From Across the Pond: London Fashion Week Goes Online featuring Burberry

Since the economic downturn  began (say 2008), my beloved trips across the pond to the UK have been sadly curtailed.  I miss my annual jaunts to London, Edinburgh, and Dublin more than I can say.  The only thing that provides solace is the Internet, which now allows me to view London Fashion Week online from my front row seat in Los Angeles.  That means you can also watch some of Britain’s best designers’ runway shows with a good Internet connection.  To see the entire schedule of shows, simply go to www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/digitalschedule.  Remember to use World Clock on the Internet to put the UK show times into your local time. The website will also feature videos made by members of the fashion community.

Pictured: Burberry’s upcoming show will be shown on the big screen in Piccadilly Circus on Feb. 21st .  (photo courtesy of Burberry.)

I’m especially excited to see this year’s Burberry show online.  Christopher Bailey, Burberry Chief Creative Officer, is online and has taken over the Burberry Twitter account.  The socially savvy Mr. Bailey  is tweeting “in the build up” to the Burberry Prorsum show. I’m really enjoying his Tweets on all the preparations leading up to the show, selecting music, fitting, etc.  The Spring show featured the great song Rose by band The Feeling, so I wonder how Christopher will top that? In the Burberry productions, it seems like the songs where almost written specifically for the shows–that’s how seamlessly they seem to mesh.   I’m glued to Twitter for clues on the  musical selection, as “CB” tweeted that he is already listening to Squeeze and the Kinks.  Save the date, the Burberry Prorsum Womenswear Autumn Winter 2011 show will take place on Monday February, 21 at 4PM UK time, 8: am PST (Los Angeles), 11:00 am EST (New York) and 10:00 am CST (Dallas).

This year Burberry will be streaming its Prorsum Womenswear Autumn Winter 2011 show from a new venue in London, Royal Park of Kensington Gardens,  to over 150 countries online and at 40 live events. The 40th venue, London’s iconic Piccadilly Circus (the Times Square of London), will stream the show live onto the famous 32 metre digital screen which is viewed by an estimated 1.2 million people every week – a first for any brand. Prediction, this may stop traffic in Piccadilly or at least turn a few heads.  As part of the 40 live events, the show will be streamed globally in Burberry flagship stores from Boston to Beijing , creating ‘buy from the runway’ in-store virtual trunk show events across 4 continents.

“We are thrilled to be bringing the Burberry show to our widest audience yet in an immersive, interactive and entertaining experience. We have always used digital communication to deepen our connection with the customer and allow people all over the world to experience Burberry no matter where they are.”, says Christopher Bailey, Burberry Chief Creative Officer.” Whether you are at home online, watching in Piccadilly Circus, using a mobile device or in our store in Beijing everyone will be able to feel the energy and attitude of the brand and the excitement of the show.”

That’s what we love over here at The Recessionista, that everyone can feel the energy and excitement of the show, the elitism of jostling for a sit or invitation to a Burberry show has ended.  Viva the Internet!  Now if , only Mr. Bailey could beam a swag bag over, I think he’d be a perfect being. 🙂