london | In Your Head

news bites: February 2013

February 13, 2013 | By Shannon Kelly

FOOD x FASHION

Supermodel Karlie Kloss and Superchef Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar have teamed up with American Express to gift 31,500 of Karlie Kookies in various NYC locations today, February 13th {Trendland}. Available online here.

FASHION

Nicholas Kirkwood has teamed up with UK department store Selfridges to launch a new shoe line inspired by the new film "Oz The Great And Powerful," {Vogue UK}
According to the ForeSee Mobile Satisfaction Index: Holiday Retail Edition, nearly 70% of survey respondents engaged in "showrooming"— using a mobile phone while in a retail store during the 2012 holiday season — and most of those consumers (62%) accessed that store's site or app. {PR Newswire}

FOOD

Preserving and fermentation will be featured in the upcoming issue of David Chang and McSweeney's quarterly journal, Lucky Peach. {Eater}
Nestlé is launching a new digital scanning system in the UK, designed to provide customers with smartphone access to nutritional information. {Food Manufacture}

CULTURE

Greta Garbo's wardrobe and extensive couture collection is the subject of a new exhibition opening in London at Belmacz Gallery. {Vogue}

Tags: fashion, food, showrooming, sweets, limited time offer, QR codes, holiday, art, couture, london, nyc, mobile, eCommerce

spa jeans

January 17, 2013 | By Shannon Kelly

{Photo: Wrangler}

Wrangler is launching the first pair of moisturizing jeans exclusively on ASOS. The skinny-fit jeans incorporate skincare ingredients to protect legs from denim's dehydrating effect with natural oils and butters. They come in three finishes: Aloe Vera, Olive Extract, and Smooth Legs, which aims to prevent cellulite.

According to The Telegraph, the style was "clinically tested by the Institut Adriant in France, where after four weeks of wearing the jeans for eight hours a day, five days a week over six weeks, 69 percent of the panel claimed that the appearance of their thighs had improved."

The "Spa Jean" effect reportedly lasts for four to six washes but, a reload spray can be applied after each wash "to continue to reap the jeans' beauty benefits". The jeans cosmetic effects will last for around 67-95 wears, according to Wrangler.

In the realm of crazy fashion and/or beauty gimmicks — this invention might take the cake.

[UPDATE 2.29.13: The spa jeans have sold out in less than day on ASOS.com]

Tags: womenswear, fashion, beauty, london, eCommerce, coming soon

trends that found their voice in 2012

December 29, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

Since 2004 we have highlighted a variety of trends with our bias-free reporting, so it’s only natural that we want to wrap up 2012 with a small but meaningful proof of concept.

Our trendscaping™ timeline is as follows:

As far back as April 2008, we wrote about the untapped opportunities at captive venues and pointed to examples at Heathrow, Sea-Tac, and Hong Kong. Since that initial post, LAX and LaGuardia have stepped up their game with new restaurants and upscale shopping in an attempt to entice landlocked customers. Last week, The Hollywood Reporter revealed plans for a new 2,200-square-foot Fred Segal boutique will be "the largest retail space there outside of duty-free." Read all of our posts about Captive Venues here.

2008 was also a good year for spotting products that needed maturity to become mainstream. We love how this single varietal honey caught the eye of Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop, and how Wasara disposable paperware gained press and distribution in the past year. Both products employ insights outlined in our 2012 Forecast and highlight innovation. To see examples of how the Global Locality trend has prevailed over one-size-fits-all mass-production, click here.

Menswear, as a category, has exploded since we outlined retailers who have targeted male customers as a $51 billion shopping industry in January 2011. We touched on the subject again this spring with hard data on how the luxury segment is leading the trend and growing at a rate of about 14% per year with online preferences and behaviors of affluent males. Those posts were a precursor to Bloomberg’s proclamation in October that "Fashion is the fastest-growing segment of online commerce, and it’s being propelled by an atypical source: men." Read more about the debonair digital dude here.

