Making of “Latin Lover” Spring-Summer 2010 Ready-to-Wear Campaign
Photo by Karl Lagerfeld for Léa Seydoux in Louis Garrel’s movie “Petit Tailleur”
As we move further into the twenty first century, our world is being redefined by developments in technology and media. Information can be passed worldwide instantaneously. People can sell and purchase items from the comfort of their bedrooms. Advertisements are customized to the individual consumer. In this new world, media is moving information at the speed of light and it is revolutionizing almost every industry on the planet.
The fashion industry is no exception to this. Coco Chanel tarted her business in 1913 and within a few decades, became a revolutionary couturier. Karl Lagerfeld took the helm in the 1980s and has been modernizing the brand ever since. With the introduction of the Chanel News Blog, fashion films, and current fashion advertisements, the House of Chanel is quickly and easily finding its niche in this new technology and media driven society.
So what are the next steps for this modern fashion brand? Only time will tell for sure. But some roundabout predictions can be made.
For instance, the house of Chanel has dabbled in fashion film to showcase some of their most recent collections. However, these films are mainly showed online to the general public and to fashion experts at various fashion film festivals around the world.
As technologies like the iPad change the way we read publications, perhaps fashion film as advertisement will make its debut within the virtual pages of a digital fashion magazine. Creator of SHOWstudio, a fashion film showcase, Nick Knight was quoted in an interview with the Business of Fashion as saying, “None of my children read magazines… Fashion will be shaped by the Internet.” Knight, like many others in the field of fashion, understand that times are changing. For instance, Nylon, a woman’s fashion magazine, has begun offering digital subscriptions for iPads and eReaders so it is only a matter of time until the fashion magazine giants do the same. These electronic devices offer consumers a new way to appreciate and understand fashion and fashion film is sure to be an integral part of that experience. Ads may no longer feature stationary photos of models but show short films that not only showcase the clothing but provide the consumer with an incredible view of what the entire collection will provide.
It can also be assumed that the huge high end companies, such as Chanel, will soon be offering merchandise online. While plans for a small marketplace have recently been announced, chances are good that Chanel’s online store will blossom from eyewear and accessories to ready-to-wear clothing and footwear. As shoppers’ technology improves the ways of purchasing goods, many if not all industries will soon have to offer an online boutique.
With information at our fingertips, we no longer have to wait until the next month to find out from Vogue what was shown on the runways. Today, fashion journals have just as much influence as certain fashion blogs due. Fashion giants, like Chanel, have begun to document their upcoming collections through blog previews. During Spring & Fall Fashion Weeks, Chanel has just created an app that will reveal certain insider information to its subscribers about new designs and news!
In this new society, the sky is the limit for the House of Chanel and its relationship with media. In its past and surely in its future, technology has served to enhance the glow of the House of Chanel. One can only guess their next moves within the media community. However, if their history can show us anything, it is that the House of Chanel has been willing to transform itself into whatever the market needs it to be and will certainly continue to provide its fans and customers beautiful clothing, glamorous fragrances, and elegant jewelry.
An Ad from the Fall 2010 Ready-to-Wear Campaign
Commercial for the Fragrance, Coco Mademoiselle
A Short Film/Commercial for The Fragrance, Chanel no.5
When Karl Lagerfeld took over as chief designer for the house of Chanel in 1983, Chanel was still a force to be reckoned with in the fashion world. Little marketing outside of magazines and television was necessary. However, as modern society has become increasingly reliant upon the internet and media, Chanel’s marketing strategy had to evolve.
Recently, Karl Lagerfeld has been doing some personal branding work with modern technology. He provided DJing services for the Grand Theft Auto video game series. He has also lent his voice to a French animated film called, Totally Spies. He was also recently declared editor-in-chief of Madame Figaro, the women’s publication branch of the French journal Le Figaro. While this is not directly related to the Chanel brand, it clearly illustrates that Lagerfeld is willing to do some out-of-the-ordinary media work. An international celebrity, he has developed a reputable personal band. And his brand does nothing but enhance the House of Chanel’s fabulous glow.
When it comes to Chanel, early this year, it, and a few other famed luxury brands, announced they would be selling goods online. Traditionally, high-end designer products sold their goods exclusively in their boutiques or in luxury department stores, out of the fear of damaging brand equity through online sales. However, with the rise of Internet commerce in recent years, brands are finding it harder and harder to deny that an online marketplace is a great idea. Chanel is not yet ready to begin selling all of their products online. They plan on beginning by selling only signature fragrances online. If this venture goes well, they plan on expanding the online boutique to include eyewear and accessories.
Otherwise, one of Chanel’s most revolutionary media ventures is that of Chanel News. The site keeps loyal consumers up to date with the creative happenings within the House of Chanel. The site looks similar to that of the common blog but the content is anything but that! A viewer can find exclusive previews to the upcoming collections, celebrities in Chanel fashion, photos by Karl Lagerfeld, films produced to exhibit the collections, and more! Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel fashion, declared of the site, “The idea [of Chanel News] is to give all these social networks a location where they can have genuine information about Chanel.”
As Vikram Alexei Kansara, Managing Editor of The Business of Fashion, says, “marketing fashion collections mostly meant buying pages in magazines or space on strategically positioned billboards.” Chanel’s shift to an online news and information site is indicative of the shift most, if not all, traditional industries are currently facing: the shift to an online world. The Chanel News site is low-cost publicity. Chanel-lovers can congregate to one website and feel as though they are receiving exclusive brand information and previews.
There have been four movies made in the past about Mademoiselle Chanel’s life. Chanel Solitaire (1981), Coco Chanel (2008), Coco Before Chanel (2009), and Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2009). Two more films are rumored to be in the works, as well. The films drew attention to the life of the couturier and built some new interest in the brand as a whole.
Between a shift to online boutiques, the production of films about upcoming collections, and a new Chanel news site, the House of Chanel is changing with the times. They are finding new ways to reach new audiences. There is a continued use of magazine and billboard advertisements in combination with these new forms of media. And with men like Karl Lagerfeld, a master at personal branding, at the helm, the brand is sure to have a long and media enriched future.
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