VICENZA, Italy — Whereas Italy may have initially been slow on its uptake of Fashion 2.0, momentum appears to be building there to embrace digital media in all its forms, but especially fashion film. Indeed, two high profile events focused on moving image in fashion will take place in the month of May alone, bringing a much needed digital awareness to the country’s conservative fashion mainstream.

Tomorrow, in Vicenza, is the launch of OPPURE II, La moda in movimento verso i nuovi media, an exhibition curated by Federico Sarica, director of the Italian edition of VICE magazine and professor of fashion and new media at the European Institute of Design ModaLab in Milan. OPPURE II will showcase moving image in fashion and discuss its impact on the future of the industry. And, later this month, Diane Pernet will bring ASVOFF, her pioneering peripatetic fashion film festival, to Milan in collaboration with Vogue Italia.

Earlier this year, we featured the stunning short film for Fred Butler by Elisha Smith-Leverock which debuts at Pernet’s event in Milan, and today we bring you one of the featured films for OPPURE by Luca Merli. More OPPURE films can be viewed on the BoF YouTube page.

The Business of Fashion is an official media partner for OPPURE II which runs from 14 May 2010 – 27 June 2010 at Spazio Monotono run by Cristiano Seganfreddo in Vicenza, Italy

LONDON, United Kingdom —Today, the BoF team is busy preparing for our first FASHION PIONEERS interview with Jefferson Hack, Editorial Director of Dazed Group, to be held this Thursday at London’s Sanderson Hotel. Tickets for the event are completely sold out and a mix of BoF readers and friends from London’s fashion community will be joining us.

But, we want as many people as possible to participate in the interview. So, we are delighted to announce that in addition to a livestream on BoF, our friends from across the fashion and luxury blogosphere have graciously agreed to help us bring FASHION PIONEERS to the world. The event will be live streamed on the following sites:

United States: Refinery29 | Tavi Gevinson | Fashionista.com | JC Report

United Kingdom: Style Bubble | Fashion156

France: A Shaded View on Fashion | Luxury Society

Philippines: Bryanboy

Germany: Les Mads

We invite you all to tune in. And while you are watching, please send questions for Jefferson Hack to our Twitter account @_BoF_ using the hashtag #pioneers.

The livestream begins at 2pm New York | 7pm London | 8pm Paris and Berlin | 2am Manila (that’s for you, Bryanboy!)

Fashion Pioneers is presented in collaboration with Morgans Hotel Group and will be filmed by Pundersons Gardens

But there were no signs that the medium was condensing around fixed codes. Quite the opposite. What we saw was the kind of restless innovation and constant evolution that characterises the fluid nature of digital media itself, with an explosion of new films that energised, but also transcended, the seasonal presentation schedule, speaking directly to consumers across the internet as part of in-season digital campaigns.

During the Paris menswear collections, Stefano Pilati opened the Yves Saint Laurent show with “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,” a 7-minute film by legendary photographer Bruce Weber, while on the first night of New York Fashion week, a mesmerising film by Nick Knight, featuring Ranya Mordanova in a fractured, postmodern ritual, beautifully complemented Korean designer Jung Kuho’s deconstructed Hexa collection. A week later in London, the British Fashion Council inaugurated a special screening zone at Somerset House for a series of film presentations by young designers like Craig Lawrence, Louise Gray and Katie Eary.

But much of the action took place outside the official fashion week schedule. We saw fashion films inhabiting online advertising units on sites like The New York Times, as well as the emergence of new editorial channels like TEST and NOWNESS, which joined SHOWstudio, Dazed Digital, brand websites, video sharing sites, and Diane Pernet’s international festival, A Shaded View on Fashion Film, as platforms for striking films by avant garde designers and established brands alike.

Last October, we brought you our first seasonal ranking of the Top 10 Fashion Films. This season, the competition was stronger than ever. So sit back, turn up the volume, and enjoy the Top 10 Fashion Films of the Season — and since most of the films are in HD, we recommend you expand the videos to fill your screens with the latest in digital fashion creativity.

(RSS and Email subscribers, click here to view the films).

