Who Needs a Fashion Cycle? I've Got Social Media
The traditional cycles of fashion trends, consumer buying patterns and clothing manufacturing no longer exist in the fashion industry – fashion is ‘now’ in all its capacity and its current pace brings with it a variety of side effects. A traditional fashion cycle refers to the processes of adoption and rejection of a particular trend/activity etc. We will discuss how this definition has evolved in the today’s fashion digital era. We will investigate how digital and technological developments have affected today’s fashion industry from a media, consumer and retail perspective. We will assess the growing importance of social gaming and community to the fashion industry. We will examine social shopping, instant gratification and the saturated world of fashion information and moving trends. In conclusion, we will discuss whether we will be able to sustain the current consumption of information and flow of material and how best to operate in this new world.
Presenters
Anthony Santagati III is a creative and social media professional with a focus on high-end fashion brands and more than 10 years of involvement with e-commerce solutions. Anthony earned an undergraduate degree in experimental studio art from Howard University and a J.D. from Howard University School of Law. A native of South Carolina, he currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Chris is the CEO and cofounder of Lyst, a social commerce platform that makes it easy for users to buy fashion they discover by following their favorite designers, stores, magazines and friends. From launch nine months ago, Lyst already generates millions in dollars of sales for its partners around the world.
Prior to cofounding Lyst, Chris was a venture capital investor at Balderton and Benchmark Capital in London, where he focussed on early stage consumer internet investments, mostly in the ecommerce, music and games space.
Chris has an MA in Physics and Philosophy from Cambridge University, where he was a DERA scholar.
Imran Amed is a fashion business adviser, writer, lecturer and digital entrepreneur, and is Founder and Editor of The Business of Fashion (www.businessoffashion.com), the industry's leading online authority.
Imran has emerged as one of the fashion industry’s leading thinkers on digital media. In his consulting work with Amed & Co. for international luxury brands, private equity firms and high-potential start-ups, he acts as a bridge between the industry’s most gifted creative and business talent and shapes strategies for the new digital reality.
Imran’s expertise is regularly called upon by the international fashion and business media, including CNN, BBC, The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Women’s Wear Daily. His writing has been published in the Financial Times, Vogue India, 032c and Style.com.
In 2011, Imran was named to British GQ’s list of the 100 Most Influential Men in Britain, Indian GQ’s list of the 50 Most Influential Global Indians, British Vogue’s list of 25 New Fashion Faces to Watch and Net-a-Porter’s top 10 Global Blog Power List.
Imran is an Associate Lecturer at Central St Martin’s College of Art & Design. Previously, he was a management consultant at McKinsey & Co. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.Com from McGill University.
Michelle Sadlier is the Global Digital Communications Consultant for Karla Otto International and Head of Digital PR for the Pencil Agency. Born in Dublin and now based in London, Michelle works with a range of high profile luxury fashion and beauty brands, creating innovative and highly effective digital PR strategies.
Described in the Sunday Times as having 'an uncommon passion for social media', Michelle is immersed in the continuing global conversation in fashion today and was recently awarded Cison's Top 20 UK fashion blogs on Twitter in 2011. Michelle will be hosting and moderating a panel at SXSW Interactive this year entitled 'Who Needs A Fashion Cycle Anyway? I've Got Social Media' - http://schedule.sxsw.com/2012/events/event_IAP12334. Michelle will also be a guest panelist at the Style X/SXSW talks.
Michelle is also guest lecture for the London College of Fashion and the University of the Creative Arts and has featured as a panelist at the Influencer Conference and at the Central Saint Martin's London Fashion Week 'Fashion Bytes' talk.
Nikolas Badminton is a digital dreamer and guides the planning and strategy team responsible for creating digital, mobile and social strategies for Tribal DDB and their clients.
With over 15-years of traditional and digital marketing experience in consumer and business-to-business markets, Badminton has delivered award-winning client programs across a range of categories including, telecommunications, travel, consumer packaged goods, finance, entertainment and technology. He has been recognized and awarded several times including Dell Star Award for Consumer Innovation (across Dell's communications in 13 countries), Addy Award for Best Social Media App (for putting Microsoft's consumers opinions on microsoft.com for the first time) and Lotus Award for Best Social Campaign.
He takes an active interest and role in fashion circles in Vancouver, NYC and London. For this session he is sourcing his style in collaboration with his stylist using social media sources and Pintrest as the inspiration board (see http://pinterest.com/nbadminton/fashion-forward-thinking/)
In his spare time he lectures at UBC, collaborates with local designers and is a referee for the Vancouver roller derby league - TCRG.
Tuesday, March 13
