The innovative role of Styling in the Digital Era
I participated at the three day Virtual "Women in Marketing” Summit by Creative Hub that tool place on 28-30 Aptil 2020. Please find bellow my presentation in wtiting and the relevant YouTube video.
Hello! My name is Vicky Stouki. I am a Digital Creator and Founder of Vicky’s Style fashion and lfiestyle online magazine. Having a great passion for Fashion, Styling and Image Making, I created the Vicky’s Style online magazine after completing a Professional Styling course while I had a managerial career in a different industry. I am excited to have this opportunity to share with you my thoughts regarding “The innovative role of Styling in the Digital Era”. Therefore, I would like to express my graditude to Arijana Koskarova Founder of Creative Hub and to congratulate her for this great initiative organising the virtual “Women in Marketing Summit” especially under these unforsee circumstances. It is a great opportunity and honor to participate in this international women professional online team! Thank you Arijana for the invitation.
Nowadays Styling has a distinctive and changing role to play.
Styling seems to play a key role in our everyday life determining our lifestyle in a fast-paced environment. Most of us lack free time given that we are active business women. Nonetheless, women are seeking ways to keep up with the current fashion trends and highlight their feminity in a chic way at all times. Most business women have two different wardrobes, their business wardrobe and their pesonal life wardrobe in order to meet both their business and personal outfit needs. Meaning that although they don’t have enough time to look for their ideal look, they have to be perfect at all times showing their personal style at the same time. Fashion industry in order to respond effectively to the women’s needs started using social media, setting up the perfect eshops and coordinating with influencers and other celebrities. Modern women seek ideas about adopting a new style or keeping up with the fashion trends by checking out various social media, influencers’ looks, reading relevant articles and watching runways online. All relevant posts have clickable shopping links in order to facilitate women to buy instantly their favourite items and of course turning a potential client to a new client!
However, in our days seems to be a need for a personalized service since women are seeking to adopt their personal style. Brands need to differentiate so as to gain a bigger market share, build long-term relationships with their clients and become the leaders in their industry. Both, fashion and beauty brands can meet the new demands by using technology. Styling along with technology can play a key role in both industries given that brands may provide a more personalized service and bond with their clients. Matching styling with technology can be the competitive advantage for the brands that will develop a technological advance idea first.
Let’s see some digital technologies that can apply into styling and may have a powerful effect into fashion and beauty industries.
Fashion brands can recruit online stylists so as to provide styling advice to their clients. This can be done by either using an instant advice by chatting with a potential client or asking the client to complete a certain online form so as the stylist can come back with personalized tips or to book a video chat. Brands may charge an extra fee depending on the kind of service offered. A few fashion brands have already started using Augmented Reality (AR) applications so as to bring clothes to life in-store and outstore. Nowadays, given the Covid-19 pandemic the in-store Augmented Reality (AR) applications can replace the fitting room so as to facilitate clients to try the clothes without actually putting them on. Also, Augmented Reality imagery is already used by some brands so as one can see virtual fashion models trying the new brands’ collection in real time.
Beauty brands also introduce Augmented Reality in order to provide personalized services to their clients by using their products in real time. Beauty experts may also provide online personal advice to their potential clients. In this case, clients may contact online the beauty experts giving them detailed information about themselves like their hair color, eyes color, face shape, skin color, eyes’ shape and lips’ shape so as to provide them with cutomized professional advice. An online video chat or completing a certain form online as well as sending a portrait photo can be an option. Some beauty brands have developed Augmented Reality (AR) applications so as to facilite clients to have an interactive experience of a real-world environment where they can try online makeup or a new hair color.
The brands or the fashion designers may also start using online styling services. Stylists themselves can take advantage of digital services so as to provide most of their services online worldwide. Meaning that the stylists can provide customized personlized services on the spot. Therefore, an existing or a new client seeking styling advice may contact them via an application so as to get online advice in real time. For example a client may have an important business meeting or an event to attend seeking professional advice on the right outfit, makeup or hairstyle. Another case, might be that a client who is actually shopping in a store is seeking professional opinion on the clothing. Online personal shoppers can also be an option using technology and providing their services worldwide at the same time. It can be a great idea for eshops to recruit online personal shoppers who will be able to provide styling advice online at an extra fee. Wardrobe planning can also be provided online by obtaining at first all the necessary personal information of a given client and at a later stage using video chatting in order to work with the client online so as to reorganize client’s wordrobe.
Bloggers and Influencers are by far the more technologically advanced. They are heavy users of all social media, they are the first ones using any new application, they generally keep up with the fast-paced technology. Both, bloggers and influencers keep close relationship with their followers by using live streaming so as to share with them the events that they attend, they try new beauty products sharing their experience online, they use live instagram in order to answer to their followers’ qustions in real time, they also perform live joined events with other influencers so as to actively involve their followers. Therefore, bloggers and influencers use technology so as to blond with their followers having as a result selling out every single product that they use, demonstrate or review. This is the reason that most companies look for a cooperation with a well known blogger or influencer. However, it is proven that qualitative criteria are more effective than quantitative. Meaning that companies are looking to cooperate with influencers that they have loyal followers or they have the demographc criteria that they are looking for.
Overall, tt seems that different brands as well as the bloggers and influencers are seeking to differentiate themselves by using all technological advances.
Styling is changing in a fast-paced dynamic environment. Technology offers unlimited opportunities for growth and development. Get inspired, creative, develop new capabilites, be focused and don’t forget “sky is the limit”.
Thanks for watching!
Stay All positive, safe & sound!
Vicky Stouki
