In what appears to be a first for Fashion Weeks around the world, New Zealand Fashion Week (NZFW) is developing an exciting and commercially driven new addition to its web platform.
This initiative, Fashion @ First Sight, will see 20-25 catwalk shots uploaded immediately after every show to a dedicated section of the NZFW website, ensuring fashion lovers can get an early taste of what to expect from every designer’s forward season.
Stolen Girlfriends Club forward season at NZFW. Image: Michael Ng
While the catwalk looks from NZFW 2013 won’t be available in store until Autumn/Winter 2014, visitors to the site in the mood to buy can click straight through to the designers’ own online stores and pick up special NZFW deals and one-off bargains.
This development also directly addresses the need to get the NZFW message out to the many international buyers and media who are unable to travel to New Zealand, but have told NZFW they want to see what is showcased on our catwalks.
The NZFW team will be communicating with these international targets daily during NZFW, via the Fashion @ First Sight platform, with buyers and media then able to connect directly with any designers they have an interest in pursuing.
NZFW Marketing Director Suzanne McNicol says the website development is another example of NZFW keeping ahead of the game and delivering on its objective to provide the best commercial platform for New Zealand’s designers to showcase their work.
Stolen Girlfriends Club in-season online
“Since joining the NZFW team I have been impressed by its desire to keep refining the offering, ensuring it remains relevant to the current economic environment. While Fashion @ First Sight is a direct response from NZFW to fulfill its international objectives, it provides a platform that allows designers to sell and create hype around forward seasons and also benefit their current in-season stock.
“That consumers are now buying much of their in-season fashion online is not a new development, but we are yet to find another Fashion Week anywhere that has developed such a simple, commercially minded initiative to support its trade event.
“Adding initiatives like the NZ Fashion Weekend Garage Sale were early responses to designers’ need to engage the public more directly and commercially. These innovations will continue as NZFW looks for more technologically driven opportunities to add extra value to the designers’ overall experience and respond to fashion’s fast changing commercial environment,” added McNicol.
Shooting the catwalk images will be Michael Ng, who has been NZFW’s official photographer for more than 10 years. Michael is one of the most respected catwalk photographers and is a regular at the biggest Fashion Weeks around the world, including Paris, New York, London and Milan.
Michael will be charged with getting the looks uploaded as quickly as possible to Fashion @ First Sight, to ensure New Zealand’s fashion lovers can connect with NZFW and their favourite designers at the click of a button.