Ermenegildo Zegna’s 3-D Fashion Show

Fashion has had its moments of 3D in the past (heck there’s also been 4-D), however up until now no one worked with James Lima (you know, of Avatar fame) on a fashion show. Although they say it’s the first 3-D fashion show, I believe Burberry had that title in February 10. NEVERTHELESS, the effect at Zegna looked pretty interesting.. as in I’m sure no model has ever appeared to have walked from the Great Wall of China onto a runway. The China connection was a celebration of Zegna’s 20th year of business in China. While the reference wasn’t reflected in excess on the surface, silky shirts, uniform jackets and utility belts nodded modestly to the Chinese Revolution.

Feel The Film: Burberry

Burberry was one of the first luxury brands to “get it” in terms of relaying a luxurious lifestyle on their website. Art Of The Trench deserves all the endless praise it has achieved from the beginning, especially with relaying the brand’s heritage message to today’s street-obsessed culture. But now chief creative officer Christopher Bailey is up to something else with true WOW factor, that extends beyond the brand’s 3-D runway show in February and previous video look books.

Burberry’s Fall 10 ad campaign, shot by Mario Testino, is now digital and interactive on burberry.com. The photos below don’t do it justice – it’s something you need to see and “feel” to believe. The way you could move the screen to see different views, models walking, picking up bags or trench coat collars, is really kind of amazing. It’s as if you are going deep into the depths of every image to uncover another layer which would otherwise go unnoticed. The music set to this new feature really helps push the “feeling” element forward.

I can only expect that from this initiative, once Fall product is available, there will also be a link from the interactive campaign to buy product, much like the video look books did in the past.

In related news, Bailey has also launched an initiative that channels his passion for music. Burberry Acoustic features hand-picked emerging British bands which so far include Life in Film, Mitsy Miller and Ramona.

While there is no real visual evidence of a marketing tie-in on Burberry Acoustic, apparently some band members are wearing Burberry pieces mixed in with their own clothes. While that’s all good and fine, the recent Spring 11 menswear show video has also been added to the same area of the site. Placing runway right next to new music videos has me kind of puzzled. I’m all for groundbreaking fashion films, technology and music tie-ins; my only concern would be that too many different types of media might become overwhelming to the customers, depending on placement. For example, will customers be able to shop from the ad campaign, video look book, runway and by category? When it comes to videos, I feel like maybe 1 or 2 media formats are enough, more than that may become a bit excessive.

Polo’s Legends Clinic: Talk to Boris Becker Live Today

Polo Ralph Lauren has one hell of a marketing team, and has been at the forefront of technological advancements like their touch-screen store windows which launched a few years back.

Now they have a concept called “merchantainment” which blends the world of being a retail merchant and entertainment. Clever guys! The newest development in merchantainment involves Polo’s online Legends Clinic which will feature 3-time Wimbledon champ Boris Becker live on ralphlauren.com to answer tennis related questions TODAY at 11am EST. The interactive tennis clinic with Becker will run for 1 hour. With 5 hours and change to go (from time of this post), there are already 47 questions lined up.

Becker has had a long relationship with Polo, starting in Wimbledon 2007 when he was the official brand ambassador and wore Polo exclusively for the tournament. But today, this type of brand ambassadorship is smarter and wiser. While not all tennis fans wear Polo, any tennis fanatic is probably interested in hearing what Boris Becker has to say about his career, game strategy, etc. I bet there will be a lot of people who log on today for the clinic, and that in turn will probably drive a lot of traffic to at least view, if not make purchases from Ralph Lauren’s Wimbledon Collection.

There’s only one small glitch – the links within the Wimbledon Collection to “Shop Men” and “Shop Women” aren’t working at the moment. Come on Polo, you have 5 hours and counting!

Denim Therapy by Tavex

As Fashion Snoops subscribers will soon be able to see in our Denim by Premiere Vision exhibitor report, the guys over at Tavex have some pretty interesting technological advancements going on. By definition, Denim Therapy is a revolutionary fabric development that generates a sense of wellness and calm through a bio-ceramic complex. It appears as a print on the inside of the fabric. If that’s a little too techy for you, the results include stimulated muscle tone, equilibrium improvement and an energized body.

The interesting thing here is that Tavex actually tested this concept last season (for Spring 11), and due to a great response, they expanded the offerings for Fall 11/12. While the denim brands that have picked up Denim Therapy fabric remain top secret (even to me and believe me I pushed..), what Tavex did tell me is that the brands that are picking it up are in the youth driven or active sports markets. If brands position this new technology properly, it could become a big deal. I’m thinking some kind of exclusivity or limited editions..

New Tech: Google Goggles

I’ve said more than a few times that if only I could take a picture of something and Google it, the results would be amaaaaazing. So the guys over at Google must have read my mind. Google Goggles embraces this “visual search technology” and it’s available on phones that run Android 1.6+ (whatever that means). While it’s only in the beginning stages, I can’t wait until this becomes a fashion tool – imagine you take a photo of something in a store and then Google Goggle it to find it elsewhere for cheaper (ok not great for retailers) but just imagine, the possibilities are endless!

“Like” Levi’s

Levi’s is one of the first brands to apply Facebook’s new Social Plugins. Here’s what it does:

1. For online shoppers on Levis.com (that are also Facebook users), there’s a “like” button.

2. Levi’s created a “Friend Store”, which allows shoppers to see a list of their friends’ favorite products while shopping, as well as share opinions/purchases.

I want to like this, I really do, but I think I would have to be an absolute fanatic of a brand/designer to really embrace it, and that just isn’t the case with me and 501’s. As the video says, yes the world is more social and personal and this is on-trend but I’m somehow not so convinced, though I will say that going forward this is definitely something I see as a major key to brands integrating with social media. On the right track, definitely but I’m not sure if I “like” quite yet.