I recently read Mayra Peralta's piece in Fashionista entitled "The Art of the Front Row: How VIP Seating Moves the Needle," and it got me thinking about how a guest list is an extension of a brand.
Peralta recalls that front-row seating at fashion shows is coveted and reserved for "motley personalities across fields" - from editors to celebrities to buyers to now influencers. She cites Laurent François, a creative/digital strategist and partner at 180 Global, saying that "the front row has become a stage of its own… the protagonists are not just the models on the catwalks, but [also] the attendees, who have a part to play; the storyline starts far before the live show, and lasts longer."
For me, this sparked a comparison between fashion show front rows and FAM/Brand trips and partnerships. Simply put, companies need to find celebrities/influencers/brand ambassadors that fit the company's branding while creating hype around it. Peralta shares Gia Kuan's explanation of the importance of a front row: "Front rows contribute to introducing novelty and raising anticipation for the event." It's very similar to how a partnership or brand trip works.
Let's look at Free People's brand trip to Costa Rica this weekend. The influencers in attendance make sense: Emilie Kiser, Avery Woods, Logan Rae Hill, Lexi Hidalgo, etc. Each woman matches Free People's brand in their own way and vice versa. Thus making this trip successful. It is mutually beneficial because the attendees get a free, fantastic trip, and the Free People gets content and brand awareness.
Now, without getting into the whole influencers-at-fashion-show thing, who is sitting on a fashion show's front row is just as important of a partnership: the attendee getting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sit in the coveted seat and the brand getting both the attendee's content and status. Let's say the attendee is an influencer or editor; the show will have earned or paid content on his/her/their outlets. And when the show is discussed in a publication, social media post, or colloquially, the front row will establish the brand the company is trying to build for itself.
Take Tory Burch, for example; this month, Uma Thurman, Awkwafina, Natasha Lyonne, AnnaSophia Robb, Kathryn Newton, and Dominique Thorne, according to Women's Wear Daily's Leigh Nordstrom, were sitting in the exclusive seats. This shows the branding aligning with American A-List stars. Therefore, subconsciously, a layperson seeing this lineup will consider Tory Burch a top-tier American brand.
Let me know your thoughts and if you have any other examples!
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