The rise of New York fashion site, Refinery29
29 March 2010
Fashion
National
Refinery29 co-founder, Philippe von Borries, and style director, Piera Gelardi shared their thoughts on fashion-based social media, trends in online retail and new directions in fashion reporting and business at events in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Alison Kubler, freelance curator and writer, Patty Huntington, fashion journalist/blogger and Georgina Safe, fashion editor of The Australian, also joined them.
Today, Refinery29 has an international audience and attracts close to a million visitors per month. The publication’s editorial focus is on street and runway trends and also provides online features such as designer shopping, interactive trend reporting and style guides.
The main message that was taken from the event was that digital technology is transforming the way in which fashion is delivered, reported on and consumed online, and that this enables new business strategies, opportunities and the need for new business models.
Philippe explains, “The changing landscape has produced progressive online consumers who want access to content consistently and quickly. This has also created a shift, which sees brands as publishers, bloggers as designers and consumers as designers.”
He also explained that the four most interesting digital trends to watch are content, mobile, location-based services and crowd sourcing.
About the sponsors
The events were hosted by Portable (portable.tv), which presents the latest in online video and trends in film, music, art and fashion. Their online activities are complemented by a range of events including parties, speaking events and festivals. Portable also creates digital projects for their clients and themselves. Portable was founded in 2006 and operates offices out of Melbourne and New York.
The Creative Industries Innovation Centre’s (CIIC) creativeinnovation.net.au site was the major event sponsor. The CIIC aims to assist Australia’s creative companies and entrepreneurs with growing their businesses.