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. Continued...
