VIDEO: Fashion 2.0 Awards Marry Style, Social Media
BY CHANDRA STEELE
Technology awards shows are not known for their style, but the Fashion 2.0 Awards are different. The Style Coalition-backed event honors social-media stars and startups in the fashion space.
Robert Verdi, former host of Fashion Police, MC'd the evening and designer Zac Posen was keynote speaker. "We are at the frontier of a new universe where we're able to communicate and be voyeurs," Posen said. "It's up to all of us in the fashion arena to be responsible for how we create the voice and language and how we work in this new universe."
PCMag's Coco Rocha presented the Innovator Award and spoke of her social media presence, which spans 13 million followers across her Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and other accounts. "Social media has certainly changed my career and for that matter every aspect and job within the fashion industry," Rocha said. "The brands and people in fashion who are thriving today are the ones who are boldly embracing the new and pushing the boundaries of art and commerce in this digital world. This is the essence of Fashion 2.0."
The two techiest awards of the night were Best Wearable Tech and Best Fashion Startup. The Nike+ FuelBand ran away with the first, beating even the far more fashion-forward Cuff line of smartphone-enabled jewelry. Best Fashion Startup went to Acustom Apparel, a SoHo-based retailer that creates custom clothing for customers after 3D scanning them. The Fashion 2.0 Awards have been prescient in the past. The first year of their existence, Dennis Crowley accepted the Next Big Thing in Social Media Award for Foursquare.