Visual Merchandising competition at the Hong Kong Design Institute
Deluxewords, The Fashionable Truth’s parent company, is the sponsor of the grand prize for the overall winner of this year’s Visual Merchandising competition at the Hong Kong Design Institute, which takes place today, May 20 2014.
The HKDI’s very talented students have created windows for Antonio Marras, Christopher Kane, D-Squared, Daydream Nation, Kenzo, Givenchy, Maison Martin Margiela, Viktor & Rolf, Moschino and Lanvin.
Daniel Jeffreys, the founder of deluxewords and editor in chief of The Fashionable Truth is a Visiting Professor at the Hong Kong Design Institute and this is the second year he has been a judge of the competition. “One of the most exciting things we do as a company is find and support new talent,”
“deluxewords is a laboratory for innovative content creation and story telling, which is exactly what visual merchandisers need to do.”
In recent years marketing has become content creation, which means that marketing is now all about story telling. As a result, creative people from photography, fine art, fashion design, styling and editorial have strengthened the ranks of visual merchandisers. “Visual merchandising is now one of the most creative aspects of the fashion industry.” says Jeffreys. “The stories that visual merchandisers create for window displays create the opening narrative for a brand and determine if a shopper wants to engage with the brand’s story telling.
“Once the shopper is inside the store the visual merchandising becomes like a movie, unfolding the brand’s story. If the visual merchandising is not done well the movie flops and the shopper leaves.”
Jeffreys says that Visual Merchandising is also a key foundation stone for a brand’s identity and one of central components of its DNA. The competition takes place between 4 and 6:30pm and the winner will be announced on The Fashionable Truth tomorrow.