1. FRED BUTLER “SUNSHOWERS” by Elisha Smith-Leverock
There is a hypnotic, sharply focused beauty about Fred Butler and Elisha Smith-Leverock’s film “Sunshowers” that makes it dance through your head long after you’ve seen it. Created for A Shaded View on Fashion Film in response to a one-word brief (“Light”) from Diane Pernet, the film uses ritualistic movements, flashes of golden sunlight, and rhythmic soundtrack to perfectly heighten the experience of stunning accessories and headpieces by Fred Butler and Rosy Nicholas for Fred Butler. We think the film feels primal and utterly elegant, timeless and contemporary — all in the same breath. BoF offers you an exclusive look at this film, developed in association with Vogue Italia.

“Sunshowers” premieres at ASVOFF on May 25 in Milan.

2. HEXA by KUHO by Nick Knight
To complement Jung Kuho’s deconstructed and reconstructed A/W 2010 collection, inspired by ecdysis, “shedding our outer skins to re-emerge spiritually as more perfect or purer beings,” Nick Knight stripped away all excess to create an almost religious, masterfully controlled, magnetic film, featuring Ranya Mordanova undergoing a postmodern metamorphosis. The editing work was nothing short of sublime, playing with repetition and ceremonial body movements perfectly synced to a spellbinding soundtrack.

3. AANTENI for RODARTE by Todd Cole
Shot by photographer and video artist Todd Cole in the deserted grounds of the California jet lab that houses PayPal founder Elon Musk’s Space X initiative, this hallucinatory techno thriller stars Guinevere van Seenus wearing pieces from Rodarte’s S/S 2010 collection. Appearing in-season on new, LVMH-owned content site NOWNESS, the film invites consumers into the enigmatic, textured world of the Rodarte brand, blending art, fashion, mystery and science with visual impact and conceptual daring.

4. CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN for FASHIONAIR
Entitled “Dancer in a Daydream” and presented on FASHIONAIR, this film features the world’s most famous shoe designer, Christian Louboutin himself. The film begins with Mr. Louboutin at work in his Paris atelier, but he quickly slips into a daydram that transports him to New York’s Broadway, where he tap dances like Fred Astaire alongside two showgirls wearing his signature red-soled shoes. It’s a fun film. But what’s most compelling from a business point of view is the way FASHIONAIR displays the video alongside shopable and sharable products featured in the film — an elegant and highly effective way to integrate content and commerce and turn engagement into sales.

5. PRADA S/S 2010 by Steven Meisel
This spring, along with a YouTube channel, Prada launched not one, but two digital fashion films. The 9-minute First Spring was beautifully shot by Chinese artist Yang Fudong. Indeed, high-resolution screengrabs from the film were also used by Prada as print advertising, underscoring the flexibility of capturing content in high-definiton digital video. But we were more intrigued by the 1-minute S/S 2010 womenswear film shot by Steven Meisel. Featuring Rasa Zukauskaite as a sexy accessory-holic, twirling to a hip-hop soundtrack with bright red lips and ponytails, the film’s visual device is simple, and the focus is squarely on product. But what’s most interesting about this film is the way it appeared in online advertising units that seemed to target a younger audience.

6. Y-3 S/S 2010 by Lloyd & Co
This season, Adidas and Yohji Yamamoto also leveraged high-definition digital video to power a cross-media campaign for their sportswear collaboration Y-3, photographed by Alasdair McLellan, styled by Nicola Formichetti, filmed by Theo Stanley and art directed by Doug Lloyd. Capturing the simplicity and grace of a classic team portrait and timed to coincide with the run up to this summer’s World Cup, the campaign features football legend Zinedine Zidane and lives cohesively and seamlessly across multiple media formats, from online video to print advertising.

7. KATIE EARY A/W 2010 by Kathryn Ferguson
Shot by Kathryn Ferguson for London-based menswear designer and rising star Katie Eary, this film screened on both Jaime Perlman’s TEST magazine and Dazed Digital to coincide with London Fashion Week. The kaleidoscopic effects and use of lighting complement Ms. Eary’s A/W 2010 collection perfectly, while the film’s underground, sci-fi gothic aesthetic is charged with just the kind of raw energy and intrigue a young designer needs to catapault into the spotlight. We only wish TEST and Dazed Digital had let fans easily embed the video in their own blogs.

