WORLDTEMPUS - 24 February 2011
Benjamin Clymer
Sarah Reynolds, a 23-year-old model from Manhattan, was getting undressed in the lobby of the trendy Tribeca Grand hotel with the help of 100 strangers. Reynolds, now known as “Swatch Girl,” was hired by the trendy watch label to parade around at a party during New York's Fashion Week wearing a short dress made of ? you guessed it ? Swatch timepieces.
Part of a viral social media campaign implemented by Swatch and its U.S. agency Iced Media, Reynolds played host at an exclusive Fashion Week party while donning the latex-and-Swatch-watch dress. Each time a partygoer tweeted at @SwatchUS using the hashtag “#swatchgirl,” he or she was entitled to pluck a Swatch timepiece directly from Reynolds' body. Picture a leggy young model slowly inching toward nudity: it didn't go unnoticed, and the New York social pages were quick to photograph and feature Reynolds surrounded by the dozens of gawkers, gazers, and tweeters that she attracted.
Reynolds' dress was constructed of 107 Swatch watches from the brand's new pastel-colored line. A team of stylists, including Racked.com's Donna Kim, spent more than two hours making the dress, and it took fewer than 90 minutes for Reynolds to be undressed by tweeting Fashion Week fawns – finally revealing a flesh-toned latex underwrap dress, much to the dismay of the male observers. Reynolds told the New York Post, “By the end of the night, people forgot I was even there and made a beeline right for the watches.”
Swatch and Iced Media estimate the “Swatch Girl” stunt reached more than 400,000 users on Twitter alone. While Marc Jacobs and Anna Wintour may be the perennial A-listers at New York Fashion Week, “Swatch Girl” undoubtedly upstaged them this time around.
Ralph Lauren on the Runway
Ralph Lauren has perhaps the greatest entrée of any watch label into Fashion Week. The only timepiece producer wholly owned by a premiere, exhibiting fashion label, Ralph Lauren's women's spring/summer collection was shown at Soho's Skylight Studios on February 17 and featured stunning Chinese-inspired formal wear. The show was attended by not only Ralph Lauren's own children and wife, but also top editors from every major fashion magazine. While over fifty different looks were shown in the twenty-minute show, a handful of models were styled in not only Ralph Lauren gowns, blouses, and heels, but also Ralph Lauren wristwatches. Their presence may have gone unnoticed by some, but to show timepieces, even in such a clandestine manner, to the select few tastemakers invited to the Ralph Lauren show during fashion week is something most watch brands would pay for – but Ralph Lauren doesn't have to.
Different Approaches for Different Brands
While Swatch and Ralph Lauren took atypical approaches to presenting their timepieces to New York's Fashion Week attendees, Hublot continued its partnership for the second season as an event sponsor. While Hublot was dubbed “The Official Timekeeper of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week” during September's shows, this time around they were merely “a” sponsor along with several other brands. This was a calculated move, Hublot told Forbes, as there is a heavy fee associated with such a relationship and the September shows hold more clout than those in February. Hublot CEO Jean-Claude Biver has indicated that Hublot will continue be involved with Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at least through 2012.
Watches: a Fashion Week Must
Meanwhile, the range of timepieces seen upon the wrists of designers, models, and attendees at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week was expansive. Several models were seen after hours in retro-chic digital pieces from the likes of Casio and Timex, while others preferred ultra-modern pieces from Nooka. Several designers and editors were spotted in vintage Rolex and Patek – a sign that in the fashion set, name brands still go along way. When asked what watches meant to Fashion Week, Geoff Day, Mercedes-Benz's head of communication and unofficial Fashion Week master of ceremonies, said, “They are as much a part of fashion as any designer here,” glancing at his IWC Pig Pilot, “and they certainly last a lot longer.”
