year!

I applaud Baby Phat’s efforts to be accessible to consumers through social media. Using a live Twitter feed creates a personal relationship between the company and their target audience. Be sure to follow Baby Phat tonight and weigh in on their live feed by posting your comments. Can’t wait to check it out tonight!

Twitter Increases Speed of Fashion Trends

Twitter is the fastest and most concise way to exchange information. Bloggers use it to promote themselves, track up-to-date trends and immerse themselves in their industry. Twitter can also be used to promote companies, labels, celebrities and those who want to be connected and consume information at light speed.

Fashion bloggers, designers and apparel companies utilize twitter in a way that may change the face of fashion. Nordstrom (@Nordstrom), Saurette (@Saurette), Solessence (@Solessence), and Hayden-Harnett (@hayden_harnett) are all companies tweeting frequently about trends and their own products. With the exception of WWD, fashion trends are mostly reported by print magazine on a monthly basis. Now, with the use of Twitter, fashionistas everywhere can consume fashion 24/7. This enables consumers to become inspired by trends, designers and celebrities at any moment.

Twitter paves the way for fashion trends to come and go in a matter of seconds. The astronomical number of exchanges between people on twitter ignites this type of behavior.

As fashionistas exchange trends on twitter, consumers will be overloaded with trends and fashion news. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that there is an overload of fashion news accessible at my fingertips, but this might mean that trends will have shorter life spans.

Consumer brands and fashion labels thrive on trends. Department stores pick up on these trends in order to drive business. With the use of buyers, department stores seek out labels that are consistent with current trends. As trends start to have shorter life spans department stores may not have the capacity to keep up. Boutiques, on the other hand, have the capacity to thrive with the changing trends because they have a smaller inventory.

Can businesses keep afloat if trends have shorter life spans? And will boutiques thrive while department stores go by the wayside?

Photo: Jack & Bill PR post on twitter during Fashion Week