Text by Stanley Lui | Photos by John Tan | Makeup by Sharon Pow
Charina Widjaja is co-founder of DFW Creative (formerly STORM), the creative agency behind Digital Fashion Week (DFW) in 2012, the World’s first fully digital, live-streamed and shoppable fashion week.
Observing there was an increasing trend by brands like Burberry, Hugo Boss and Armani live-streaming their fashion shows in an effort to make the catwalk experience and presentation more inclusive and participatory for its customers and fans worldwide, DFW was born, set with the goal of bringing this experience to a full fashion week line-up, as well as showcase Singapore labels beyond its shores. In doing so, DFW sought to and successfully reached out to a broader audience of trade buyers and retail consumers, utilizing the digital platform and harnessing the distribution across social media channels like Youtube, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and its own DFW website and iPhone app.
The 2012 edition of DFW featured seven designers from Singapore including Pauline.Ning, Ownmuse, Eugene Lin, Thomas Wee, Tze Goh and -J-A-S-O-N- as well as guest celebrity designer from China, Guo Pei. Apart from the shows and the e-commerce shopping experience, viewers watched live programming hosted by Digital Correspondents Yvette King and Rana Wehbe-Flinter, bringing them backstage, through rehearsals and interviews with the designers, models, and guest attendees of its 'viewing parties'. Live 'Google Hangouts' with bloggers conducting Q&A sessions followed each presentation were also well received by viewers, who were able to submit their own comments and follow-up queries.
Participating in the inaugural event were supermodels Andrej Pejic, best known for her androgynous ability to shoot as both male and female subjects, and Sophie Sumner, winner of "America's Next Top Model" Cycle 18. In attendance was also Patricia Field, best known as stylist to the stars of "Sex and the City".
SENATUS speaks with DFW Project Director Charina to find out what it took to produce a world's first and when to expect more digital fashion weeks around the globe.
Congratulations on a very successful inaugural Digital Fashion Week. Tell us about your role in putting the event together.
Thank you! We're definitely really pleased with what we've been able to achieve in the first edition.
On the creative end, my partner Keyis and I worked together in developing the concept to produce DFW back in October 2012. My role besides conceptualizing the event was to source for sponsors and partners, manage the client servicing aspect and ensure things are in place for both our sponsors as well as the designers.
It was hard work for all of us, working like a family unit within the company, brainstorming and having everyone contribute. Keyis and I take the lead with clients whilst the team executes on our digital platform, social media and other offerings.
How did you get into fashion and event production, especially on this scale with DFW? Did your prior experience help?
I have always been into events production - it was one of my first jobs! I've been involved in several projects actually, focusing on the creative design aspect so working on DFW was a natural fit for me. I also come from an advertising background, and inclined to look at things from a design and marketing perspective.
DFW was commendable in that the inaugural effort also featured notable names in the fashion business. How did your team manage to pull this off?
To be honest, some of the designers were on our dream list and we presented our concept to them and remained hopefully optimistic that they would buy into what we were looking to do. Some of the discussions actually happened over Skype with video conferences that lasted till the wee hours of the morning!
Guo Pei and her husband who manages the label, came onboard, knowing that nobody else has done a fully digital fashion week before. Guo Pei is a big label in China and well-respected throughout the world for her bold and elaborate designs. To have her agree to join us at DFW was a huge coup, and gave us the springboard to land more names in our lineup.
Sophie Summer was the winner of America's Next Top Model Cycle 18, the most recent in the reality modeling competition series and we wanted to give an up-and-coming model a chance to showcase herself to the Asia market.
Andrej Pejic was a no-brainer on hindsight, with the androgynous ability to have walked for both menswear and womenswear fashion shows for Jean Paul Gaultier. He was also a perfect choice as a subject to launch designer Thomas Wee's first men's collection, a first in his over 40-year career. Many of Andrej's fans from Vietnam, U.K. to U.S.A., were constantly tweeting about him throughout DFW. This was amazing as it had never happened to him before.
How did the DFW team pick which Singapore designers to showcase?
The labels that showcased during DFW all had several seasons of collections under their belt, each with a growing base of customers and fans. Through DFW, we wanted to give these brands a lift by exposing them to more potential buyers regionally and internationally.
Of those we picked, there was a certain quality and standard each label had to meet, as we wanted to only feature the best of the up-and-coming. Only then could we be sure they themselves could compete at a global level.
Besides the success of the inaugural event, what else was most rewarding that was non-event related?
Getting to know so many different people we could never imagined ourselves knowing! Many of these people and brands were always on our dream list, and to have met them, and become friends, more than just business partners was fulfilling.
Even now, we still communicate with each other over email.
The other rewarding part was also how supporters like Patricia Field and Sophie Summer gave us constructive feedback on how to improve upon ourselves, how pleased they were with the concept we executed on. It's always great to know your work is appreciated!
What were some of the most challenging aspects from DFW 2012?
We have a small team and we have to do almost everything ourselves with the event undertaken on such a large scale. During the actual event, there were many last minute changes which we had to cope with. It was a steep learning curve for all of us.
Nonetheless, it was a fun process at the end of the day with everything falling into place. I would say there's definitely room for improvement in future.
What would you do differently on hindsight? How would you improve on your product going forward?
I would definitely want to have a few extra features added to the live-streaming for the 2013 editions of DFW.
Firstly, I would add a formal introduction before the fashion show. With much of our audience from overseas, as yet unacquainted with the brands we were presenting, we will look to include a brief primer video to introduce both the designer's brand history, background and workmanship. I believe this will enhance the exposure of the labels.
Another feature I would like to add would be the ability to replay the show for those who missed the live-streaming. Recording and executing on post-production does require more resources as well as technical support, which we are working on right now for the next DFW.
What's next for DFW in 2013? I understand there are plans to bring the franchise to Bangkok and other parts of Asia.
We currently have interest from partners based in Bangkok and Jakarta and hammering out details right now. Jakarta is a viable option indeed as most of my contacts are based there.
We are working hard to bring in the latest in live-streaming technology as a game changer, and identify innovative solutions to improve upon the DFW experience. We are also exploring themes for each DFW, supported by fringe events. Hopefully, in doing so we not only garner more awareness for DFW but more importantly, create an opportunity for our fashion labels to launch to the next level!
