This week luxury fashion brands and journalists gathered together to discuss the future of the industry at the International Herald Tribune conference, The Future of luxury. We followed the conference on Twitter and at times it felt like we were actually there, as whoever was Tweeting, did it so well.
There were some brilliant insights and the over riding message of the event was that luxury brands should combine their heritage with technology in order to be relevant in the future.
We loved Ralph Lauren's comments, who, although he can barely use a computer (but employs lots of people who can) talked about how luxury retailers needed to create environments which create wishes and dreams, using technology. He also talked about 4D retail, saying '4D is our biggest idea yet. It's not about screens, stores or ads. It's about reinventing the way we see retail.’
He promised to rebuild his Bond Street store using 4D technology, and he did just that on Wednesday night, when 3D models walked out of the building, polo riders ran onto the pavement and the smell of RL perfume was pumped into the atmosphere.
If the future of luxury retail lies in 'merchertainment' then Ralph Lauren has got it just right! Whether you like the clothes or not (which personally I don't) you have to admit this is pretty spectacular. Watch it untill least one minute, thirty seconds, it's amazing!