Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Foursquare Oh My!

Our technology-infused culture has become over-saturated and overwhelming, don’t you think? It’s not easy sifting through the messages, texts, check ins, emails and tweets that bombard us every minute of every day.

A panel of in-the-know celebrities and industry insiders gathered at the Hearst Art & Culture Hub for Social Media Week in New York City yesterday to discuss the techniques to utilizing today’s social technology in the most productive and beneficial ways possible.

The panel was moderated by Laura Brown, Hearst’s Features/Special Projects Director, who explores the role and growing popularity of social styling and social media in today’s digital world. The panel consisted of celebrity Denise Richards, Popeater.com Entertainment Columnist and Blogger Rob Shuter, indie fashion blogger BryanBoy, Lancome CEO Kerry Diamond and Leandra Medine of Man Repeller.

Almost as soon as it began, the discussion turned to the social media queen herself, Kim Kardashian. Celebrities like Kardashian use social media tools to connect with the public, gain exposure and drive their personal business initiatives. When launching her new fragrance Kardashian used her twitter followers as a focus group when she posted the pictures of two possible bottle choices, asking her thousands of followers, “What do you think?”  Whether or not the one voted best is the one chosen, twitter was a crucial tool for Kardashian in maximizing her influence and allowing her to hear what her fans want first-hand.

Denise Richards noted that it’s important to “have a goal and stay true to yourself” when connecting. Although she maintains everything she types is legitimate and sincere, misleading tweets seeming more contrived than genuine are streaming from the twitter feeds of many celebrities. We recently covered the topic of endorsement deals and contracts regularly stipulating stars to use social networking sites for brand and product-related advertisement. Kim Kardashian denies ever being compensated, but how likely is it that her deal for Reebok Easy Tone sneakers had nothing to do with her tweeting pics of her wearing the shoes at the gym saying “I love my Reebok Easy Tones” and including a link to buy them?

You may not know this, but the FCC does require tweets that are being monetarily compensated to include “AD” at the end of the message to clarify intent, as to not mislead the public. We rarely see this appearing on celeb messages even though law requires it.

Independent fashion blogger BryanBoy had a more grassroots approach to broaden exposure and engage an audience. He says that being himself, documenting his day-to-day life and sharing his love for fashion and style is what first made him famous. However sharing his personal dreams and encouraging others to do the same is what has skyrocketed him into the limelight. So much so that Marc Jacobs designed a handbag after him in his 2008/2009 Fall Collection. His success-achieving advice is to put  forth your true self and it will attract desired results. A big topic of the day was the emergence and acceptance of original bloggers like BryanBoy and Tavi, who are essentially “playing fashion editor” through social sites, offering styling tips, fashion advice and even trend forecasting. Social media sites have served as an unmatched platform for amateurs to build a trusted brand for themselves in the industry.

In essence many of the panel members shared personal experiences that hit on many of the same points. Lancome CEO Kerry Diamond shared her work with Pee-Wee Herman and his new “comeback.” What we already know and love about Pee-Wee is his unpredictability and crazy energy right? They launched a Twitter campaign in New York where the 80’s star would hop around popular locales in Manhattan and tweet his whereabouts to fans on twitter, encouraging all to come see him. It was a hit. People showed up all over the city to see Pee-Wee, even the New York Times stopped by to see what it was all about. Introducing Pee-Wee to Twitter was a cautious, well-orchestrated event that engaged his fans and made his return fun and spontaneous. Knowing Pee-Wee Herman as a brand and using the internet to broadcast is what made the launch so successful.

Whether it be from a business or personal perspective, a strong content strategy or product development strategy are key building a real-time measurement of branding success through social media. Joining such networks requires transparency, accessibility, and a strong self-identity.

We were set to pop open the champagne along with the folks at Elle, but, upon further inspection of the evidence presented, weâ€d like to declare only a partial victory – the halfway lap, if you will.

