Nighttime Snowboarder Glows in LED Studded Suit

Posted on by Ashley Laurel

I’ve seen LEDs worn many times by music artists, but never before on a nighttime snowboarder.

Created by John  Spatcher from thousands of white LED lights, and worn by Artec pro snowboarder William Hughes, the video of this glowing white suit in action was shot by Jacob Sutton, a photographer and filmmaker who’s worked for fashion brands like Burberry and Hermès. This video was shot over the course of three nights on the  slopes of France’s Rhône-Alpes.



Thanks to my friend Sharon Vaknin for passing this along! Somehow I feel that I won’t be as well dressed while snowboarding on the slopes of Heavenly this weekend.

Etsy Find: Twitter Inspired Heels

Posted on by Ashley Laurel

My friend Ashley LaFerriere just got engaged. Among the many social media themed wedding finds I’ve thrown her way lately, here’s one more- “something blue” Twitter themed heels. These $225 shoes are hand painted by Nora Karen, a designer located in Boca Raton, Florida.

What can I say? These are stylish without fail.

Three Things to Learn from Rebecca Minkoff’s Social Strategy

Posted on by Ashley Laurel

Rebecca Minkoff is a name I’ve been hearing everywhere lately, and no wonder, because the Rebecca Minkoff brand IS everywhere these days. Minkoff has been designing handbags since 2005 and just two years later jumped right into connecting with customers through social media. And efforts are showing. Just this week, the brand was among the top nominees for Best Blog at the third annual Fashion 2.0 Awards. Pretty good, right? So just how does this brand stay at the helm of fashion brands in the digital space?

When thinking about the Rebecca Minkoff brand, I immediately figured who better to talk to than Maria Morales of Kitties + Couture, a blog on which I’ve been repeatedly spotting Minkoff bags.

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Style Blogger (and Senior Marketing Manager at Poshmark) Maria Morales had some great insights into how the social marketing portion of the Rebecca Minkoff brand is faring.

1. If you want it done right, do it yourself.

In 2007, the Minkoffs (Rebecca and her brother, Uri, CEO of the Rebecca Minkoff brand) began to grow the brand name pretty much organically online. They participated in blog comment sections, chat rooms and forum discussions and over time began to create the “Minketts”, their online brand ambassadors.

“I remember the first time I checked my Twitter and saw that Rebecca Minkoff had tweeted to me complimenting me on one of my outfit posts–I most likely let out a squeal (or two)! That one little tweet from the designer herself made me feel so much more connected to the brand, which in turn influenced me to keep writing and promoting the brand, feeding a never ending cycle of (free) word-of-mouth marketing,” says Maria of Kitties + Couture.

Now how’s that for getting your customers interested? Designers who handle their own Twitter accounts, and handle them in the right ways, can basically putting in a little effort (a few tweets directly to consumers here and there) in exchange for big returns.

Learning through hands on trial and error and reviewing consumer feedback right out there posted to the social web was a good move for the Rebecca and Uri. The Rebecca Minkoff brand is now at the forefront of fashion brands in the digital space, and remains well respected for it.

2. Get involved in multiple social networks

Unlike some fashion brands, Rebecca Minkoff is pretty much a social media veteran at this point, and today, the brand is involved across a variety of social networks.

“I think Rebecca Minkoff and her on-the-pulse team have made the Rebecca Minkoff brand one of the most socially aware and active in the digital space today. They’re active across nearly all types of social platforms on a daily basis, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pose, Polyvore, and their own personal “Minkette” blog,” Maria of Kitties + Couture reports.

Not only is the team behind the Minkoff brand active, but also innovative. Along with other creative ideas, they’ve created a community of brand enthusiasts and then giving those fans a place on the website.

3. Keep ’em wanting more with behind-the-scenes looks

While entering the social media world back in 2007, the brand began cultivating a following which they dubbed the “Minkettes”. In 2009, a community site called Minkette was launched. This site isn’t where fans shop, but where they go to experience a behind-the-scenes look at the brand. My favorite sections include Style, where celebrities sporting the Minkoff bags are showcased, Play, where fans can enter giveaways and learn DIY tips, and Minkette Muse, a look at the brand from the PR girl’s perspective.
After about a decade in the fashion business, it’s clear that the Rebecca Minkoff brand is innovative, energetic, and here to stay awhile.

See what’s next for the brand during coverage of Rebecca Minkoff’s Fall 2012 show streaming live at 3 pm today.

WSJ Uses Pinterest to Showcase New York Fashion Week Coverage

Posted on by Ashley Laurel


While being able to follow Fashion Week coverage via tweets and live videos is a social media girl’s dream, there’s still nothing like seeing everything through photography. Enter The Wall Street Journal. This newspaper has taken it upon itself to create a Pinterest board following the team’s coverage of New York Fashion Week. I’m follower 889.

Fashion 2.0 Awards Honor Fashion’s Tech Savvy for the Third Time

Posted on by Ashley Laurel

The third annual Fashion 2.0 Awards, brain child of Yuli Ziv and Style Coalition, took place last night and you better believe I participated by nominating some of my favorite brands for awards.