8. DOLCE & GABBANA by Pierre Debusschere
Created for NOWNESS in collaboration with AnOther Man’s “Outlaw” issue, this surreal film by Belgian filmmaker and fashion photographer Pierre Debusschere celebrates Dolce & Gabbanna’s tailored S/S 2010 menswear collection. Featuring young British actor Robert Sheehan, the film has an otherworldy feel, punctuated by a visual arsenal of fireworks, strobe lights and green lasers and set against a sunrise in the middle of the woods. We like that AnOther Magazine and AnOther Man are extending their print editorials online with movement and sound and giving viewers a digital asset they can share with each other in between issues.

9. YSL “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” by Bruce Weber
At the Paris menswear, the Yves Saint Laurent show kicked off with a black and white film by legendary photographer Bruce Weber, featuring music by Marvin Gaye and a special appearance by Bunny Yeager, one of Weber’s favorite photographers. As the fashion show began, a trailer for the film was circulated on Facebook and YouTube, with video from the show and Weber’s complete film appearing online a few hours later at Vogue.co.uk, YSL.com and elsewhere. By choosing to work with a photographer like Bruce Weber — perhaps best known for his semi-nude campaigns and catalogues for Abercrombie & Fitch — YSL creative director Stefano Pilati no doubt sought and succeeded in building online buzz around his menswear collection.

10. THE LOVE THING by James Lima

Independent pioneers like Dazed Digital have often presented fashion films that accompany stills shoots. But Condé Nast’s LOVE, edited by superstylist Katie Grand, is the first magazine to create a high-octane fashion film as a commercial for a “multi-media extravaganza” coming soon on their own website, thelovemagazine.co.uk. Featuring an all-star cast of internet favorites like Dree Hemingway and Pixie Geldof playing in traffic while wearing leopard coats, sheer trenches, black garters, or nothing at all, the film was shot on the revolutionary RED Mysterium-X and released on Valentine’s Day for maximum impact. “I’m very excited by the idea of moving image; clothes and bodies look better in motion. The new technology surrounding the iPad is very interesting to me, and it’s thrilling to try and find a new way of working with fashion that isn’t two dimensional,” said Katie Grand. At BoF, we couldn’t agree more.

Which fashion films made your eyes pop this season? Let the BoF community know which films you thought were special.

Some/Things Issue 001 | Photo: Monika Bielskyte

PARIS, France — With all the talk of layoffs at Condé Nast in the face of a technological revolution that is transforming fashion media as we know it, the days of the good old-fashioned hard copy magazine may seem numbered. But, while traditional media behemoths struggle to translate their content and brands to the online space, niche fashion publications are sprouting up to offer a completely different kind of magazine experience altogether.

At a soirée on Friday hosted by Rick Owens and Michèle Lamy, copies of two such magazines — Sang Bleu and Some/Things — were laid out sparsely on the galvanised steel tables in the brushed concrete headquarters of Owenscorp in Paris’ Place du Palais Bourbon. Art lovers in town for the FIAC art fair, musicians visiting from Los Angeles and international fashion folk leafed through the heavy matte pages with black and white images of rooftops in Cairo’s Bab-el-Louk and sinewy bodies covered with intricate tattoos.

Swan Tattoo | Source: Sang Bleu III/IV

Sang Bleu, or ‘blue blood’, is the labour of love of Maxime Buechi, who was first introduced to me at the Festival d’Hyères earlier this year by Diane Pernet.  In Issue III/IV, tattoos are showcased as a sophisticated form of personal expression at the heart of a growing contemporary tattoo culture.

“I got my first tattoo back in 2002. It was a back piece by Filip Leu,” says Buechi. “At the same time I started to get more personally involved in the tattoo culture. I noticed a void in the panorama of tattoo-related publications. The idea of Sang Bleu therefore came naturally from a desire for a publication that would approach tattoo and other underground cultures from another angle, similar to that of contemporary art or fashion.”