The five insights that highlighted innovation and consumer intelligence for building successful brands across digital mediums, and all five of them found success in retail experiences, marketing campaigns, and consumer packaged goods. When we wrote, “Couch commerce will leave the living room with technology paving the way for products and services to be available using location services, flash sales, and social networking,” we meant every word. It’s hard to argue that cultural consciousness, the growth of mobile/tablet consumption, new technologies, the editorial voice, and simplicity have not made their mark this year. Please click on the individual links to view the corresponding posts, products, places referencing our forecast: Global Locality, Smart Commerce, Augmented Reality, Life Story Labeling, and Less-ism.

All in all – it’s been a fantastic year for us. We hope that you continue to find morsels of inspiration to provoke thought and discussion, as well as to influence future strategies. Your referral or forward is the highest complement we can receive.

Tags: trend projections, trends, menswear, captive venues, LifeStoryLabeling, AugmentedReality, Lessism, GlobalLocality, SmartCommerce, london, LA, retail, food

pop goes the holiday popup

December 20, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

Nothing says timely promotion like a holiday pop-up. From NYC to Los Angeles – the retail scene is eager to cash in on selective partnerships, offline activation, and limited-edition wares.

Act One: Smart (Social) Commerce in London

E-tail giant eBay launched the Social Shopping pop-up shop in the Covent Garden neighborhood of London earlier this month.

According to Retail Week, the company launched November 30^th to capitalize on what was expected to be the busiest online shopping weekend. The short-lived event, which closed December 2^nd, housed in-store screens that displayed top recommendations from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and encouraged shoppers to download eBay's apps to browse and shop products in the pop-up store.

eBay Head of Buyer Experience Carrie Bienkowski said: “By pairing views of social communities with eBay’s own vast selection of top Christmas gifts and mobile expertise we hope to give shoppers lots of inspiration and put a little bit of fun into Christmas shopping. Mobile technology is a catalyst for retail growth and is changing the way we shop. Consumers now carry a global showroom in their pocket and are increasingly as inclined to seek recommendations online and shop mobile as visit the high street.”

Research from the company shows Augmented Reality and 3D technologies could boost the retail industry by nearly $4bn by 2014.

Act Two: A hotel hosts DailyCandy's brick-and-mortar

The email newsletter turned lifestyle brand opened popup shops selling handpicked gifts by DailyCandy editors at The Standard hotels in New York, Miami and Los Angeles earlier this week.

“We know from our insights that when digital brands do an offline activation, it resonates with consumers” said Ashley Parrish, Editor-in-Chief of DailyCandy to WWD.

The assortment, which includes a Ryan McGinness To-Do Calendar and beach towels by Cecily Brown, will be offered in-store and online at standardhotels.myshopify.com through December 31^st.

While a Maison Martin Margiela-Ligne 13 Claustrophobic notebook is certainly unique, we’re particularly intrigued at how the brand is banking on cross-pollination from locals and travelers in a hotel setting to push sales.

Act Three: A collective approach to the Darkest Days

30+ emerging designers, creatives, and artisans joined forces this past weekend in Seattle for Brite Collective’s Blak Designmart Pop-up at Caffe Vita’s Bean Room in Seattle.

The event, which felt more like a old-school warehouse pop-up in 2006 than the manicured and excessively sponsored upmarket versions of today, mixed limited edition black-themed merchandise (representative of the cities darkest days) with freestanding branded stalls featuring products outside the motif.

We love shopping local and appreciate the refreshing spin on the weeks leading up to the winter solstice.

Act Four: Socially-minded menswear in Williamsburg

Nomad Market, features classic men's clothing and accessories manufactured in collaboration with local craftspeople around the world on the second floor of Hickoree's Floor Two in Brooklyn. The latest in a series of socially-minded pop-ups from Apolis launched mid-November and will run through the end of December.

{Photo: Apolis Global}

The traveling installation includes photo and video essays from the communities with which Apolis Global co-created to see how futures are impacted by each item. They brand calls the hand-on model “advocacy through industry.”