Marc Jacobs made a bang, but fashion still has a way to go before declaring social media victory.

Elle is correct to say that a decent number of designers and brands have made a push into the Facebook market. Marc Jacobs, in fact, recently ran a contest centered around Facebook to promote his new fragrance, Bang. However, if you really think about it, shouldnâ€t every designer, fashion label and retailer have some sort of Facebook presence by now? Businesses in other industries have long since figured out that a Facebook presence is necessary for success into the future.

The magazine also points to the pending launch of PassportStyle, a fashion social network through which designers can interact with their customers, which is set to go live later this week as evidence that fashion has finally risen in technology. The Web site has a great concept, but Elle is right to also point out that it may not necessarily be successful, since it seems no one has bothered to investigate whether shoppers really want to use this kind of site.

Finally, Elle says that the re-launch of Bizzy this Tuesday is an important advance because the site recommends boutiques based on ratings from users. They leave out one important factor: Bizzy recommends all sorts of local businesses from restaurants to parks and a wide variety of stores, not just clothing boutiques, so it doesnâ€t really count as a fashion-specific advance.

Overall, fashion brands and fashion startups have been making some smart social moves lately. We just wish theyâ€d hold the high praise, since most of these “innovations” should have been pushed for long ago – ya know, around the time the rest of the world started using technology for business purposes. Itâ€s certainly not too late for someone to take the lead in bringing fashion into the digital age, but many brands are still struggling with the basics. Letâ€s just get someone on it already.

We’ve been keeping you up to date with the all the new technologies emerging left and right- along with the fashionable accessories designed to complement them!

The newest must-have gadget, the iPad, now has sleek, trendy and stylish accessories from major designers. If you don’t want to scratch your diamond studded iPad, Louis Vuitton has a case coming in 2011, Gucci’s taking pre-orders for their version now, and Hermes is putting together “special order” versions with matching headphone holders. {Fresh Mess} Oscar de la Renta, however, beat them all to the punch when he sold iPad covers on his website. Much to many of the viewers’ surprise, the cases, originally called iPad clutches, actually made an appearance on his recent resort runway fashion show. {Purse Blog}

Continuing to tap the fashion-technology market, a new collection of iPad cases in various colors and embossed patterns are now available at OscardelaRenta.com. For a sign of their popularity, the cases – pardon us, clutches, have their own link at the top of the site, right next to Ready to Wear, Accessories and Fragrances.

For us, the flap and nameplate cheapen the design and make it a bit too generic. The snakeskin is at a reasonable price though ($390 compared to $360 for Louis Vuitton’s single purpose canvas version), and we do like that the people over at Oscar de la Renta are thinking multi-purpose. How often is it that your laptop bag doubles as a large purse, or briefcase? While the iPad is designed to reduce some of the bulk of a laptop, space for a few extras is a welcome difference between the de la Renta clutch and other designer covers.

To make it easier for addicted tweeters to keep their followers up to date with every step, Rambler shoes are designed to do the work for you. {The Gloss}

The sneaker is built with sensor technology designed to sync with your bluetooth to log each step you take and subsequently post those steps as “taps” on your twitter page for all of your followers to see. {Glamour} The shoes may be technologically advanced, but are we alone in thinking that despite any technology advantage, the shoes are just plain ugly?

We understand that people like to tweet, but every step? We’re not sure if this is the grand invention people had in mind when they rhapsodize about the possibilities of fashion and technology. Twitter is a fun way to share with others, but do people really need to know when and how long you’re walking or at rest? Some messages are better left at 0 characters.

It’s not exactly the sexiest piece of technology, we’ll admit, but consider this: How often have you taken your work outside, only to be thwarted by evil glare? Or have temporarily lost your vision trying to read a 60 page PDF at two in the morning? The Pixel Qi’s 3Qi Display is going to change all that. It’s going to transform the way you use your laptop.

