The makers of luxury fashion are playing with its defining trait ufffd moving from exclusive access enjoyed by the loaded few to mass right of entry. Facebook, Twitter, 4-D light shows and shopping websites with SFX that would put Batman movies to shame ufffd these are the new tools of their trade, discovers Shweta ShiwaRe

The makers of luxury fashion are playing with its defining traitu00a0-- moving from exclusive access enjoyed by the loaded few to mass right of entry. Facebook, Twitter, 4-D light shows and shopping websites with SFX that would put Batman movies to shameu00a0-- these are the new tools of their trade, discovers Shweta Shiware

At 8 pm on November 10, traffic was stopped on the busy Madison Avenue in New York by powers that be at Ralph Lauren, one of America's most powerful fashion houses, to project a 4-D video against the funeral
white fa ade of its recently-acquired store-mansion at the corner of 72nd Street. Much the same scene played out, outside its New Bond Street, London store.

Said Karl Lagerfeld, Head designer and creative director, Chanel at the
International Herald Tribune Heritage Luxury Conference in London.
Pop singer Victoria Beckham shares a joke with him on Day 1 of the
conference on November 9. pic/getty images

Under spotlights that lent the chilly winter night a ghostly grey caress, with a soundtrack echoing in the air, models walked out of balconies, a giant belt wrapped itself around the width of the edifice to clasp its buckle with the grace of a python, while five monster ties fell from the roof.

To the sound of rumble and hooves, polo horses galloped across the fa ade; the last of the riders trapped in an iconic motif in a Polo perfume bottle. And then suddenly, the building collapsed, only to promptly rearrange itself and give pedestrians a look into the mint new store and the collection lining its cases.

It wasn't just Willy Wonka-style 3-D. With a virtual sprinkle of rose petals, a fake breeze and real wafting perfume, the show, a first in the world, aroused more than three senses. The image of a waving Ralph appeared in one of the windows to wrap the 10-minute spectacle that was ralphlauren.com's idea of celebrating 10 years of digital innovation with what they termed was a 'historic fusion of art, fashion and technology'.

The creative team worked around the clock to build a set that was a third of the size of the New York and London buildings. The polo game was shot in Oxfordshire, and the catwalk models were filmed in green screen or chroma, so that it would seem like they were walking out the buildings, lending the impression of floating in space.

Ralph's 38 year-old son and Senior VP Advertising, Marketing and Corporate Communications, David Lauren called it 'architectural mapping'. "Ralph Lauren uses the iPhone," David declared, asserting the brand's unwavering faith in technology, at the International Herald Tribune's (IHT) annual luxury conference held last week in London, where over 600 delegates from 25 countries, and celebrated speakers including geniuses Karl Lagerfeld, Alber Elbaz, Paul Smith, Rosita Missoni, Tommy Hilfiger, Christopher Bailey, and style icon Victoria Beckham dropped by.

"We were the first brand to combine merchandising, marketing and entertainment, calling it 'merchantainment'," said David to a roomful of eager listeners at Intercontinental London Park Lane Hotel. In fact, ralphlauren.com was launched in the middle of the Internet bubble bust, nearly 10 years ago.

Today, the website attracts more than 50 million visitors annually, from around 190 countries. If you are a Ralph Lauren fan, they are offering you the chance to be part of their jet-setting world by logging on. "Shop for products, read an interview with Hollywood stars and models, and if you like the dog sitting on the model's lap in the advertisement, simply scroll down to find a list of dog breeders. We are giving you context and stories along with shopping options," David said.

The brand that kicked off operations 40 years ago, selling ties, has evolved to define American fashion and online merchandising, at once. Two of their recent online projects include the RL Children's Virtual Storybook; the first shoppable virtual storybook for children, and Make Your Own Rugby iPhone application.

This one allows you to design and buy your rugby or Polo shirt with your iPhone or iPod touch. An interactive tennis clinic has superstar sportspeople Boris Becker and Venus Williams giving you live lessons online. The introduction of QR technology allows buyers to point their cellphones over an advertisement or product, and buy it on the spot.

Digi shot in the arm for luxury retail
The luxury retail market is estimated at 153 billion dollars worldwide, with India having spent about ufffd2 billion on luxury goods in 2008 according to AT Kearney; a sum that they expect to hit ufffd15 billion by 2015.
But as veteran British designer Sir Paul Smith asked the audience at the IHT Conference that had gathered in its 10th year to discuss 'heritage', "How does a brand manage to bridge the gap between history, its luxury appeal and cool? By getting branded as luxury, and being that big, it's hard to be cool. How does it appeal to the young customer?"

Can classic ever be cool?
Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts may have the answer. When Ahrendts announced that the legendary British luxury brand was live streaming her 30-minute chat at the Conference with Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey to its 7,000 employees worldwide, it was a sign; an indication of how a super-successful "old, young company" is adamant to communicate to genNext, while retaining its core democratic values.

Going digital is a natural choice for the 155 year-old brand that has adopted the online tool to appease its young buyer. Burberry Acoustics features upcoming English artists on the Burberry Facebook page (www.facebook.com/burberry). And the now very popular Art of Trench webpage is dedicated to documenting the brand's trademark trench coat, and the people who wear it.

Surfers are invited to submit portraits of themselves and friends wearing a Burberry trench coat, which an in-house team sifts through to select the best. These then get posted on the webpage, along with a series of specially commissioned trench portraits by the likes of fashion and street photographer Scott Schuman of the Satorialist.u00a0u00a0

It's a novel social networking initiative (artofthetrench.com) to unite the Burberry community, and ironically stemmed from the company's founder Thomas Burberry's book Open Spaces, that featured testimonials from sportsmen, explorers, the aristocracy and royalty, about the benefits of trench," revealed Bailey. A lesson from the past re-introduced digitally to benefit the present.

