Trapped in the adversity of coronavirus outbreak, 2020 has been a major barrier for fashion industry. Instead of deep pocket photoshoots or mega fashion events, stylists, fashion editors, and companies are faced with the compulsion to think of inventive alternatives in order to stay relevant for their testing times ahead. The upcoming months will certainly take a side turn and challenge the highly global fashion industry on how will they innovate and utilize the perfect flavor of technology we have today to craft content and conduct photoshoots. One paradigm shift is what covers are going to look like now, to models photographing themselves in their own homes than at an exotic beach.
It’s definitely worth thinking about how we will need to adjust to the new world we now live in. How would you imagine your working life as a photographer and the whole varying fashion industry? 2020 could be very well remembered in the pages of history as the year of fashion’s mid-life crisis. For instance, India’s largest fashion body, the Fashion Design Council of India, cancelled its biannual ready-to-wear fashion week days before its opening show in early March.
Menswear brand Blackberry’s recently announced that it’s planning to do away with trial rooms while couture designers like Manish Malhotra are looking at virtual consultations. Fashion influencers’ accounts might never be the same after the pandemic ends, and it’s already forcing them to adjust how they create compelling content and with the trendy posts updation. Fashion influencers are swamped with the questions like. “Do people still want to see cute outfits during a recession”? or “How do you capture a high-quality photo when the only photographer available to you is your husband”? What happens when you feel mentally and emotionally exhausted? Fashion influencers’ photos often look appealing because they hire professionals to help them shoot. That’s not the scenario while social distancing.
All the disturbing elements amidst much disorder, one thing which rose up is virtual fashion shows- A complete digitalization entry. The contactless world of virtual runway shows somehow made the mark gracefully. Such innovative strategies garnered attention like never before, as most people are on the hunt for newer things to do on the internet every day. Besides this, social media platforms are booming with unprecedented traffic.
The Road Ahead
According to data revealed by Facebook recently, the company has seen up to 70 % more time spent across their apps, with Instagram and Facebook Live views doubling in just a week. This clearly reveals that this is not the phase to be concentrating on projects meant at harvesting revenue; rather, this is an opportunity to create a community of your tribe/followers. As many businesses fight to survive, how they connect with consumers will be an essential part of their recovery. Virtual fashion shows on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube coupled with Influencer branding for phenomenal shows backed with continuous engagement will truly be a cornerstone in these testing times. Brands that can endure to communicate during these unsettling times will likely be the ones that are much-admired and evoked in a post-COVID-19 world.”
As ‘digital’ has become a prefix to most terms in modern values, It’s obvious that the fashion industry has been agile to react to the COVID-19 outbreak at every step in the timeframe such as revamping the traditional fashion week format. Shanghai went all-virtual with their fashion week live-streamed on several platforms.
The key expression for fashion weeks in the coming years will be “phygital” as technology will play a key role in integrating both the physical and digital worlds creating a fashion event that is more aware of the world we live in and is able to better adapt to an ever-emerging normal.
Looking at the above points, Marketing has entered into a wave of connect and engagement. Now, if we gauge deeper insights on statistics perspective, then Mckinsey has been monitoring consumer sentiments across 42 countries the numbers clearly indicate a solid increase in the sum of new users who are watching online streaming content in India with over 40 to 50 per cent audience coverage increasing their adoption of video content. There is an increase in video content, as well as online streaming content consistently over the last few weeks. Swirling from YouTube to Snapchat to Facebook and Instagram, these platforms are enabling tons of people and brands to turn into shining stars and build brand value, while giving the audience original content. Ranging from lengthy format full-fledged movies, to raw real and fresh content, available in fraction of seconds across the web.
Videos are rapidly becoming consumers’ favorite and preferred type of content to see a brand on social media. Consumers are expecting a brand communication which navigates through emotional story and as meaningful as possible. Such digital platforms are riding the wave of the new normal and leveraging the brand to untap new audience hence maximizing the reach and stimulate brand resonance.
