Fashion show music speaks volumes about brands
NEW YORK, Sept 8 (Reuters) - For designers hoping to stand out amid the scores of runway shows at New York's Fashion Week, the music is a calculated choice to impart an effortless cool.
The tunes that usher models down catwalks not only serve as timekeepers and moodsetters but often are intended to convey deeper meanings about a brand's inspiration and marketing message.
"Everybody thinks you just put on a song," said Kevin Edwards, who puts together music for designers including Tracy Reese, who showed on Sunday. "It's a very long process. We spend hours and go through hundreds of pieces of music."
Designer Rubin Singer, who worked at Oscar de la Renta and Bill Blass before launching his own line, said most of his collections begin with music, including the one he showed on Friday at New York's semi-annual fashion event.
"A lot of my inspiration comes from walking in the streets of New York listening to music in my headphones. That's where the collection first starts to materialize," Singer said.
Armed with "1940s sea travel" as his muse, Singer said his work this season was "facilitated" by a song called "Hip Hip Chin Chin," which was the show's opening and closing number.
With a modern driving beat, a vintage swing and the sampled voice of Frank Sinatra, the song kept the models strutting in rhythm and hammered out Singer's inspiration, as did a remake of Peggy Lee's classic "Fever" and Christina Aguilera's "Candyman," which evokes the Andrews Sisters' 1940s hit "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy."
Designer Michael Angel, who had a 9 a.m. slot, said his soundtrack would have to wake up the audience while paying homage to the collection's inspiration -- 1970s rock.
He described his 2009 Spring/Summer woman: "The bottom half of her is Freddie Mercury, and the top half of her is Stevie Nicks. The spirit of her is a little Kate Bush."
TAILOR-MADE TUNES
Most runway shows feature a recorded mix of songs but Eli Goldstein and Charles Levine, who run a Boston-based music consulting business called Soul Clap, said brands are taking this further and commissioning songs from artists.
Hip-hop artist Pharrell Williams, Santogold and Julian Casablancas of The Strokes recorded a song for Converse, while dance-rock band LCD Soundsystem made a track for Nike (NKE.N).
"Brands are looking for new ways to solidify their identities because everyone is overstimulated with visuals all the time," said Goldstein, who has spun records live at Calvin Klein shows.
Goldstein said Louis Vuitton's (LVMH.PA) hiring of French DJ duo Daft Punk to produce music for its Spring 2008 show had widened the luxury brand's appeal to younger consumers.
Bill Meadows, who handles music for Miami-based advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, said deepening relationships between musicians and brands are related to the music industry's financial woes.
"The record industry is suffering ... and there's been a very serious effort on the part of artists' managers, labels and everyone to seek opportunities to affiliate with brands ... for additional revenues," said Meadows, who worked on a Volkswagen (VOWG.DE) campaign using songs from Wilco, which he said spurred the band's record sales.
While a corporate partnership once spelled the end of artistic integrity in the eyes of some, Meadows said there has been "a huge change of heart" among artists.
UNDER-USED OPPORTUNITY
EBay Inc (EBAY.O) Style Director Constance White said runway shows have often introduced her to new artists, especially when CDs are given to the audience. But such promotion is uncommon, she said, and a missed opportunity.
"Here you have in the audience an incredible group of influencers who any marketer would pay to get in front of," White said. "They're everyone from editors and broadcast journalists to stylists and trendsetters."
Edwards the music producer said managers and agents are realizing this and reaching out with new musicians, while designers are more receptive. He said he once organized indie band The Walkmen to play a Cynthia Steffe show.
But not only emerging bands do fashion shows, he said, and that could be exciting for designers such as Rebecca Taylor who have a strong affinity for a particular artist.
"Every year, everyone shoots me down because I'm like 'David Bowie' and they're like 'Not again, Rebecca,'" Taylor said. "'You can't do David Bowie again and again, Rebecca.'"
But Bowie live may be a different story. (Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols and Jan Paschal; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and John O'Callaghan)
