NEW YORK—Similar to the September 2020 event, last month’s NYFW: The Shows, which is produced by IMG, was forced to reinvent itself once again due to COVID-19 restrictions. The five-day event, which took place Feb. 14-18, was almost entirely digital—except for live shows from Jason Wu and Rebecca Minkoff—with several high-profile designers including Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors and Calvin Klein missing from the calendar.
While livestreamed shows seem to be de rigueur at this point, several other new concepts were introduced this time around including the debut of an Innovation Partner—Yahoo Ryot Lab, Verizon Media’s incubator for 5G content experiences. In the new role, the production studio will collaborate with fashion designers to create extended reality content experiences for collections and presentations throughout the year.
“With fashion having such an influential impact on today’s culture, we knew that there was a great opportunity to lean into that creativity and work with designers to reimagine their fan experiences in a most unique and immersive way," said Joanna Lambert, head of consumer at Verizon Media, about the NYFW partnership.
“Yahoo Ryot Lab is able to lean into its industry-leading tech capabilities to create experiences that blend immersive mixed realities with commerce, allowing consumers a more intimate look at designers’ content and collections at a time when most are unable to attend in-person events or looking for alternate ways to shop the latest trends,” she added.
Like other AR experiences, the object—in this case a 3D mannequin dressed in Minkoff’s designs—pops up inside the user’s home.Photo: Courtesy of Yahoo
Minkoff, who’s perhaps best known for her popular crossbody bags, isn’t a stranger to shaking things up when it comes to her fashion shows. During New York Fashion Week: The Shows in February 2016, she presented an in-season show (which was unusual at the time) with products that were currently available or would be available in the next 30 to 60 days. She was one of the first to embrace this “see now, buy now” strategy.
“We have found that the significance of fashion shows that present collections four to six months before they land in stores have allowed consumers to become bored with the styles that they’ve seen on celebrities and social media and they don’t necessarily want to buy them when they finally become available to them months later,” Minkoff told BizBash in 2016. “We really wanted to engage with our customer and think about what the ideal new model [could] be in terms of Fashion Week that takes into account retail partners, one’s own stores, social media platforms, and consumers.”
Once again, this February, Minkoff showcased her current collection—Spring/Summer ‘21—as opposed to teasing the upcoming season like most other designers. In addition to hosting a socially distanced presentation at Spring Studios and streaming her show on OnlyFans (another industry first), Minkoff worked with Yahoo Ryot Lab to create a 3D experience for at-home shoppers. “Through the use of photogrammetry capture and built using our leading XR platform Yahoo Immersive, this 3D, augmented-reality fashion showcase allows users to look at Minkoff’s designs in their own living space on their mobile devices,” explained Nigel Tierney, head of content for Yahoo Ryot Lab.
Like other AR experiences, the object—in this case a 3D mannequin dressed in Minkoff’s designs—pops up inside the user’s home; users are also able to move around the model, getting an up-close, 360-degree view of the looks, along with a shoppable link. Audiences were able to experience the collection via this immersive experience on Yahoo.com at the same time as Minkoff’s in-person presentation.
“Many of the Rebecca Minkoff products we shot for the AR experience have beautifully intricate patterns and details that highlight the uniqueness of her style and approach to fashion,” Tierney explained. “Our team of technicians and artists carefully stitched together thousands of photos and hand crafted certain design elements so that consumers could get an accurate representation of her Spring ‘21 collection without the backdrop of a fashion show or dressing room.”
Watch the video below to see how Yahoo Ryot Lab created the AR experience for Rebecca Minkoff's collection.
