London Fashion Week

Topshop Enters Virtual Reality for London Fashion Week AW 2014

By Mary Hall | February 16, 2014

Topshop’s flagship store in Oxford Circus.

Every London Fashion Week Topshop does something to extend their live runway show to the customers and fashionistas around the world via the Internet. This week a world Topshop will take their customers into a fashion virtual reality at their Oxford Circus store by showing their AW14 show from Feb. 16-18th. The TOPSHOP Unique show , will be live streamed Sunday Feb. 16th at 10 am ET- New York /7 am PT-Los Angeles / 15:00 -3 pm London time from the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern. The livestream will feed into a virtual world created by leading London based 3D agency Inition. This year, there’s more to the show than just the live show on the 16th. On February 16,17 and 18, customers at Topshop Oxford Circus will get to experience a presentation of the new season’s fashions in a Virtual Reality using special Oculus Rift headsets. Here’s what’s you can expect from Topshop for Autumn/ Winter 2014.

Webpage displaying all the views from Topshop’s Virtual Runway show.

“The TOPSHOP Unique show is going from strength to strength; not only in terms of the Collection but also in how we share this with our customers at home and in our stores, giving them an up to the minute runway show experience, ” says Sir Philip Green, Owner Arcadia Group. ” This season’s live stream in virtual reality between two iconic London destinations, the Tate Modern and our Flagship store in Oxford Circus takes the idea of the traditional fashion show to a new dimension, as we continually look for new ways to engage, excite and involve our customers.”

The show will stream live on the Internet and at Topshop’s Oxford Circus store. Customers will be able to share the experience on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #TopshopGoesVirtual. For Topshop social media lovers there will be plenty of ways to share the live show experience and shop the runway:

TWITTER: Topshop will host a live Twitter Gallery on the homepage on Topshop.com from the morning of the show so that viewers can see all the final preparations that go into a fashion show attended by the world’s media and celebrities. Look for tweets from Bloggers, celebs and models on all the shows t up-to the minute action. Customers can also join the conversation with the Fashion Tweet Off on the homepage. And what would a Topshop show be with out a prize? Review the #Topshop show in 140 characters to win tickets to next season’s show.
360° VIEWS: 360° images will be posted throughout the event, again offering customers an added insight into the show. Customers will be able to navigate around the view.
SHOP THE SHOW: Users will also be able shop and share key pieces the moment they hit the runway, with delivery 3 months ahead of industry lead times.
VINE: Topshop will be posting live content from backstage using Vine.
iTUNES: Music will be available to share and download on topshop.com from itunes both during and after the show.
TOPSHOP BEAUTY: The Topshop Make-Up look will be available to buy straight away after the show.

Visitors to the Topshop Oxford Circus show who want to participant in the show’s virtual reality will wear specially commissioned head-sets to enter the 360 degree virtual world which llow them to enjoy a hybrid of live feed of the runway, the backstage action, the VIP arrivals, the set design and animated features. This fully immersive event promises to be a fashionable and cool experience which will be available to customers on the 16th, 17th & 18th of February during store hours.

UK readers, will you enjoy a leisurely Sunday with the Topshop AW 2014 show? US readers may not want to get up early on Sunday morning to watch at 9 am ET/6 am PT, but for them, there is always the replay.