| TOP 100 EVENTS 02.16.09 8:00 AM |
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Southern California's Top Fashion & Retail Events 2009
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 | Rodeo Drive Walk of Style
Photo: Berliner Studios/BEImages |
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1. Rodeo Drive Walk of Style
The City of Beverly Hills and the Rodeo Drive Committee cosponsor this annual event on the famed shopping street, where one big-name fashion icon scoops up the Walk of Style award. In September, it went to Manolo Blahnik at a Parisian-themed party.
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Southern California's Top 100 Events, Rodeo Drive Committee, Project Angel Food, Beverly Hills Fire and Police Department, Gen Art, Macy's, Colleague Helpers in Philanthropic Services, Children's Institute Incorporated, Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Country Friends, IMG, Mercedes-Benz Los Angeles Fashion Week |
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| NEWS 10.21.08 5:33 PM |
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L.A. Fashion Week Postmortem: What Went Wrong?
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 | L.A. Fashion Week's October 2008 run
Photo: BizBash |
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Now that L.A. Fashion Week is a wrap in its former capacity, everyone involved is trying to isolate exactly why the shows here never took off as a major industry event, and what might be done to improve matters for potential future incarnations.
A lengthy story in Monday's Women's Wear Daily mused on some of the reasons for the ultimate failure of the five-year partnership between IMG and Smashbox Studios. It cited lack of profitability compared to other cities, inability to draw A-list stars and an infestation of B-list ones, sub-par designs, and a generally chaotic and crowded environment in Culver City, among myriad other causes. The story specifically called out the debacle surrounding the show for the collection by The Hills' Lauren Conrad—and the long, unwieldy line of wannabe showgoers eventually turned away before seeing it. One retailer quoted in the WWD report called the whole event "a joke." A designer called it "peripheral."
Still, the IMG-Smashbox partnership brought in $50 million for the city, according to the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, and organizers are hopeful about renewed, rejiggered efforts in the future—especially while the state struggles under major money woes. —Alesandra Dubin
RELATED TOPICS
Fashion Week, Mercedes-Benz, IMG, Lauren Conrad, Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation |
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| NEWS 10.17.08 1:23 PM |
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Fashion Week Pics: Organic Touches Dress L.A. Runways
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 | Falling rose petals at the Lana Fuchs presentation
Photo: Volker Corell |
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Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week wrapped last night at Smashbox Studios in Culver City, after a five-day run that included 23 official shows. Apropos of the event's green initiatives and bright, springlike signage (not to mention L.A. residents' reputation as outdoorsy nature lovers), several of the designers dressed their runways in leafy, flowery looks—from falling rose petals at Lana Fuchs to climbing ivy at Samora and scattered foliage at the Green Initative Humanitarian Fashion Show.
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Fashion Week, Mercedes-Benz, IMG, Going Green, Samora, Green Initiative, Lana Fuchs |
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| EVENT REPORT 10.15.08 12:05 PM |
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Fashion Week Lounge Employs Sustainable Materials
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 | The Mercedez-Benz lounge at Smashbox
Photo: Silvia Mautner |
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Although its scale pales in comparison to major global fashion weeks in other cities like New York and Milan, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Los Angeles is still bringing an uncomfortable crush of people to its tents at Smashbox Stuidios in Culver City this week. Some respite from the throng comes—for certain V.I.P.s, press folks, celebrities, and Mercedes dealers and customers, at least—in the form of the automaker's petite but appointed lounge tucked within the venue.
Wendy Creed designed the lounge again this year, with a springy look to match IMG's official logos and signage for this season. Big blooms of yellow roses from Floral Art topped a center decor piece, and clean white seating and cocktail tables kept the look bright. Bamboo mats covered the floors, and grass cloth served as wall panels. Bontempi USA's bubble chandeliers hung from above.
"The design inspiration is fresh and springy, just like the official theme," said Mercedes' western regional PR manager, Larkin Hill. "The personality [from last season's dark hues and mirrored tabletops] is so different, but we still have areas where people can group, relax, share a bench. It's cheery, clean, open."
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RELATED TOPICS
Fashion Week, Mercedes-Benz, IMG, Going Green |
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| NEWS 10.15.08 11:59 AM |
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Lauren Conrad Show Draws—and Turns Away—Huge Crowd at L.A. Fashion Week
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The crush at the Lauren Conrad show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week last night would seem to lend truth to the chatter that the local version of IMG's event is largely driven by tabloid celebrity culture rather than serious fashion presentations.
The show, which came with a nominal 8 p.m. start time, drew a massive crowd well in advance, and the line of hundreds eventually snaked clear around Smashbox Studios. Staff assured clamoring guests that the single line contained ordinary folks, press, and talent alike. At about 8:30, security announced that the show had begun and that publicists had cut off ticket distribution. The remaining group reluctantly and slowly dispersed without seeing the line from the star of MTV's pseudo-reality show The Hills.
