by Annie Vischer
This month’s SS15 fashion weeks across the world boast some of the most tech-savvy attendees to date, and social media is in overdrive. When it comes to fashion, it’s no surprise that Instagram is the must-have outlet of choice. It’s all about images, it’s all about looking good, it’s all about the picture.
Instagram cofounder Kevin Systrom recently talked to WWD about the phenomenon and its place in fashion.
According to Systrom, Instagram’s goal is not to be the central focus of the event, but to provide a platform that will enable others to tell their story to the best effect. He says ‘We provide tools to do that, whether it’s Hyperlapse or filters. That’s our job. We support the fashion industry because we love people that can tell their stories visually’.
Systrom sees Instagram’s role as a support to fashion week as a whole, that is the designers, the event organisers, the beauty professionals and even us beauty and fashion journalists.
Systrom’s background lies not in the technical, but in the artistic. His creativity was founded in a career in photography and design. He says of his roots ‘Where I come from is really a position of loving things because they are beautiful. Many of the brands I’m most interested in are Brunello Cucinelli or Rag & Bone. Those are the types of things I get into’.
Karlie Kloss is currently dating one of the original investors in Instagram, Joshua Kushner, and so has become firm friends with Systrom too. In introducing him to the likes of Oscar de la Renta, Systrom has seen his business expand into fashion avenues he could never have anticipated, such is the effect a connection through images can have.
And Systrom says we should never worry about following too many people. Clutter? Pfft. He says ‘The beautiful thing about Instagram is that it’s so easy to consume. I don’t mind if I follow too many people. it keeps my feed really fresh. But what I try to do often is find the accounts that I haven’t followed yet. I started following Margiela, and I got a recommendation to follow Comme des Garcons, so I started following them as well. In some ways we’re compounding the issue but it’s what makes it fun’.
Keep the fun coming! We’ll be taking Instagram to fashion week season after season.