INTERVIEW: SHOES THAT ARE ALIVE

By Robert Cordero

JC Report | Inside Global Fashion Trends

ALIVESHOES is part store, part philosophical community. The company produces Italian-made, environmentally sound shoes, while mastermind Luca Botticelli also seeks to create an online network comprised of people who are interested in interactive art, philanthropy and statement-making footwear. Self-titled “the world’s first shoe-gaming community,” the website is now complemented by a pop up store in Amsterdam, with more locations to follow. JC Report caught up with Botticelli to discuss eco-minded fashion, artistic collaborations and what he means by “fashion 2.0.”

JC Report: What are your main ideas behind being ecologically friendly?

Luca Botticelli: Eco-friendly means that you research new process and materials in order to pollute less, and to make more intelligent products and services. Less is more is a big guide into this.

JCR: The inside tab of the limited edition shoes are designed by contemporary artists. How do you choose who you want to collaborate with?

LB: I gave [New York artist Steven Siegel] 500 pairs of shoes and told him to just create what he wanted. He made Blocks. The inside tabs reflect the installations [artists] make with shoes. It’s their sketches. We collaborate with curators to choose artists. We look for artists that have an open minded approach and are passionate about breaking the rules of art itself (i.e. going away from the museums).

JCR: Where do you see the future of shoes and shoe valley in Italy?

LB: I see the future of the shoe valley in the internet in www.aliveshoes.com. That means that the shoe business must convert to the digital world and must become eco. We are providing IT instruments for that, and research for sustainability to the valley. We are building a big headquarters open to the public in the middle of the valley to stimulate awareness from the core. “Made in Italy” must shift its awareness from total tradition to half tradition/half research and future. We are there for that.

JCR: What is the idea behind fashion 2.0?

LB: Fashion 2.0 goes away from aesthetic, and welcomes games and social interactions. Fashion 2.0 puts an end to the era of designers and stylists, and starts the era of gaming. Fashion 2.0 uses the internet as the medium and doesn’t relate to print press. Fashion 2.0 creates containers that leave space for people to express, and it uses pull communication and interactivity to make people active and entertained.

Fit For Consumption: Fashion’s Branded Future

By Sarah Fones

JCReport.com

With the imminent launch of Belvedere’s Pink Grapefruit flavor, the vodka purveyor is set to open a 6,000-square-foot pop-up shop across the street from Matthew Williamson’s Meatpacking District boutique. The temporary space is slated to house a series of promotional events for the launch, including a partnership with Williamson on a $1,540 limited-edition kaftan, which will be unveiled when the store opens on on May 12th. The designer claims that the piece was inspired “by the vitality of sultry high-summer evenings,” a description that could also apply to any number of the his Ibiza-themed wares from past seasons. Given the proliferation of branded partnerships these days—of which Williamson and Belvedere’s is but one of many—”fashion” has now become fit for consumption off the rack, on the screen and in the bottle.

Like Belvedere, SKYY vodka has gotten in on the game in a high profile way, enlisting Sex and The City 2 costume designer Pat Field to create a movie-themed bottle. Whereas Williamson has paired with model/DJ Leigh Lezark to promote the current collaboration (Belvedere did likewise with designer Jonathan Kelsey and Estelle last year), SKYY has four ready-made muses. Anyone familiar with SJP’s cosmo-swilling penchants might consider this a savvy bit of marketing, especially given the fact that consumers who purchase the limited edition bottle will also receive a discount on tickets to the movie sequel. From a fiscal standpoint too, investing in a bottle of booze is infinitely less expensive than dropping serious money on a pair of Louboutins, which, even as the economy improves, still isn’t the purview of most moviegoers.

While film’s influence on fashion has arguably waned, the medium still holds tremendous appeal when it comes to product placement and promotional tie-ins. 2002’s Die Another Day—also dubbed Buy Another Day—is widely regarded as having kickstarted the film-as-infomercial trend with cameos from Bollinger, Omega, Samsonite and BMW. For its part, SATC 2 promises brand star-turns from Lipton Tea, Moët & Chandon, Swarovski and Hewlett-Packard, among others. Anyone surprised by Carrie’s decision to ditch Apple for a PC this go-round will be less taken aback by the Halston dress she dons in the film’s posters. Parker is, after all, Halston Heritage’s new designer, and an equity stake holder in the company.

Disney, meanwhile, invested big money earlier this year in partnerships with labels such as Stella McCartney, Furla, Tom Binns and Sue Wong to promote Alice in Wonderland. The goods understandably received a great deal of editorial attention, so, provided grown-ups still want a pricey piece of the fairy tale, we can expect similar branding trends to continue. On the flipside, Avatar reportedly inspired Jean Paul Gaultier and Donatella Versace for fall—albeit more subtly than Marc Jacobs’ Marie Antoinette-edged runway flourishes in 2007.

The same cannot be said for television and video, where many believe fashion’s influence will ultimately be most readily felt, primarily via in-your-face product placement (see Gossip Girl, 30 Rock and most notably, Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” video). Heavily branded, female-centric films like SATC 2 may prove this theory wrong, but many consumers are also now infinitely more discerning when it comes to pulling out their credit cards—something we know Carrie never worried about on HBO.