Conrad's presentation—like the Pussycat Dolls' last season—pulled a considerably larger group than than did the other designers at L.A. Fashion Week, who may be lesser known in the entertainment industry, if not in the local fashion world. —Alesandra Dubin
RELATED TOPICS
Fashion Week, Mercedes-Benz, IMG, Lauren Conrad |
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| NEWS 10.14.08 12:19 PM |
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L.A. Fashion Week Hits Smashbox This Week—But Future Is Uncertain
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Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week kicked off at Smashbox Studios on Sunday with a five-day run planned for this season. But the future of the event is uncertain.
In a story headlined "Los Angeles Fashion Week: Is the Party Over?," The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Smashbox Studio Cosmetics has announced the dissolution of its five-year partnership with IMG World to produce the local version of fashion week. And although the brand hopes to continue putting on the shows in 2009, Smashbox co-owner Davis Factor has said that he can’t be sure that he’ll be able to retain the sponsors necessary to produce the $1 million event with the economy in trouble, according to the report.
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Fashion Week, Mercedes-Benz, IMG |
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| EVENT INTELLIGENCE 04.11.08 10:30 AM |
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Building Buzz With Videos: IMG's Fashion Week Series
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 | A model getting primped in one of IMG's behind-the-scenes Fashion Week videos.
Photo: Courtesy of IMG Fashion |
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This story is part of our series on building event buzz with online videos.
Not every successful online video is made by event attendees with handheld cameras. Marketers who realize the potential of Web video for enhancing an event experience are also producing professional, high-quality videos to complement their events.
In 2007, IMG Fashion launched a YouTube channel to display videos from Fashion Week events throughout the world. Each video is a one- to four-minute clip focused on a specific runway show, collection, or after-party, featuring interviews with designers and celebrity attendees. Produced and edited by IMG and Smashbox Studios, the videos capture both the glamour of the runway shows and the frenetic energy behind the scenes.
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Building Buzz With Online Videos, YouTube, IMG, IMG Fashion, Fashion Week, Imitation of Christ, American Express |
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| EVENT INTELLIGENCE 04.07.08 1:41 PM |
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Video Makes the Marketing Star
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 | IMG's behind-the-scenes videos from Fashion Week.
Photo: Courtesy of IMG Fashion |
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This week we're posting a series on building event buzz with online videos. We'll post a success story each day. But first, here's an overview.
From text messaging to Facebook to blogs, new technologies offer a seemingly endless choice of platforms for connecting with an audience and spreading news about events. And of all these media, online video has perhaps the most potential to spread an idea or message around the world.
“Videos provide an opportunity to engage the user in a way that text and images don’t,” says David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR. “For events, that’s a fantastic opportunity.”
The ease, speed, and accessibility of YouTube and other video-sharing applications can help a video go viral in a matter of minutes, whether it’s broadcast from a bedroom in Wisconsin or an airplane over the Pacific.
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Building Buzz With Online Videos, YouTube, IMG |
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| NEWS 06.21.07 7:14 PM |
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Fashion Week and Key Vendors Announce Green Initiatives
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Who's going green, we ask? IMG just announced that the twice-yearly Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Culver City's Smashbox Studios will focus on going green in October, emphasizing sustainability as well as eco-friendly fashions and designers. The event will also reduce its impact on the environment,
including adjustments to the production of the shows and materials used. Title sponsor Mercedes-Benz will bolster this message by
highlighting its latest clean diesel technology, Bluetec.
And the green initiatives keep coming: This week alone, we also received news that Kinetic Lighting and Signature Inc. have both added eco-friendly options for events, both of which are available now. Signature's "Simply Green" line of rentals is made from 95 percent recycled materials, and Kinetic's program replaces regular fixtures with LED lights and eliminates the need for copper-heavy power cable, large dimming equipment, and wasteful color filters. —Alesandra Dubin
RELATED TOPICS
IMG, Fashion Week, Going Green |
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| ASK AN EXPERT 02.08.06 12:00 AM |
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Ask an Expert: Building Buzz at an Industry Event
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FROM NEW YORK
Brandusa Niro is editor of The Daily, the gossipy glossy newspaper started by IMG in February 2003 to chronicle—and promote—Olympus Fashion Week, which is produced by IMG division 7th on Sixth. With its brightly colored graphics and gushing style, The Daily has become the default read for fashion folks passing time between shows. This spring, Niro will help launch a similar publication for the Nasdaq Open, a tennis tournament also owned by IMG.
Why do you think The Daily has been so successful?
The business strategy of it is that it addresses an audience that is so brilliantly targeted. We deliver the eyeballs and the mind share of this fantastic group of influencers and opinion leaders. That's something that advertisers truly understand and appreciate. As a result of that, we have a 97 percent return rate from our advertisers, which indicates how healthy this publication really is.
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RELATED TOPICS
Fashion Week, IMG |
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