We love how brands are targeting customers and profits using philanthropic causes to better the retailing industry. Isn’t that what the spirit of Christmas is all about?

Tags: retail, fashion, popup art, popup retail, menswear, nyc, seattle, london, miami, LA, California, GlobalLocality, SmartCommerce, new media, limited time offer

no noise

December 15, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

{Image: Selfridges}

Selfridges is launching a new campaign to celebrate the power of quiet and see the beauty in calm among the crowds from January 7th to the end of February 2013.

The "No Noise" concept will feature the world's most recognizable brands, sans logos, in an exclusive Quiet Shop collection of minimalist design and de-branded products. The retail experience is based on Harry Gordon Selfridge's original "Silence Room" in 1909.

Within the designated space — shoppers will be asked to remove their shoes and hand over their cell phones. To facilitate the journey, customers can “find balance in this fast-paced world” via in-store meditation sessions guided by London based Headspace or by enjoying specially commissioned art installations designed to nurture the imagination.

Is quiet the an anecdote to retailing ubiquity or do you think that will Lessism will continue its reign in 2013?

[UPDATE 1.7.13: View campaign video and shop the range of products without logos at Selfridges.]

Tags: retail, popup retail, department store, london, Lessism, wellness, design, fashion, Culture

beauty is more than skin deep

October 28, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

In case you haven't already heard the news... retail has a new hero as a result of the economy: the beauty category.

The effects of this surge in affordable luxuries have spurred growth in new products, line extensions, and licensing agreements across all price points. According to data from GCI, global retail sales of premium beauty products were up 5% in 2011, the best performance since 2007. Hair care and fragrance also posted strong numbers – 10% and 6% respectively. The selected statistics below help to illustrate the success and the opportunity within the category:

For the first six months in 2012, a study by NPD Group showed an 8% increase in prestige makeup sales in US department stores.
LVMH’s perfumes and cosmetics business group reported organic revenue growth of 8% for the first nine months of 2012. The company's selective retailing business group, which includes Sephora, achieved organic revenue growth of 14% for the first nine months of 2012.
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. reported a strong financial performance for the fiscal year ending in June 2012 with net sales of $9.71 billion, a 10% increase compared with $8.81 billion reported in the prior year. The company’s strongest divisions in terms of growth year-over-year include: hair care (+100%), skin care (+14%), makeup (+10%), and fragrance (+3%)
The male grooming category has demonstrated a consistent performance throughout the recent years of economic instability, having increased its global revenues by an average of 6% per annum since 2006, to reach close to $33 billion in 2011.

Given the growth and potential, it's a mystery why retail design and merchandising have not evolved much within the segment. Traditional department store beauty counters are similar to shrine-like communal tables in restaurants with a linear and exposed fashion – meant to tap into the emotional and rational motives and allow customers to see and clearly be seen.

That's why we were delighted to discover the "beauty capsules" within Holt Renfrew in Vancouver, Canada this summer.

The narrow entry to each branded boutique encloses the customer within a private space that extends beyond the need for self-esteem and status. Each concept, complete with a dedicated flat screen TV, reflects that particular company's own specific style and color palette. For example, the Chanel section within the store, feels more like a room than a beauty counter.

Unlike many department stores with traditional footprints and promotions, the Burberry space promotes a feeling of luxury branding and experiences with a U-shaped configuration. The dual entry to this "capsule" is partitioned off to evoke privacy from other customers, departments, and brands. The counterless concepts allow salespeople to get out from behind fixtures.

The "beauty capsules" also provide unification without seeming cluttered. Each brand has a unique theme and materials, but the closed nature of each section and the white backdrop of the store interior allow varied fixtures to coexist without seeming messy.

Beyond the cosmetics department, promotional fixtures and beauty campaign banners at Holt Renfrew are practically nonexistent, with the exception of well-placed elevator wraps and in-wall displays that tempt customers with media instead of messaging.