For its part, Some/Things also has a strongly personal bent, striving for a timeless appeal and deep engagement with the reader. “We shun a fast approach and we want to take time to discover and re-discover works that transcend the boundaries of their medium — and engage with reality,” declares a manifesto on the project’s website. “A magazine for us is more than a printed matter. It’s part of our world and part of our own lives. It’s our vision — subjective as it may be.”

That vision can be explored in formats that extend beyond the magazine itself, resulting in a model which is something more like a personal art project than a magazine, strictly speaking. Some/Things refers to itself “a bi-annual book/magazine publication, publishing house producing limited edition artist books/objects, and art/design consulting agency” which aims “to create something that goes beyond a basic product — something more involved, engaging and personal — something with a story.”

In this way, these magazines are something to savour for a long time rather than to browse quickly and then, throw away.

But is there a viable business model here? Up until now, neither Sang Bleu nor Some/Things have focused on advertising revenue. Instead a significant sticker price positions the magazines more as art books, and supplemental income comes from other related collaborations and agency work.

“Sang Bleu is not a magazine, it is a project — a Gesamtkunstwerk,” says Buechi, referencing the German word for a work of art that makes use of all or many art forms, a so-called universal work of art.  For Sang Bleu, the project includes a compilation of texts, and catalogues for Elisabeth Llach and an upcoming exhibition in Lausanne, entitled “inbetweenout“.

“It is like that because it couldn’t be any other way,” he continues. “No one would invest in such a project in the beginning, so I borrowed money and sold it as a book. It has worked, I guess, since I have not been put in jail for not paying my rent. I achieved my goal of creating something that didn’t exist before and that people would enjoy reading and draw inspiration from. My real aspirations always were artistic. But now, if it can go on as a financially viable publication, it’d be even nicer.”

Indeed, Buechi is on the hunt for advertisers for the next issue of Sang Bleu due out in February 2010. And, unlike advertisements in say Vogue or Glamour, these ones will be cherished alongside deeply personal editorial and photography for many years to come.

Now that’s what I call a long-term value proposition.

Imran Amed is Editor and Founder of The Business of Fashion

Images from SHOWstudio's "Dress Me Up, Dress Me Down"

Last time we surveyed the rapidly changing landscape of digital fashion media. Today, in the second part of our series on the future of fashion magazines, we explore the experimental approach that online pioneers like Jefferson Hack and Nick Knight are using to create unique content and experiences that truly bring fashion magazines into the digital age.

LONDON, United Kingdom — The internet’s ability to transmit information immediately, impossible in print and too expensive on television, has changed the way in which we create and consume content perhaps more than anything else. “Print magazines will never be the first to break any news,” said fashion blogger Diane Pernet, whose influential website, A Shaded View on Fashion, has been reporting live from fashion weeks, showrooms and studios around the world, capturing and transmitting the moment almost instantaneously with inexpensive camera phones and laptops.

In response, forward thinking magazines have done two things. Web pioneers like Dazed Digital, a fashion and culture platform launched in November 2006 by the publishers of Dazed & Confused magazine, have begun “live blogging” themselves, posting realtime reports from fashion shows in Paris, London, New York and Milan. But they’ve also learned to focus less on what’s new, a commodity that’s instantly available everywhere, and more on a unique point of view and reader experience that aren’t easily replicated. “It’s got to be more about experiencing the fashion; a stylistic point of view. It’s less and less about information,” said Jefferson Hack, founder and co-publisher at Dazed Group.

Indeed, the success of physical magazines like Purple Fashion and Katie Grand’s new venture Love, which sold-out on newsstands within days of its release, proves that an original point of view and well-crafted reader experience are important, no matter what the medium. But online, where information is easily and instantly exchanged, originality and experience are even more essential in attracting and keeping readers. “Where so many sites are aggregating content or acting as filters, it’s important that all the content on Dazed Digital is originated by us,” underscored Mr. Hack.

The immediacy of the internet has also given readers unprecedented access to the behind the scenes of the fashion industry. “Before, fashion shows were a closed affair for only a handful of professionals around the world. Now the news is dispersed instantly. Fashion is no longer the domain of a very few,” said blogger Diane Pernet. Indeed, amplified by the fashion world’s enthusiastic adoption of Twitter last season, consumer interest in the people and process behind the scenes of fashion is exploding and expectations are rising for fashion media to deliver.

