STYLE STAR, by Moda e Tecnologia & Marina Garzoni

The fashion and luxury landscape is undergoing great change. Runway shows no longer seem the only way to promote fashion in the globalized, technological new world of the 21st century, and the fashion and luxury consumer is no longer seen as a target but as an individual demanding participation, exchange, and co-creation. Forward-thinking, visionary luxury brands are taking notice and experimenting with new forms of brand communication and promotion - a mix of digital and traditional media, including cinematography and short film.

In this context, cinema and technology emerge as strong allies of creative communication, leading luxury and fashion brands to choose the short film as the natural evolution of brand communication and storytelling.

In fact, shorts have become a distinct expression of the brand, a must for the strongest and most innovative fashion and lifestyle companies. To produce them, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Chanel, Dior, Tod’s, Ferragamo, Alexander McQueen and others have engaged well-know personalities the likes of two-time Oscar winner Pietro Scalia (for Prada), Dennis Hopper (for Tod’s), Edoardo Winspeare (for Louis Vuitton) and Gabriele Muccino (for Intimissimi), to name just a few.

 

Style Star, the first fashion and luxury short film concept festival created by Italian fashion and technology visionary Marina Garzoni - President and Founder of Moda e Tecnologia no-profit association - frames and addresses this new era of communication. It is an innovative format, an interactive cocktail of fashion and cinema which reaches out directly to consumers and amplifies the advertising and promotional reach of the fashion and luxury indusry’s short film production and promotional efforts. Style Star will bring together and celebrate these short fashion and luxury films, thereby creating a fertile collaborative and promotional environment involving designers, fashion and luxury companies, production houses and advertising agencies, well-known and up-and-coming directors. Within the Style Star format, brands and designers will be able to showcase their productions and tell their story in an appropriate and empowering context fueled by the most innovative technologies. Read about it on http://stylestar.modatecnologia.com and follow it on Twitter @stylestartweet.

Style Star will happen in both the real and the virtual, digital worlds, thanks also to a collaboration with Leo Burnett, its official communication agency, and Microsoft MSN.

 

The Festival format includes:

• The Style Star Awards and other exciting fashion and short film events, to take place over a period of three days at the Style Star Lounge during the Festival De Cannes - Cannes Film Festival from May 13th through May 23rd, 2010;

• Events, parties and more, at The Style Star Lounge (Excelsior Venice Lido Resort Terrace) during the 66th Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica di Venezia - Venice Film Festival, from September 2nd to September 12th, 2009;

• “Cinema is Fashionable” to take place in Milan during Milano Moda Donna - Milan’s Fashion Week, from September 23rd through September 30th, in several locations across the city and in the exclusive Style Star Lounge, situated in the prestigious Town House Galleria Hotel in downtown Milan. “Cinema is Fashionable” will give wide visibility to shorts made by fashion and luxury brands at a critical time for industry key players, with short film previews being showcased (by invitation only or open to the general public) in the best cinema theaters across Milan. “Cinema is Fashionable” previews and in-shop promotions will also be held in other major Italian cities.

• Style Star YOU!, a series of in-shop promotional events involving young (18-30) fashion and cinema lovers in casting events, in-shop or window short movie showings, contests and draws

• Ad-hoc dedicated portal http://stylestar.msn.it

• A dedicated blog http://stylestar.modatecnologia.com

• Twitter page http://twitter.com/stylestartweet

• Event announcement on Moda e Tecnologia’s Facebook Fan page http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=118982462665 and other social media marketing activities.

 

Style Star is an entirely new format for the celebration of short fashion and luxury films. It is also a unique and innovative promotional vehicle. “To date, research has proved us right, leading fashion and luxury firms seems very attached to short movies as a new way to communicate brand identity and brand values,” concludes Marina Garzoni. “If a guru at the level of Tom Ford has put himself behind the movie camera (for A Single Man) it means a revolution has truly begun!”