DALLAS, Jul 3, 2009 / FW/ — Twitter, the micro social networking site that has become as ubiquitous as a chat channel. With a maximum of 140 characters per message that is displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to other users (known as followers who have subscribed to them), it feels like sending a mass text message via the internet.
Since its creation in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter has gained notability and popularity worldwide. Already being used by the established press like CNN and the New York Times, among others to disseminate their headlines, Kim Jones, the Creative Director of Dunhill and Jean-Luc Dupont of Systeme-D press agency in Paris used Twitter to update their followers in real time with the behind the scenes events during the Paris menswear season.
Using text-based ‘tweets’ and twitpics for images, both Kim Jones and Jean-Luc Dupont made available to a wider audience the excitement and nervous energy that surround the fashion season days before the season begins.
Jean-Luc Dupont
who began tweeting only a few months ago successfully created a buzz for menswear designers Petar Petrov and Masatomo whose creations have always catered to the fashion-forward crowd.
With both Petar Petrov and Masatomo known as edgy designer and who built their reputation on their alternative vision of high fashion, they are a perfect match to the Twitter crowd who are usually very amenable to new ideas.
Breaking new grounds for Petar Petrov and Masatomo, Jean-Luc found Twitter’s lively banter beneficial to his clients.
“With Twitter giving direct contact to the public, the designer gets real recognition as he becomes known to the general public and not just the fashion crowd,” said Jean-Luc Dupont, explaining his decision to bring Petar Petrov and Masatomo to Twitter.
The brains behind Systeme-D press agency, Jean-Luc Dupont is a well-known figure in the Paris fashion scene. As already mentioned, he only began tweeting a few months ago, but he is actually one of the first among the French fashion crowd to subscribe to Twitter.
When asked what made him decide to ‘tweet’ about the pre-fashion show behind the scenes, Jean-Luc said, “the idea came after recently becoming guest contributor for thefashionisto.com and being also commissioned for maomao publications’ new book project entitled “how to do a fashion show.”
“They were both interested to get some ‘behind the scenes’ of the shows which is the reason why I started shooting. Twitter being a fun way to pass on information, I then decided to tweet,” Jean-Luc continued.
Follow Jean-Luc Dupont at Twitter at http://twitter.com/systeme_D
British designer Kim Jones who is currently the Creative Director of menswear label Dunhill also broke new ground this menswear season by tweeting about the Spring 2010 Dunhill collection even before it hit the runway.
Tweeting under the name dunhill_inParis, Kim Jones first tweet was on Jun 24th at 1:46 PM saying “we will preview first look tomorrow on twitter.” And as promised, the next day, his first post was a twitpic of Look 1 of the Dunhill Spring / Summer 2010 collection.
For three days, until a few minutes just before the Dunhill catwalk show started on June 27th, Kim Jones followers knew what was going through his mind.
How Kim Jones found time to tweet with all the craziness going on before a fashion show starts will remain a mystery; but the fact that he found time and made good on his promise of giving his followers a preview also shows how much the designer believe in the power of Twitter in creating a buzz for the label.
Founded in 1893 by Alfred Dunhill, the century-old British label continues to be popular because it moves with the times. By putting it on Twitter, Kim Jones actually introduced the label to a very young crowd who probably thinks that Dunhill is something that their father will wear.
Using only 140 characters, Kim Jones made everyone think that Dunhill is cool and hip.
Follow Kim Jones / Dunhill at Twitter: http://twitter.com/dunhill_inParis
