Fashion's Love Affair With Social Media

Sorry, grammar nerds, but our ultra-digitalized world has led us to ditch basic language rules. Like it or not, the proliferation of hashtags has revolutionized the way we communicate. However, fashion brands have been slow to embrace the trending-topic potential. In a recent interview with Yahoo, the elusive Hedi Slimane, creative director of Saint Laurent, announced that the fashion industry has "not caught up" with the current pace of social media.

It's also struggling to find a way to reach an audience that consumes and discards collections as soon as they hit the runway, thus relying more on customers to act as the advertiser and popularize their favorite brands via likes and reposts.

Some brands make this work. The success of Calvin Klein's #mycalvins initiative, for instance, is built on the notion that anyone can afford a pair of CK undies, and snap and share a selfie in them. Whether you're Justin Bieber or a regular Joe, you're instantly part of the #mycalvins model family. Now other luxury houses are following suit. Gucci recently launched #GucciGram, an artsy Instagram project inviting emerging or established artists to use the brand's latest "it bag" as inspiration for original works. Before that, Lacoste and Burberry were among the first brands to launch their own Snapchat accounts, choosing to premiere new designs on the app rather than wait for Fashion Week debuts.

So it seems that fashion may be entering its democratic phase, creating communities of style aficionados on the Web. Only time (and double-taps) will tell if designers can stay on board and make the trend last.

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