Magazines have responded in some interesting ways. Olivier Zahm of Purple has launched a website called Purple Diary. Using the “micro-blogging” platform Tumblr, the site lets Mr. Zahm and his contributors chronicle their lives in realtime and post instant, and often intimate, updates directly to readers from fashion parties, runway shows, art happenings and photo shoots around the world.

Photographer Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio, which calls itself a “fashion website” rather than a magazine, has gone one step further, allowing its audience immediate and unparalleled access to the entire creative process of making fashion editorials for magazines like V and British Vogue. “The philosophy of the site is based on Nick’s belief that showing the entire creative process – from conception to completion – is beneficial for the artist, the audience and the art itself,” said Alex Fury, fashion director of SHOWstudio.

What’s more, on SHOWstudio the audience is encouraged to respond and contribute to projects that feature some of the most influential names in fashion like Alexander McQueen, Gareth Pugh and Kate Moss. For example, a project called “24 HRS” let viewers influence the narrative of a short film for the launch of Stefano Pilati’s “Edition 24″ collection for Yves Saint Laurent. Directed by Nick Knight, the entire shoot was broadcast live online, while model Jessica Miller acted out treatments submitted by SHOWstudio viewers. Another project, “Dress Me Up, Dress Me Down,” let viewers style model Liberty Ross for a photo shoot. “In a virtual chatroom, viewers posted their ideas for styling outfits for Liberty and forty ‘Stylists’ were chosen from the chatroom to style Liberty in their looks, live, via chatroom instructions,” said Alex Fury.

“Digital is breaking down the boundaries between artist, curator and consumer,” observed Ken Miller, a freelance editor and contributor to V, V Man and Interview magazines. “It’s become much more about the creative experience for all of the participants.”

Dazed Digital has also been experimenting with new ways to let readers participate in the creation of content. In April, Dazed became the first fashion magazine to stage a “twinterview,” giving readers the chance to interview Nathan Howdeshell and Hannah Blilie from The Gossip (Beth Ditto also joined at the last minute) live via Twitter. Dazed has also been using photo sharing site Flickr to source new talent, showcasing young photographers from their Flickr group on Dazed Digital and sometimes commissioning them to shoot for the print edition. “Social networking sites have played a big role in allowing users to participate in the magazine’s development,” said Jefferson Hack.

But perhaps more than anything else, fashion magazines are about fresh and provocative imagery. For decades, that largely meant still photography. But in recent seasons, that’s begun to change. “We are in the midst of a revolution in fashion imagery, moving away from illustration and stills photography,” said Nick Knight, director of SHOWstudio.

Read Part One – A Changing Landscape here and Part Three – The move to fashion film here.

Next time, in our third and final installment, we explore the biggest online fashion force of all — the growing dominance of the online fashion film.

Vikram Alexei Kansara is a digital strategist and writer based in New York.

PARIS, France – When I first met Diane Pernet, it was hard to see beyond her iconic look : a towering pompadour, mantilla veil, cateye sunglasses and platform wedges, all in black, complemented by scarlet red lips and a signature scent.  Since then, I have never seen her in anything else.

But, despite her aesthetic constancy, she is one of those rare souls in the fashion business who still manages to surprise at every turn, with witty observations and an unflinching honesty. And, as I have come to know the person behind the veil, as it were, we have bonded over our shared passion for young design talent, debated ideas for fashion collaborations and industry progress, and exchanged dollops of industry gossip.

Diane, of course, is best known for building one of the most influential blogs in the industry, something she has done by focusing on emerging brands and edgy events from around the world, as opposed to the major brands which are covered ad nauseam elsewhere. But recently, she has been talking to me about A Shaded View on Fashion Film, which will launch at the prestigious Jeu de Paume in Paris in September.

BoF: What is A Shaded View on Fashion Film and why does it exist?

DP: Like Josephine Baker’s song Mes Deux Amours, I have two loves, fashion and film and I’m not really sure in which order they fall. The idea of fashion in movement intrigues me.

Around 8 or 9 years ago most of the fashion films that existed were runway shows.  Within the past few years, along with blogs, youtube, etc. everyone seems to be going out and experimenting with a camera. The results fascinate me.

