In today’s visual arms race a fashion label has to be visually captivating in everything it presents. This means: the regular lookbook with models standing frozen in front of white walls as if having suffered a full-body botox treatment, is a thing of the past. If you want attention for your brand, you need a different kind of lookbook. The new kind of lookbook tells a story, and with this it creates what is the gold in the fashion world: emotions.
This new kind of lookbook works like a movie on your emotions. It will not only show the designs, but it will also create an experience, and with this experience, emotions, that will reach your customers like a cruise missile.
The most important question anyone can ask is: What myth am I living?Carl Jung
Concept and Story
For demonstration I will give you the story “Haunted Maiden”. I start with a concept: a girl who tries to release the ghost of a former lover. The story would then be the expanded concept: a girl goes to a haunted house to release the ghost of her lover, but instead the lover pulls her into the ghost world and makes her a ghost as well.
That’s a story with a beginning (girl goes to haunted house), a middle (girl tries to release ghost of former lover) and an ending (ghost pulls girl into ghost world, where they scarily live forever after – literally).
A connected series of scenes, a story, will always create emotions and stick to the memory of the person who sees it. Each image would represent a scene and give a great opportunity to present the fashion in an inspiring image.
Scenes for the lookbook story “Haunted Maiden”
• the girl stands in front of the house, and the haunted building looks down on her.
• She enters the building through a tall, heavy door
• She finds a skeleton, covered in cobwebs, wearing a beautiful ring.
• She puts her left hand to her lips and kisses a ring on her hand – it is the same ring the skeleton is wearing.
• She sits in a chair, while the night falls.
• The ghost appears, floating, reaches out a pale hand – and she touches it (just like in the Michelangelo painting in the Sixtine Chapel) and pulls her into the ghost world.
You can show fashion designs better in real scenes and situations than in a regular zombies style lookbook. Real scenes offer expressions, movement, and an infinite possibility of beautiful creations inspired by working out the story.
These scenes create the great, visual splendor people expect from quality fashion lines. It will be very attractive, and it will add to your brand’s attractiveness.
Tell me the facts and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever..American Indian Proverb
Emotionalize the Brand
Each story has its mix of emotions. In “Haunted Maiden” it is love, fear, mystery, surprise, courage. Depending on what emotions and what mood you want for your brand, a story will be created that creates and expresses the emotions your brand needs perfectly. A cocktail of emotions – the ultimate, invigorating power drink for a fashion brand.
And it will save you money. Instead of shooting different images for lookbook, campaign, and social media you can use these images for everything: lookbook, campaign, social media.
Switching from conventional, unemotional lookbooks to a story telling, emotion lookbooks will create an advantage for your brand over other brands. It will make you prevail and succeed in this tough, competitive landscape.
Call me now and let’s talk about your fashion line – and what emotions and stories would be best for it!
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