Holt Renfrew is not alone in rethinking it's design, merchandising, and services related to beauty.

Selfridges launched its largest-ever 5,000 square foot beauty project, The Beauty Workshop, in September. The concept showcases 50 new brands and has treatment rooms for personalized services. Employees are trained to work across a variety of brands and are employed by Selfridges rather than by brands. “If every woman emptied her makeup bag on the table, there would be a variety of products — there is no brand loyalty,” said Jayne Demuro, Selfridges’ Head of Beauty. “This is about giving the customer what we think they want, and it’s about offering our customers choices.”
Harvey Nichols is looking for more locations for a new specialist boutique, Beauty Bazaar, and is planning on introducing beauty product vending machines in its department stores in 2013.

As brands vie for premium placement, it seems logical that they also consider cohesive design that emulates their luxury company-owned freestanding locations. Design and merchandising are key elements to the puzzle.

Tags: beauty, merchandising, design, retail, london, vending, Lessism, luxury, Vancouver BC

2013 trend preview

June 26, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

I am helpless without research material– and the more "motivational" the better.

– David Ogilvy, The Unpublished David Ogilvy: A Selection of His Writings from the Files of His Partners

Here's a quick glimpse at some of the eye-candy within the 2013 Trendscaping Report to inspire and motivate. Pre-order a copy here.

Tags: trendscaping, 2013 Trendscaping Report, trends, Spain, Barcelona, france, paris, nyc, arizona, london, seattle, LA, SF, food, fashion, pop culture, inspiration, Lessism, SmartCommerce, LifeStoryLabeling, AugmentedReality

all eyes on London

June 22, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

It seems like forever since we were in Paris marveling at the window displays, featuring Anglomania as a defining theme in 2012.

Earlier this month, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee proved that the British know how to market with ceremony and grandeur. And if these products and projects serve as a trend indicator, July 27^th will be an Olympic moment to behold.

{photos: Selfridges}

Luggage, backpacks and tote bags are getting overhauled in Olympic-inspired artwork as the world sets its gaze on London. Selfridges has geared up to an historic summer of sports with the launch of its limited edition Urban Survival Backpack range, created by Mulberry, Oliver Spencer, Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith, 3.1 Philip Lim, Barbour, Eastpak, Kiehl’s, and Nike. Other brands embracing the trend include: Gucci with the Series Collection (a combo pack of high-tops and a large leather duffle boasting the London skyline), Y-3 with a Faster, Higher, Stronger Collection of graphic totes, and MCM with a pyramid-studded punk homage to the Union Jack flag.

{photo: Colette}

Across the channel, French concept store Colette is celebrating the Olympics with a musical marathon offering a combination of songs set to the beat of abstract geometrics to go along with its selection of Olympic-inspired wares. We love the 5th Anniversary shorts from Orlebar Brown featuring iconic sports imagery from the Getty Images collection by photographers including Slim Aarons, Dennis Hallinan and John Arsenault.

{photos: Matt W. Moore}

Aiming to prove that Coca Cola’s not just a drink but a cultural superstar, the brand has tapped producer Mark Ronson to mix the sounds of athletes in training for the games with Katy B’s vocals. The brand also engaged designer Matt W. Moore, aka MWM, to create a visual identity boasting his signature “Vectorfunk” style.

Following suit, the 2012 Olympic Games in London are getting creative to engage a new audience online. The Olympic Athletes’ Hub aggregates the verified social media feeds of more than 1,000 current and former Olympians and posts content directly from Facebook and Twitter accounts. A gamification layer incents fans to interact with the site to access exclusive training-tips videos and gain virtual and real-world prizes according to how many athletes they like and follow online.

Framed as a cultural innovator with roots in modernism and heritage, the London Olympics are sure to deepen our fascination with all things British.

Tags: london, color trends, trends, 2012 Olympics, music, design, apparel, menswear, coming soon, GlobalLocality

the wine sorceress

May 25, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

Something caught our eye at Bistro Ralph in Healdsburg, CA and it wasn't the charming room.

