Ranveer Singh Gave A Lot Of Inputs For The Ad Campaign: Vincent Lou, Club Factory

E-commerce company, Club Factory unveiled its first India-market campaign with actor Ranveer Singh and Miss World 2017, Manushi Chhillar. The company which was launched in India, one and a half years ago has made strong inroads in the e-commerce arena in India. Vincent Lou, Founder and CEO of Club Factory chatted with exchange4media on their biggest India-campaign, accelerating the brand growth and more.

Lou said that the e-commerce company in the last two years has acquired more than 70 million users globally. “40 million of these are from India and so it has to be a key market for us," he shared. On Club Factory’s proposition and plans within the overall India e-commerce ecosystem and the importance of India as a market, he said that the brand’s differentiator is that they offer unique, modern and differentiated products at factory price.

When we asked Lou the reason behind the launch of the integrated campaign he said, “Because we now have a larger presence in India, we want to have a better bond with India consumers and so we’re having celebrity endorsements.”

We have these TVCs and will leverage both online and offline mediums for this,” he let out and shared the company does have plans for offline activations too.

Speaking about the making of the campaign, he shared, "Ranveer himself gave a lot of inputs for this ad campaign." On the challenges and opportunities of doing business with India, he opined that the brand has to do a lot of localization. “We have cash on delivery available and also ensure people can shop without any concern about the shipping fee,” said the CEO.

Lou opened up that to further accelerate growth, the company is looking at providing better experiences by having more warehouses and customer care agencies. “We’re looking to do some category expansions,” he revealed.

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New York City Ballet Reveals Fashion Gala Designers

New York City Ballet is to reprise its love affair with fashion this fall, hosting its seventh annual Fall Fashion Gala on Sept. 27.

The event sees rising choreographers create new works and collaborate with established fashion designers on the pieces’ costumes.

This year’s iteration will see choreographer Kyle Abraham team with Giles Deacon, Matthew Neenan collaborate with Gareth Pugh and Gianna Reisen partner with Alberta Ferretti.

New York City Ballet costume shop director Marc Happel will work closely with each designer in executing their visions for the stage.

The gala will mark Abraham and Neenan’s choreographic debuts for City Ballet. It will be Reisen’s second effort for the company, a follow-up to her piece for last year’s Fashion Gala — which received critical acclaim and saw her team with Virgil Abloh on costumes.

Sarah Jessica Parker — who conceptualized the Fashion Gala format — will again serve as the event’s cochair, this year alongside Mazdack Rassi, Zanna Roberts Rassi and Lizzie Tisch.

Previous fashion galas have featured costumes by Thom Browne, Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, Dries Van Noten, Marques’Almeida and Valentino.

Promoting Fashion & Aesthetics

Shillong has always been a fashionista’s delight. From street fashion to haute couture, men and women here love to explore everything that’s in vogue. To take this fashion frenzy a step farther and to promote beauty and aesthetics, a group of like-minded people founded Fashion Society Shillong back in 1983.

The Society, which will celebrate its coral anniversary on October 6 this year, is all about promoting the inherent talents of local youths by providing a platform in the form of beauty pageants, fashion shows and musical gigs.

“It is not really a modelling agency. Most of the young talents venture on their own equipped with our certification to enter bigger arenas,” says Aldous Mawlong, chairman of the Society.

Mawlong says the Society does not sponsor participants in national competitions but “if sponsorship is available from the government or business houses then definitely it can tap on these resources and promote youngsters”.

Talking about the evolution of fashion world both locally and globally, the head of the Society asserts that there has been a transcendental change in the way people look at models and in the way models look at themselves.

“The focus today is not only on being fashionable but also being comfortable. There is a shift from just good looking to also be healthy, which explains why most models follow a strict regime of lifestyle, diet and exercise. They also abstain from what is called ‘loud dressing’. Personality plays a vital role in the overall category of looking good,” explains the expert.

The Society meticulously selects the contestants, who have to be between 16 and 25 years of age, for Miss Shillong beauty pageant, which is not an annual event. It conducts practice sessions on catwalk, speech, make-up and grooming. It explores ways to network with similar organisations, the central and state governments and semi-government bodies “for uplifting its activities and achieving its objectives”. The society is also making efforts to archive exhibits, texts, costumes, weaves and other art forms in the latest formals.

However, Mawlong, who joined the Society after its inception and took over as the convener in 1986, says, “We never encourage anyone to give up their studies or jobs because the rat race in the outside world is real. If they are extraordinary and have a great sense of determination coupled with the right contacts and sound financial backup, then it is a different story altogether.”

Besides the beauty pageant, the Society organises various other events like musical shows and Cherry Blossom Festival. It also comes up with a lifestyle magazine called Tattoo Magazine’.

Celebrities who have attended the various events of the Society are Moon Moon Sen, Zeenat Aman, Rahul Dev, Shikha Swaroop, Hina Ramani, Kylie Dorjie and Vijay Kim, among others.