Brief:
- H&M revealed a collaboration with Italian fashion brand Moschino in an Instagram Live chat between Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott and supermodel Gigi Hadid, per a company release. The video chat was shown on screens at the annual Moschino party at Coachella, the music and arts festival in California, and broadcast live on @hm.
- The Moschino collection for men and women will be available online and at select H&M stores worldwide on November 8. The Italian fashion house is the latest to work with the Swedish fast-fashion chain, which previously worked with designers such as Erdem, Matthew Williamson, Balmain, Alexander Wang and Versace, among others, per the Evening Standard.
- H&M also posted a picture of Hadid wearing a sample Moschino outfit to its Instagram account, which has 24.9 million followers. A video clip announcing the collaboration with Moschino racked up 330,000 views and 36,000 likes in the first 24 hours.
Insight:
More than any other social media platform, Instagram has evolved to become the go-to app for viewing fashion ideas and sharing pictures of new looks. That’s especially true among the teenage girls and young women that fast-fashion retailer H&M targets with continually refreshed apparel well suited for sharing on social media. Major luxury labels use the platform for direct sales that rival income from brick-and-mortar stores, per Vogue.
Facebook-owned Instagram this month upset fashion influencers with changes to its platform in response to mounting public pressure over privacy issues, according to a Business of Fashion report. Social influencers could no longer send emails to registered users who could buy an item after “liking” it in an influencer post. But that move does not yet seem to have detracted from the appeal of the platform for big reveals like H&M's.
Fashion brands and retailers — including everyone from Forever 21 to Nordstrom — have had success reaching out to consumers using influencers and celebrities on Instagram to increase engagement. Known entities like Hadid attract attention on the platform. And while the H&M/Moschino announcement may not have garnered quite the excitement the Destiny's Child reunion did at Coachella, per WWD's Eye column, it was buzz-worthy enough to capture attention. Mobile-focused and live campaigns are less expensive for brands than traditional TV spots, and in the case of fashion and apparel brands are likely to reach more highly engaged users by going to the platforms where those users spend their time.