Here are the winners of each category:

Best Twitter: @DKNY (my vote!)

Best Facebook: Bergdorf Goodman

Best Blog by Fashion Brand: DKNY PR Girl

Best Website: Marc Jacobs

Best Mobile App: Tiffany & Co. Engagement Ring Finder

Best Online Video: Prada Spring/Summer 2011 Video Campaign (I voted for Chanel’s Fall 2011 Shade Parade video)

Next Big Thing in Tech: Instagram (I voted for Stylitics)

Top Innovator: Kate Spade (I voted for ModCloth)

Visionary Award (not open to public voting): Gilt Groupe

Even though I voted for some different brands than those that won, the winners of each category were well deserved due to their enormous impact on the fashion industry in terms of digital media. Congrats to all both nominated and awarded!

As we move into a time where sites like Google+ and Pinterest are being used more and more, and sites like Facebook are ever evolving, it’ll be very interesting to see how other industry brands catch up. My hope is to see more indie (think ModCloth) and non-luxury (like ASOS) brands represented at these awards next year.

Happy Fashion Week!

Pinterest Offers New Creative Outlet for the Fashion Community

Posted on by Ashley Laurel

I’m not surprised that Pinterest drives more traffic these days than Google+, YouTube, and LinkedIn (at least, according to Mashable) and is part of a new trend hitting the Internet called “social curation”.

Elad Gil, an technology entrepreneur recently wrote a very interesting post on his blog explaining the evolution around how Pinterest emerged. The post includes a series of date ranges spanning the last decade that easily classify social media into categories from long form (blogging) to status updates (Facebook) to push button (Pinterest being an innovator in this site format).

Gil is right, Pinterest is part of the latest trend on the Internet, yet again giving us a chance to consume content faster than before (it sounds like we’re all getting stupider, doesn’t it?).

Anyway, the site is a great place to spend time when I’m relaxing. I’ve spent hours of time devoted to adding pictures to my categories that include things like fashion and wearable technology.

As someone with a deep interest in the fashion industry, I find Pinterest especially intriguing for those of the fashion community. So far, I’ve used the site to get inspired with new creative ideas, run a contest for my blog, and find new style bloggers (just this week I discovered Rachel Parcell of The Pink Peonies).

However, what are fashion brands up to on the site these days? I found a curated list made by Dave Surgan of fashion brands on Pinterest and while I’m not following all of them, I am aware of what a few of my favorites are up to.

Kate Spade is promoting their Spring ’12 campaign on the site, using both titles and hashtags to do so. My favorite is “dress colorfully”. Each board’s name is short, punchy, and the pins give more detail about the photographer of the photo and/or what’s being shot (if they’re done by the brand).

Next up, is ModCloth, already a stand out brand as far as fashion marketing goes! They recently ran their first Pinterest contest offering a gift card of $100.

How did it all work? Basically, the contest rules were for entrants to create one Pinterest board of 20 pins based on the criteria outlined in a pin announcing the contest. ModCloth also requested how contest entrants tagged their pins and for entrants to post links right in the comments section for the contest announcement pin.

A few of my favorite pins I used in my sparkled themed entry:

“We love coming up with fun, unique, and engaging content and contests for our fans,” Ashley LaFerriere, Social Media Specialist at ModCloth said, who added that the ModCloth team received a very positive response from the contest. In total, there were over 500 contest entries.

While fashion brands like Kate Spade and ModCloth are quickly wrapping their heads around the social curation trend, many others have yet to jump on board. What brands need first, like with opting into any new social platform are a strategy, process, and analytics. In this case, brand strategies may be as simple as posting behind-the-scenes photos of their new items, photo shoots or events. Strategies may be as complex as running contests using Pinterest, or Pinterest in conjunction with other sites. As for analytics, I haven’t seen the site come out with anything yet, but I am waiting. Polyvore did after a long wait, so I don’t doubt Pinterest will at some point either.

Right now though, Pinterest has more basic things to focus on.

Jonathan Howard, a member of the site’s smaller demographic- the male population- has found a few challenges when pinning. One has been the downside of the tagging feature. To find men’s clothing (for his boards like Suit Up and Like a Bauce), navigating through the abundance of style bloggers using the hashtag “menswear” to categorize their pins can be frustrating.

“To find things I want to repin I still have to actively search, browse, or pin original content myself,” he said.

Another challenge he’s run into has been connecting his Pinterest account to his Facebook account.

“My feed keeps filling with my female Facebook friends’ boards as they join, and I have to keep unfollowing boards about weddings, cute animals, and chocolate cakes. I don’t want to totally not be connected to Facebook friends. I just don’t want them auto-added to my feed.”

He makes some fair points. As a female user I don’t mind my feed filling with boards about baby animals and glittery things, but I do agree that the Pinterest team needs to focus on keeping the site running as smoothly as possible before focusing on anything further.

In the future however, I’d like to see the Pinterest team become very creative and savvy in how they work with the fashion industry (among others). After all, nobody wants another Tumblr.