While almost
every major label now streams fashion shows live, the phenomenon looks
set to enter a new phase this October when the world's first
digital-only fashion week takes place.
Organized by Singapore-based events agency STORM, Digital Fashion Week (DFW)
will be streamed solely online, with consumers able to shop their
favorite looks off the runway in real time and have them delivered far
before they hit stores.
This October will see DFW's debut edition, Digital Fashion Week Singapore, exclusively available for viewing at www.digitalfashionweek.com.
Following the official launch of the twice-yearly event in Southeast
Asia, DFW will proceed to other major cities around the world.
A host of Singapore's
homegrown designers as well as international creators will feature in
the inaugural edition, where they will present their Spring/Summer 2013
collections -- with the official show schedule to be announced in August
2012.
In addition to runway streaming,
there will be catwalk commentaries by key fashion figures, pre-show
performances by international artists and an app to provide users with
instant fashion show live streaming, films, runway photos, designer information and e-commerce shopping.
"Until now, no digital platform
as powerful as DFW has existed for designers to reach out to people
worldwide. We aim to harness technology and creativity to promote
homegrown designers in each city to the global audiences by capitalising
on the hype generated from the fashion shows," said the event's
co-founder Keyis Ng.
The announcement follows the
increasing prevalence of online only runway shows, with labels including
See by Chloé and ICB (International Concept Brand) favoring fashion production agency KCD's digital platform digitalfashionshows.com for virtual catwalk presentations earlier this year.
Also, back in 2011, Condé Nast owned fashion site Vogue.com ran a week-long online fashion event
on its blog, featuring exclusive deals such as one-off collection
launches and exclusive content including videos of retailers styling
their collections.