It was the unique astrology-inspired horizontally-placed VML black-and-white label which tells a whimsical story of the woman winemaker as sorceress — blending natural elements through rich black images within a utopian backdrop. The illustrations seem to move with the seasons as insects, flowers, and human kind are in sync with the planting calendar.

The visual story of the winemaker as a sorceress and the lovely Pinot Noir was riveting combination. Beyond compelling — we had to visit the winery.

{photos by The Dieline Wine & VML Winers}

VML Winery opened in April 2011 at the location previously occupied by Belvedere Winery owned by Bill Hambrecht and later C. Donatiello. The winery is named for winemaker Virginia “Ginny” Marie Lambrix and is a partnership of Bill and Woody Hambrecht, Phil Hurst, Mark De Mawulenaere and Paul and Heath Dolan.

Ginny’s approach to winemaking is organic and biodynamic. In a 2011 interview in Wine Business, she was was quoted as saying “I do believe there is something more to the vitality of the estate when the person farming it is completely engaged. Biodynamics is a really elegant way to farm, and I think the wines that come out of grapes that are grown Biodynamically are more interesting.”

At the winery located on Westside Road in Sonoma County, the wine menu uses similar graphic elements. The tasting room, with large pounded brass bar, is a perfect backdrop.

The graphics for VML were created by Stranger & Stranger, a packaging design agency for spirits, beer, and wine based in London. Within firms website, the case study copy describes the inspiration for the collateral with cheeky humor: "Ginny Lambrix is a witch. Ok, she’s not a pointy-hat-broomstick kind of witch but she's a biodynamic winemaker and she does things with potions and skulls that just sound a bit too witchy. So we made her a label that was suitably worshipful."

As fashion continues to embrace the celestial trend, it's only logical that other industries adopt tactics and themes that already resonate with a design-conscious demographic. We love astronomical objects and the biodynamic philosophy with artistic integrity in a rich scheme.

Tags: wine, beverage, packaging, design, California, GlobalLocality, trends, artisan, london, LifeStoryLabeling

is this the next Downton Abbey?

March 5, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

{Photo: Architecture.com - by Sydney W. Newbery, 1929}

Set in London in 1909, can a new series about the American founder of the Selfridge department store lure viewers with retailing hijinks?

ITV promises to “make shopping as thrilling as sex” following the success of Downton Abbey.

Based upon the book Shopping, Seduction and Mr Selfridge by Lindy Woodhead, the ten-part series with the working title Mr Selfridge centers around Harry Gordon Selfridge, the “showman of shopping” who opened the Oxford Street store but was undone by addictions to gambling, mansions, and mistresses.

“I read Harry Selfridge’s biography a few years ago, and remember thinking ‘we’ll never be able to do this on TV as it would be far too expensive’,” recalls Kate Lewis, executive producer at ITV Studios. But the series got the go-ahead, joining a recent raft of period dramas exploring British social history, including the BBC’s "Call the Midwife" and "Upstairs Downstairs."

Mr. Selfridge with his daughter, Rosalie {photo: News World Digest}

Focusing on the spicier side of Edwardian culture, the drama will switch between the private poker games of the wealthy and the daily struggles of working men and women. Part family saga and part workplace drama, Ms Lewis promises “a fresh spin” on the genre. She says the series will be “heavy on the glamour” and “a little bit sexier than Downton."

According to the ITV press release, ‘Mile a Minute Harry’ was on a mission to create a theater of retail that was open to everyone – regardless of their social class. At this time, London stores including Fenwicks and Liberty employed “walkers” whose job was to eject customers who were merely browsing.

Clearly ITV has a lot riding on the series, which is expected to go into production this year for airing in England in 2013. Until then, we will be reading Ms. Woodhead's novel to gain understanding how this eccentric American transformed the world of London retail into fantastically rich territory.

The nostalgia and escapism of the period drama genre has us hooked.

Tags: fashion, Culture, retail, london, TV, trends, trendscaping