burberry's digital age.

On April 13, in celebration of their new Beijing flagship, Burberry staged a digital fashion show at the Beijing Television Center that once again secured its status as one of the most digitally innovative luxury companies today.  Paying homage to London's weather, the show began with images of umbrellas "raining" on large screens that lined the ceiling and surrounding walls, followed by animated models flying and dancing with umbrellas in hand, and other various animated footage featuring the latest collections.  Transitioning away from the screens, six real-life models emerged on the runway in brightly colored outerwear and hats.  After walking a few rounds on the runway, they were joined by life-like holographic models generated by Musion image technology.  A one point, identical holographic models collided with each other into raindrops, only to reemerge on the other side with a different outfit.  Soon after, as the holographic models made their way down the runway, they exploded into raindrops as the real-life models walked right through them.  It's difficult to describe all 18 minutes of the show in words, but you can see it for yourself here: live.burberry.com

Burberry was one of the first fashion companies to embrace the digital age by streaming 3D fashion shows live, making runway collections available online immediately after the show, interacting with customers through Facebook and Twitter, and creating an add-on experience through the Art of the Trench website (a collaborative project featuring portraits of people in trench coats).  Now, Burberry is equipping their 57 stores in China with touchscreens and iPads so customers can browse the entire collection, including items that may not be available in the particular store.  This move is ingenious: the digitalization of luxury fashion is inevitable and China is the fastest growing luxury market, so why not marry the two?  China's luxury spenders are relatively young and technologically savvy, so the high-tech refit of the stores will definitely appeal to them. With the massive influx of luxury brands in China over the past decade, brands have to set themselves apart from the pack in order to gain market share.  With the seemingly endless digital innovation, Burberry has done just that.


images courtesy of ftape.com