In August of 2006 I launched, You Wear it Well, a traveling fashion film festival with a collaborator. We exaggerated when we called it a film festival; it was more like a 90 minute curated program. At that time and up until today, SHOWstudio has been one of the pioneers in moving fashion and I’m happy to say that they have accepted to screen with my festivals since the beginning of this journey and continue to collaborate under the new structure, ASVOFF.

This season among other entries, they will propose 6 films from their FUTURE TENSE: Fashion’s Future is Now! A decade ago it was too soon, now the time is right and it is the first Fashion Film Festival in Paris and that makes me very excited. I’ve always enjoyed being a pioneer.

BoF: You’re a former fashion designer turned fashion journalist. What does that have to do with the work of independent filmmakers?

DP: For 13 years I designed a collection under my own label, but before that I studied documentary filmmaking and before that I was a reportage photographer, so image has always played an important role in my life. I like to think that I am supporting the creative people that are now experimenting with film and fashion. In all these films, fashion is the principal subject, theme or cinematic aesthetic. The festival puts the attention on the drama, power and personification that fashion evokes and commands on screen.

BoF: Do you think there is a commercial role that these kinds of films can play in the fashion industry?

DP: Absolutely, just take a look at all of the print media and websites, they have all jumped on the band wagon because they understand the power of the moving image and their products and the reach of the internet.

BoF: What has surprised you the most about the films you have seen in the selection process for this year’s festival?

DP: The final selection still won’t be made for a few weeks and it is really going to be difficult. 

Perhaps if I tell you the jury prizes, I will cover what we’ve seen as the most interesting categories:

1st Prize: For the film that best combines a distinctive style with narrative virtuosity.

Best Artistic Direction: For the film that creates an extraordinary sensory universe. Here we put the focus on image, style, colors, casting, choice of music and other cinematic elements. (The story, acting and rhythm will not be crucial criteria for this prize).

Best Director: For the most well directed movie. A compelling story, outstanding acting and rhythm. This prize will recognize the talent of a director regardless of production issues or budget constraints.

BoF: What are the highlights we can expect for this year’s edition?

DP: Jessica Mitrani, a director from Colombia, submitted a film about shoes, one shoe in fact, a Mary Jane. Italian Director/Photographer, Francesco Carrozzini submitted a short film that was part of SHOWstudio’s Moving Image project called “Don’t Blink!” Linda Evangelista, British Director Malcolm Pate did a film called Heaven, Camilla Robinson with Rain Li did a film called Sweet Pea that I really love, Warren du Preez and Nick Thorton Jones did an animation called Mutation.

Actually I could go on and on, but best I stop here.

ASVOFF will debut at the Jeu de Paume museum in Paris on 26 September. Banner photo from “Don’t Blink” Linda Evangelista, as seen on SHOWstudio, courtesy of Francesco Carrozzini.

Rubles are a Girl’s Best Friend (New York Times)
We came across this multilingual sign on the new Dolce & Gabbana store on London’s Bond Street the other day. It’s a sign of the times that many of the customers are from the Middle East and Russia. This article  describes the celebrity angle of Russia’s fashion scene.

The Real Story Behind Boombox (A Shaded View on Fashion)
Mandi Lennard, London’s uber PR for the hip and happening in the fashion business sent out an email last week confirming a report on the Business of Fashion that Boombox is to shut down by the end of the year. Diane Pernet interviews Richard Mortimer in this piece to get the back story.

Heart to Heart (Style.com)
Check out our first piece for Style.com which covers a cool mash-up of Comme des Garçons and Chrome Hearts.

Diane is an iconic figure in the fashion industry and has a network of co-bloggers around the world who help to keep the content on the "A Shaded View on Fashion" site fresh and up to date. On a given day, there are posts about fashion happenings from three different continents. Diane is also a bonafide entrepreneur, having been part of the team to launch iqons.com (tipped as the myspace for fashion industry) and the You Wear It Well film festival of fashion film shorts.

I met Diane for the first time in February last year at the Charles Anastase show during Paris Fashion Week. Here is a picture I took of her before the show.