Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is adding some updated digital technology components for its debut turn at Lincoln Center next week. Fashion is an industry that loves the tangible, from tear sheets to big, glossy magazines, right on down to U.S. postal service-delivered invitations for Fashion Week. And while paper hasn't gone away completely, this season marks a major digital overhaul for Fashion Week festivities.
This year, attending the shows at Lincoln Center will feel a little bit like going to the airport. Registered press with photo-personalized credentials and invited guests will be electronically registered on designer invitation lists and seating grids. All one has to do is walk up, scan a barcode—most likely received via e-mail—at a self-service kiosk, and take their printed ticket to the door.
With 80 percent of participating designers having singed on to try out the new system, there are still a few stragglers relying on old-fashioned paper invites. Those, along with last-minute invitees and/or folks who prefer the older method can still check in with a human, albeit one with a computer, instead of a clipboard.
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week partnered with Control Group and Fashion GPS to streamline the RSVP process, promising to make the often crowded and dizzying check-in process a less stressful affair—though the heightened security involved in registration might not bode well for party crashers.
In tandem with the enhanced on-site experience, Tender has created a new website that provides the requisite event information, but delves deeper with designer bios and direct linkage to e-commerce and independent live-streams of shows, offering anyone—anywhere—a chance to get in on the Fashion Week action.
