@kendowning

“Ninety-nine percent people consume content while only one percent create it,” quoted Rachel Strugatz for the 10/7/2013 issue of Women’s Wear Daily. This was extremely prevalent during fashion week’s social media; every platform was roaring, between the bloggers, designers, editors, buyers, and the stand byers. I am sure everyone experienced fashion posts overcrowding their Instagram’s digital space! However, I have never felt so connected to the current events happening than at this time. After reading an issue of WWD last week, I realized that there were certain lessons learned by everyone on social media during the Spring 2014 Collections.

  

It seems like fashion companies are trying to keep up with this rapid evolution of the social world. In particular, it was noted in WWD that people were having a hard time combining through all the hashtags.  I cannot imagine the pressure that the fashion pool is now under, even I feel anxious sometimes when posting a photo on Instagram. In fashion, content needs to be produced right and quickly; after something is posted the audience determines the success rate of it by views/clicks/likes. This all seems a tad exhausting in my opinion, but regardless I still have a sense of urgency to keep up.  With that said, what does it take to produce content and not be one of the 99 percent who follow, how do you snatch the opportunity to become that one percent?

@kendowning #nyfw

I ended up attending Tracy Reese’s runway show at Lincoln Center in New York during fashion week. I loved every minute of it, not only was I spending time with one of my closest co-workers, but I got a chance to see a part of fashion week. As I was observing who was sitting in the front row, I spotted Ken Downing; it was so refreshing to see this man again after his appearance at Drexel! I kept my eyes on him the entire show, of course I was watching the collection unravel, but I was even more curious to see Ken’s response to them. Well… it wasn’t a surprise that he was snapping photos left and right on his IPhone, but even more importantly he had a purpose and that was to produce content for Neiman Marcus.  This goes to show that in order to be a leader in this new era of communication, there has to be a plan and a strategy. For example Shelly Socol from Rockwell that counts for creating Tracy Reese, Mara Hoffman, and Calypso St. Barth digital blueprints for their online strategy. She explains that it is all about timing and how you spend your time and dollars during fashion week, otherwise you get lost in the shuffle. “Everyone is moving from one city to the next- it’s a caravan – and you can definitely lose out,” said Socol. I experienced just this as I was leaving the show, it was a fiasco to get out of the smallest runway labeled “The Studio,” and I scrambled out just in time to snatch a photo with Ken!

What strategy do you take to become a content producer, what talent/strength do you promote, and will social media make a difference in your career?  Whether you choose a route in Editorial, Styling, Blogging, Retail, etc. creating a voice is important and social media happens to give you an insane platform to this on. It will be interesting to watch how social media and technology will continue to evolve in our professional lives. These were just some of the ideas that were frantically running through my mind this week, as I was wrapping up deadlines. I have become surrounded with technology in ecommerce at Saks, and everything that I have digested so far has led me to believe that there is a huge digital wave coming and we all better be prepared for the ride, surf boards or none!