Lanvin Spoof Video | Source:

NEW YORK, United States — At BoF, we’ve been ranking the top fashion films of the season since 2009, when the genre was still just coming into existence. But even back then, set against the staggering rise of online video consumption and the growing importance of engaging young digital consumers, the medium’s tremendous potential was clear.

Fast-forward to the Autumn of 2011 and YouTube-friendly short videos are practically de rigueur for fashion brands, large and small. But interestingly, it’s not digital “Geniuses” like Burberry who have been creating the most compelling fashion films. Despite being labeled “Challenged” by a Digital IQ report recently released by LuxuryLab, we think the Prada Group is making some of the best digital films in the industry, working with top fashion image-maker Steven Meisel.

But this season, it was Lanvin’s viral sensation (also shot by Meisel), featuring Karen Elson and Raquel Zimmermann dancing awkwardly to “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)” by Pitbull, that proved to be the game-changer that propelled fashion film decisively into the mainstream. The film struck a chord with a broad internet audience, earning over 100,000 YouTube views in the first three days online, providing the spark for a real-life dance competition at a buzzed about and well-attended Fashion’s Night Out event at the brand’s Madison Avenue boutique, and even spawning spoofs, the surest sign of of viral success.

Notably, it was stills from the Lanvin video that appeared in print advertising, flipping a well-established paradigm and highlighting fashion film’s trajectory towards the very centre of seasonal marketing initiatives.

And while we continued to see some absolutely stunning examples of films that look and feel like print campaigns or magazine editorial beautifully brought to life, it’s ‘digital first’ fashion videos, conceived from first principles with the online medium in mind, that broke the mold with humour, quirky charm or unconventional visual techniques which seemed to resonate most with online audiences.

What follows is BoF’s selection of the most powerful and interesting fashion films of the 2012 Spring-Summer season. As you sit back and enjoy the videos, let us know which ones you like best.

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The BoF community looks on at Fashion Pioneers with Natalie Massenet | Photo: Lawrence Randall

LONDON, United Kingdom — It’s been quite the year for the BoF team. In January, we will celebrate our 4th birthday, having seen BoF grow from a passion project created from the sofa in my living room to a growing global community of like-minded fashion professionals that is BoF today.

We are grateful for all of the support our community has shown us over the past 12 months, from the success of our sold-out Fashion Pioneers series to the rapidly growing numbers of you who come to us every day for opinionated fashion business analysis and a highly-curated point of view on the day’s news. We now have over 150,000 followers on Twitter, 2,000 fans on Facebook and growing follower base on our new Tumblr page. We are honoured and grateful that so many of you take the time to engage and interact with us on a daily basis, in so many ways.

The international media has also been paying attention to the power and reach of our community, from the International Herald Tribune to Vogue Italia to The Evening Standard. Canada’s Macleans Magazine called BoF “The Economist of Fashion,” the Daily Telegraph included BoF in their round-up of “Britain’s Best Fashion Bloggers” and just this month British GQ gave us a little surprise for 2011 (check out number 92). What an honour and a great way to start the new year!

None of this would be possible without you, the global community of executives, designers, editors, students, academics, investors and supporters who have made BoF their daily must-read on the fashion business. We’re going to take a break over the holidays, but in the meantime here’s a look back to the articles and stories which fired up your interest and passions this past year. Thank you again for your continued support.

Happy holidays, happy new year, and see you in 2011!

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LONDON, United Kingdom — Ten years ago at 19:27 GMT on 27 November 2000, at a time before streaming runway shows, before Facebook, before YouTube, before the rise of Web 2.0 itself, Nick Knight’s transformative fashion website SHOWstudio.com went live. Mr. Knight, a boundary-breaking fashion photographer, had considered the internet and saw something that others did not: where many in the industry saw only ugliness and risk, Mr. Knight saw the potential for emotion, connection and opportunity. Crucially, he also understood that digital — inherently active, social, transparent and restless — would fundamentally transform the “closed” fashion system and radically change the way fashion media was created and consumed. While others averted their eyes, Mr. Knight set about catalysing the revolution.

Last Friday, only hours before the 10th anniversary of SHOWstudio’s launch, BoF editor-in-chief Imran Amed sat down with Mr. Knight for the third installment of FASHION PIONEERS, a series of intimate live-streamed conversations between Mr. Amed and the industry’s most interesting operators.

As the conversation unfolded in front of a live studio audience of 200 people at London’s Hospital Club, thousands of others were participating in the conversation online, which at one point made “Nick Knight” a trending topic on Twitter. The Twitter conversation was in turn broadcast back to the studio audience on twin screens on either side of the stage, creating a integrated link between the physical and virtual audiences participating in the live event.

The interview explored Mr. Knight’s start in fashion, the genesis of SHOWstudio.com, the watershed moment of Alexander McQueen’s Plato Atlantis and the rise of fashion entertainment. (RSS and Email subscribers click here to view the interview).

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LONDON, United Kingdom — SHOWstudio.com is ten years old tomorrow and that means our third Fashion Pioneers interview is upon us today. This evening, Nick Knight, one of the industry’s most respected photographers will sit down with The Business of Fashion in front of a live studio audience in London’s Hospital Club to discuss his career, ten years of SHOWstudio.com, and the future of fashion communication in the age of digital disruption.

As usual, we will livestream the interview here on BoF and have teamed up with fashion blogs and websites who have generously agreed to stream the interview to their audiences and communities too. We invite you all to tune in.

Please send questions for Nick Knight to our Twitter account @_BoF_ using the hashtag #BoFLive, and participate in our global virtual discussion by tweeting your questions, comments and observations along the way.

Canada: 1:30pm EST | Flare.com | Searching for Style

France 7:30pm CET | A Shaded View on Fashion | Luxury Society

Germany 7:30pm CET | Les Mads

Philippines 2:30am (+1 day) | Bryanboy

Spain 7:30pm EST | Kate Loves Me

United Kingdom 6:30pm GMT | Style Bubble | Fashion156 | Style Salvage | Wallpaper.com | SHOWstudio.com | Liberty London Girl | DisneyRollerGirl

United States 1:30pm EST | Fashionista.com | JC Report

Fashion Pioneers is brought to you exclusively by The Business of Fashion, in association with The Hospital Club, and will be filmed and streamed live to viewers around the world by Pundersons Gardens

Nick Knight - The Business of Fashion - Fashion Pioneers

LONDON, United Kingdom — This Friday, The Business of Fashion will sit down for an in-depth interview with Nick Knight, the third in our series of FASHION PIONEERS speaking to a live studio audience in London and livestreamed to thousands of people around the world.

For those of you in London, we have a few remaining tickets for this very exciting and rare opportunity to hear directly from one of the most influential and important fashion image-makers. Mr Knight will speak to us about fashion image creation in the digital age and reflect on ten years of SHOWstudio.com, the groundbreaking website which was founded exactly ten years ago.

As with our past two events with Jefferson Hack and Natalie Massenet, we will be bringing together the crème de la crème of the diverse BoF community, including leading editors, fashion designers and bloggers.

If you would like to join us at London’s Hospital Club, please click here for tickets. Only a few seats remain!

Fashion Pioneers is brought to you exclusively by The Business of Fashion, in association with The Hospital Club, and will be filmed and streamed live to viewers around the world by Pundersons Gardens