Facebook and Twitter are Burberry's new best friends. Burberry hopes to expand overseas, repeating in India the success it has seen in China, where it operates 44 stores and is enjoying double-digit percentage revenue growth.

The company runs its two Indian stores (Mumbai and Delhi) through a franchisee arrangement but is poised to enter a joint venture to expand its presence in India, and hopes to open 21 stores across India, pink papers had reported.

Early next year, you can expect the launch of Burberry Bespoke, an online service that will allow surfers across the globe the freedom to design their own trench coat using 12 million options including buttons, fabrics, colours, even studs if you please. "The personalised online bespoke service takes the authenticity of heritage but communicates it in digital way," said Bailey.

Design your own LV monogram
Who would expect French luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton, that takes its 156 year-old legacy very seriously, to allow surfers (and that can include the hoody and jeans clad teenager who thinks LV is an SMS acronym) to play, even tamper, with its Monogram canvas.

Mon Monogram is a personalised online service that lets Internet buyers personalise Speedy handbags, Keepall travel bags, or P ufffdgase 55 models with their own initials and candy stripes. You can choose from 200 million combinations and 17 different colour shades to custom-make a bag using a web application on www.louisvuitton.com.

Once the order is placed online, it will be forwarded to the brand's workshop where the design will be hand-painted. Delivery can take up to eight weeks.

Use mouse to turn dress inside out before buying
Gucci turns 90 next year. But the Italian luxury brand has no plans of acting the part of a snooty veteran. This September saw the launch of its new luxury Digital Flagship store at gucci.com, a result of an 18 month-long architectural renovation.

It uses the most advanced technology to blend content, shopping and social networking to provide their monthly 2.5 million visitors an experience that's no different from the one they have when they enter a Gucci signature store in Rome, New York, London or Shanghai.

The horizontal navigation is a defining feature of gucci.com, and allows all available products to be displayed on one page. The click-and-zoom feature from multiple angles lets you check out each product inside out just as you would be able to do in a brick and mortar store.

Shoppers can share products and content pages by simply selecting 'love' for a particular product or page. A live Twitter feed, an interface with the Gucci official Facebook fan page, and product page links to ready-to-wear items straight off the catwalk, allow visitors to engage first-hand with the brand.

VIP seating at a Milan show
With gucciconnect.com, they one-upped the usual runway livestream during their show in Milan this September. Surfers were invited to sign up for an e-ticket to the event, granting them the 'same guest benefits as Milan event guests' by assigning virtual VIP seating with webcam videos shared at the Gucci show space.

And so, through webshare technology, virtual guests were mixing with the world's biggest buyers and press, watching the show and backstage make-up and hair preparations from four different camera angles.
What next?

Gucci Be a front row guest

To celebrate the launch of its luxury digital flagship store that the Italian label believes is going to sell more volume than any other store in the world, it launched gucciconnect.com on September 1 with a groundbreaking invitation to attend Frida Giannini's women's ready-to-wear fashion show as a virtual guest.

gucciconnect is a way of letting Gucci enthusiasts across the globe engage with the House and its fashion show through its own social networking video technology. Virtual guests are able to sign up on gucciconnect.com to receive an e-ticket granting them access as a virtual attendee, and through webcam share technology, mix with the world's biggest buyers and press, who attend the seasonal fashion shows in New York, London, Milan and Paris.

Gucci and social networking 1 million Facebook fans 6,00,000 Have downloaded the Gucci App 18,000
Twitter followers

Ralph lauren
Make your own Polo shirt

To celebrate its decade-long digital existence, on November 10 in New York's Madison Avenue, Ralph Lauren chose to take digital to an all-new level by projecting a 4-D show (no glasses needed) against its new store-mansion. Video images of the sexiest models (top) rolled past balconies and polo horses galloped across the facade. The technology might soon make it to their website where shoppers can see what they wish to buy in 3-D before clicking on 'add to shopping cart'.

Log on, shop, read an interview with Hollywood stars and models, and if you like the dog sitting on model's lap in the advertisement, simply scroll down to find a list of dog breeders. We're giving you context and stories along with shopping options.

David Lauren, heir and Senior VP Advertising, Marketing and Corporate Communications Ralph Lauren on the brand's online initiatives. The Make Your Own Rugby iPhone application allows you to design and buy your rugby or polo shirt with an iPhone or iPod touch. Plus, a tennis clinic has Boris Becker and Venus Williams giving your live online lessons.

Burberry
Design your trenchcoat

Burberry Bespoke, an online service that will be launched next year, will allow users the freedom to design their own trench coat online using 12 million options.

"In our archives, we discovered Open Spaces, a book written and commissioned by Thomas Burberry featuring testimonials from sportsmen, explorers, the aristocracy and royalty talking about benefits of the trench."

Christopher Bailey, Chief Creative Officer, Burberry on the idea that sparked off their social network initiative, artofthetrench.com

At the IHT conference, Angela Ahrendts, CEO Burberry announced that the 155 year-old brand was live streaming her 30-minute chat with Christopher Bailey to its 7,000 employees worldwideu00a0-- a clear attempt at talking to the new digi generation in its own voice

Get your picture posted on the site
The home page of artofthetrench.com carries a navigation bar that allows you to view all the uploaded entries (classified according to colour, photographer, even weather at the time the picture was clicked). To be up the site yourself, click yourself in an originbal Burberry trench, and post your trench portrait. Burberry will select its favourites and feature them on the site.