Social media discovery may not yet be a science, but it has the power to baffle, surprise and delight. So, you've got to hand it to the brand innovation gurus when it comes to seizing the day in the social media build to New York Fashion Week 2015.
Yeezy? This week's dominant NYFW15 brand?
I admit, I was among the flummoxed. Typically, my NYFW social web analysis in NetBase would unveil a tidal wave of hot runway shows, events, fashion labels, personalities and, of course, the New York street-style scene.
Surprised was I when the tripartite Adidas/Yeezy/Kanye West dominated the social web scene. Testimony to the influence wielded by West's social media machine, his exposure and reach in NY Fashion Week's social media is a key example of how a popular artist and brand personality keenly honed in social can strategically assert influence. The Adidas/Kanye/Yeezy launch date, February 14, will also tie in to the NBA's All-Star Weekend in New York City, which coincides with NYFW15.
The anticipation building for the Kanye Yeezy Boost trainer brand has elevated a sports label into the once rarified fashion discourse of NYFW. Adidas' collaboration with a socially savvy hot entertainment personality wins the brand maximum exposure during a press-charged week. The timely social campaign dovetailing NYFW has also created significant brand awareness and excitement around the Yeezy Boost, a new hip-hop style trainer/sneaker line West designed in collaboration with Adidas. Yeezy Boost has a designated fashion category, dubbed "athleisure," to define its style intersection with athletic wear and fashion.
The Kanye West-Adidas social media machine has eclipsed some of the usual fashion designer social convo revealed through my NYFW social analysis, shown in the NetBase trending theme lens below. The Yeezy Boost hype includes the release of an app called Adidas Confirmed for pre-ordering, heavy social content marketing, a surprise sneak peak of Yeezy in a New York Adidas store, and other events.
Another indication that the once hallowed walls of Fashion have become more malleable can be seen in the wearables and fashion tech collaborations forming, where fashion labels and technology companies are seeking creative partnerships.
One sports/fashion/tech theme trending in my NYFW social analysis is the launch of FAST A/W15, a sports, fashion and technology collaboration. Anthony Camelo-8-time NBA All-Star and co-founder of Melo7 Tech Partners-will launch FAST A/W15 during NY Fashion Week. The mission of FAST A/W15 is to innovate wearables and help define future trends. The partnership includes Camelo's Melo7 Tech Partners, MADE Fashion Week, KATALYST LIVE, Intel and Accenture.
In what might at first glance appear out of context, Epson-yes, the printer company-earned some NYFW social clout for its "dye sublimation" technology aimed at providing entrepreneurial designers with a new means to fabricate colorful fashion.
The appearance of Epson Digital Couture at NYFW is further evidence of the dynamic courtship evolving between fashion and technology. Epson America invited designers to create lines by innovating textile patterns using the advanced digital technology of its SureColor F-Series printer. In an event kicking off NYFW, Epson Digital Couture presented designs created by fashion designers from across the Americas using bright digitally designed textiles printed on Epson's SureColor F-Series printer.
I've saved my favorite example for last of how NYFW is evolving in social media-or maybe the inverse. Not a fashion insider, I was a bit perplexed at the volume of computer science terms, e.g., Python, Objective C, and iOS-trending in my NYFW social media analysis. The story trending is about Carmel Diamicis, a stereotype-busting model and computer scientist. Diamicis' story is also a story of social transparency and how the players representing Fashion are changing an industry forever-by engendering authenticity.