Anyone that knows me well knows that I have a (not-so) healthy obsession with designer Marc Jacobs. Bags, watches, shoes, match books, you name it, if there is an “MJ” on it, I probably want it, or already own it. So, you can imagine my surprise last Saturday when I got an email notification alerting me that “Robert Duffy is now following you on Twitter.” The President of Marc Jacobs is following me on Twitter? How he found me – maybe it was my short-lived MJ dedicated blog, the fact that I, at some point, followed every MJ imposter on Twitter and Facebook, or the fact that I’ve endorsed MJ in nearly 10% of my personal tweets – doesn’t matter. But what does the President, best friend, and business partner of Mr. Jacobs want to do with me?
Turns out @robertcduffy has taken to Twitter to drive traffic to the marcjacobs.com site, and promote the live streaming of the Fall/Winter 2010 Collection. Site visitors are also encouraged, via a personal note from Duffy, to enter to win two tickets to see the Marc Jacobs show live in New York City on February 15. A show that will have no celebrities in attendance (other than the ticket winner), since celebrities, as Duffy tells Style.com, are “boring.” Marc Jacobs also recently joined the Foursquare movement, as you can see here.
This of course is old news to the not-so-fashionably-late Twitterati. Within hours of his first tweet, news of Duffy’s foray into social media was reported by dozen of fashion blogs, including the coveted New York Times Cut Blog, WWD, Coutorture and Fashionologie, and Duffy has since amassed over 5,200 MJ-obsessed followers. Between answering consumer questions from around the world (Brazil loves MJ too), sharing twitpics of Marc and dropping hints about the upcoming Marc by Marc Jacobs and Marc Jacobs shows in anticipation of Fashion Week, Duffy has been an uber-active Twitter newbie. The timing couldn’t be more strategic as the fashion house recently announced the upcoming launch of e-commerce for the brand in August and a lingerie collection in 2011. But the behind-the-scenes look at the world of MJ won’t last forever, as Duffy has announced that he will quit Twitter after the Marc by Marc Jacobs show on Tuesday, February 17.
Duffy however isn’t the only media-savvy fashionista turning to the microblogging community in anticipation of New York Fashion Week (February 11 – 18). Many designers, including Betsey Johnson, Diane Von Furstenburg, and BCBG Max Azria have embraced the platform as a means of foreshadowing their upcoming shows and thousands of Twitter users are sharing their first-hand experiences from the belly of the New-York-Fashion-Week-beast -- as we saw yesterday, when news of designer Alexander McQueen’s sudden death shocked the fashion world, and “RIP Alexander” became the second highest trending topic.
As the shows begin this week fans share their celebrity sightings, Fall trends from the runways, who-wore-what-where tidbits and enough twitpics to provoke fashion-envy among the not-so-fortunate masses. While I’m not tweeting live from Bryant Park, I’ve been following along closely, and luckily I was able to find out what is really important to me from Duffy himself. Whether or not I’ll be winning the tickets and attending the show in person? You’ll have to follow me to find out.
Who else is tweeting from the tents?
Designers/Stylists/Fashion Houses
BCBG Max Azria @BCBGMAXAZRIA
Betsey Johnson @xoBetseyJohnson
Diane Von Furstenburg @InsideDVF
Donna Karan @dkny
Charlotte Ronson @cjronson
Christian Dior @Dior_US
Christian Siriano @csiriano
Louis Vuitton @LouisVuitton_US
Stella McCartney @StellaMcCartney
Rachel Zoe @rzrachelzoe
Fashion Blogs/Fashion Editors
Coutorture Blog @coutorture
Celebrity Fashion Bloggers @fuggirls
Danica Lo, Fashion Editor @danicalo
Daniel Saynt, Fashion Blogger @fashionindie
Fashionista.com Blog @Fashionista_com
Fashionologie @fashionologie
Fashion Week NYC @fashionweekNYC
Garance Dore @garancedore
Joe Zee, Creative Director ELLE Magazine @mrjoezee
Lauren Pinson, Fashion Editor @NYThread
New York Times Cut Blog @cutblog
New York Times, T Magazine @themoment
Refinery 29 Blog @refinery29
Style Observer @styleobserver
Womens Wear Daily @womensweardaily