Why is it so special, you ask? The Pixel Qi switches between your everyday color LCD screen, a low power black-and-white display (kinda like the Kindle’s E-Ink screen), and a transflective mode that makes your LCD screen visible in sunlight. And yes – this is a first generation product – but the very idea of its future incarnations has us and every other techie dancing for joy. Or, more accurately, blogging for joy. No one needs to see techies dance. Trust us.

Need even better news? You won’t even have to buy a new netbook to get in on the action. Pixel Qi is releasing DIY Kits later this year that will let you swap out your laptop screen with a 3Qi Display. And, according to Pixel Qi’s Mary Jensen, “It’s only slightly more difficult than changing a lightbulb.” The future is bright my friends – and yet still readable!

Wi-fi.

As the airlines struggle to keep afloat, a few have decided to forge ahead and trick-out their jumbo jets with the latest technology in the hopes of luring back loyal customers. So far, Lufthansa has announced that their flights will have internet connectivity by mid-2010, and Virgin America is right on their heels, saying that their fleet should have in-flight wi-fi by 2011.

But the king of in-flight technology? Emirates, an airline that already allows you to check your email and SMS through a dial-up connection, is not only looking to provide wi-fi to their flyers, but also to pioneer the use of cell phones in flight.

Yup, it seems that by 2011, there’s going to be nowhere you can go to escape technology. Great for you obsessive email checkers out there – not so great when you have to listen to your seat-mate’s entire phone conversation 18,000 feet over the Atlantic…

Read More {Jaunted}

Read More {FlightGlobal}

Developers are hoping to crack into the fashion industry with the concept of “3D web,” which could potentially enable designers — whose work is completely manual — to fully simulate pieces via sophisticated modeling software in order to remove countless hours of reworking patterns.

They have their work cut out for them, as simulation is currently a rather time-consuming process — making it impractical for fashion, at least for now.  But we’re excited about the prospect and, along with the influx of new designers, this technological leap could be just what is needed to jump-start the fashion industry.

Read the full story {EE Times}

The future of fashion is now.

Amid the frilly haystack rumpus at Chanel, the sexed-up Grace Jones warrior at Pugh and Balmain, and the return of laid-back sportswear basics at Stella emerged one more new runway trend: the fashion industry’s full-blown plunge into the world of technology.

Now that we’re [finally] entering the recovery phase after this financially catastrophic past year, perhaps it’s the frenzy to make up for lost time that has turned the concept of social networking into such a lucrative opportunity for designers.  The international reach of platforms like Twitter and Facebook, when paired with the instantaneous nature of blogging, creates a monster of a marketing opportunity for companies when they so desperately need results, and quickly.

As concluded in last month’s “Future of Women’s Fashion” panel in NYC, the fashion industry’s only way forward is to make fashion accessible to more than just a privileged select few.  We hope this booming foray into the internet will provide the push toward democratized, humanistic fashion that we so crave.

Read the full story {NY Times}

Norma Kamali and Elie Tahari, on the other hand, are among the sparse selection of brands who have allowed their iPhone apps to mature into full hand-held shopping experiences.

Many luxury brands like Chanel have balked at the continuing trend of making everything internet-accessible (luxury is, after all, about exclusivity), but retailers in this day and age are better off swallowing their pride and keeping up with the Joneses and all their sparkly new tech toys.

Perhaps fashion really is on its way to becoming more democratic after all.

Read the full story {The Wall Street Journal}

Her project, (In)visible Membrane, explores the idea that the healthy, natural human body is host to thousands of bacteria — a fact which we, especially in our hysteria over swine flu, would like very much to forget.  Like it or not, our skin is a vast ecosystem for bacteria, which Bäumel visualizes (quite beautifully) as covering us like a delicate net of lace-like spray.

We love the symbolism behind Bäumel’s pieces (especially the opera-length openwork gloves, which we would love to wear), because we agree that it’s important to be aware of everything that is around — and on — us, in order to understand how we as humans fit into the Big Picture.

Read the full story {Dezeen}