Gaia Parolini
PORTFOLIO
gaia parolini
introduction My name is Gaia Parolini, I am 18 years old, and I live in Milan, Italy. I am attending a graphic design and communication school called Artigianelli in Milan. In this portfolio I would like to present two different projects: 1. A personal project about the imaginary brand “Path”, from the logo design to showroom styling. 2. A piece of my final thesis for my high school exit exam (“Maturità”), regarding the importance of social media in the world of fashion.
Lauryn Hill
1 path
path Path is the name of my imaginary street wear brand, which I have created for my personal project. My idea is about combining two of my biggest passions: hip-hop and fashion. Nowadays we see a lot of street wear brands that have similar looks and clothes, while mine is slightly different because I am inspired by old school and African culture. Why african culture? Hip-hop at the beginning was mainly born out of Afro-American and Latino peoples, who interacted playing music, dancing and singing during block parties. Hip-hop music was also influenced by black music, as well as soul, funk and R&B. Finally, I really love African fabrics as they have a lot of different warm colors and interesting patterns. That is why I decided to make the African culture present and noticeable in my brand. Hip-hop In order to plan the layout of shops and organize events, I would like to take into accounts the four hip-hop disciplines: MCing, DJing, Writing and Breaking. I think that this is very important, because this is how hip-hop culture was burn during the ‘70s. As a matter of fact, we can see all of these disciplines at a combined “block party”.
logo
YOUR STYLE WAY
inspiration
colours and patterns
social
iconics images
personal image
fabrics
showroom My idea of path showroom is to use large pictures of 70s hip hop in the Bronx, New York. The pictures will be in black and white to make the clothes can stand out more. Dummies for the shop-floor will represent MCs, Djs, writers and dancers laying wearing Path outfits.
2
Thesis
preface During my final high school exam (Maturità) I will have to discuss a short thesis about a topic of my choice. I decided to speak about how important social media is for companies in order too spread their products and services. Nowadays, if a company wants to be competitive it has to be social because it is the best way to allow consumers to communicate directly with the company. At first, I am going to speak about how the job as a “cool hunter” has changed with the advent of social media and afterwards I’ll provide an example of a brand, Moschino and how being on social media is important for a brand.
colour district
cool hunters Where do fashion designers take their cues from? Fashion designers need to have new ideas to create new innovative styles. Cool Hunters are professionals who share their ideas with fashion designers. Cool hunters are there to understand what the consumers want. Modern consumers use aesthetics as means of representing themselves, that is why they are studied in their own “social habitat” to capture every single symbol that fashion designers then translate into aesthetic languages. Usually the “cool hunter” goes to the up-beat urban backgrounds and undergrounds, where they can find people from different cultures mixing together. At the beginning, cool hunters had to travel a lot to different multicultural places to find new trends: Streets have been their working environment, SRL cameras and notebooks their main tools. But now? Blogs and social networks have changed their ways of working. Nowadays, cool hunters can use this powerful means to find new trends at a click of a mouse anywhere in the world, watching consumers’ reactions about different brands through social media and web surfing.
moschino
expect the unexpected The diffusion of social media has changed the fashion and communication world with its immediacy and interaction. The aim of fashion companies is to spread knowledge about their brand and products, but, especially, to establish a long lasting relationship with consumers. Another benefit is the expansion of different media platforms, almost everyone has got their own smartphone with an internet plan, so they can directly access their favorite pages wherever they are. I therefore decided to use Moschino as an example to show how important it is to be social and how to do it.
moschino Moschino is an Italian fashion company that was founded by Franco Moschino in 1983. Between 1986 and 1987 Moschino Jeans and the first fragrance, Moschino Eau de Toilette, were born. The fashion company launched his new brand Cheap Chic Woman and Cheap Chic Man, accessible to everyone. When Franco Moschino died in 1994, Rossella Jardini replaced him. In 2007 Moschino Eyewear, a glasses collection, and Moschino Helmets, a helmet collection, were spread with Max Safety Fashion collaboration. After 19 years, in 2013 Rossella left her position as artistic director to Jeremy Scott, an American fashion designer.
web site Moschino’s website is the place where the company interacts with their users through social networks. Through the web site, there is the possibility to connect to various social network platforms, in order to always stay up to date with the brand. The first page of the brand website shows links for a multitude social networks, this is due to Web 2.0, which takes websites and makes them no longer static but dynamic and interactive with users. This strategy puts the user at the same level of the company and creates a relationship between them through comments and sharing information.
facebook Facebook is the most-used social network in the world, where people can communicate with each other no matter where they are. Through likes, a fashion brand company can understand the consumers’ personality and take action as a result. If you like the official brand page, you will get Facebook notices about all new posts about the brand in real time. Moschino on Facebook is called “MOSCHINO - the official page” to distinguish its company from fake pages on the social network. On the Moschino Facebook page there are links which connect you to the brand’s other social network pages (Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram) and to the official brand website. This is not the only way to reach the brand’s main website, and you can find different ways to connect to it. For example, on the Moschino page, you can see all the latest news about the brand and the events it hosts or takes part in. Usually every post has got a link to connect consumers to the reference page. For example, as you can see, the link about Moschino bags connects you immediately to the product page.
instagram Instagram is a community with more than 300 million people who share personal moments through pictures or videos. It is considered the home for visual storytelling of anyone and everyone, including celebrities, brands, teens, musicians and people with a creative passion. Moschino, or any other brand, uses Instagram to share its products, parade moments, or show celebrities wearing their clothing.One of the many positive points of Instagram is that you can see fashion events and backstage moments in real time and wherever you are in the world. Hashtags are a fundamental part of social networks, in particular for Instagram and Twitter. On Instagram, when you publish something, you can write a hashtag that is pertinent to what you publish. At a later stage, if you click on the hashtag you are connected to other people who have used the same tag on that specific topic. The main Moschino hashtag is #moschino, but it isn’t the only one. If you research the brand and you write “moschino” different hashtags appear. For example there are #moschinobags, #moschinocase, #moschinobarbie and others, so you can find more specific tags about specific Moschino item. Another function of Instagram is the ability to tag directly people directly using “@“ + “name of the outline”. For example if I take a picture of something related to Moschino, I can then tag the brand with “@moschino”. Then, if I go on Instagram Moschino’s page and click on “Photos of you”, I can see all photos with the @moschino tag. Thanks to all these tags, the company can then do market research about how Moschino is perceived by consumers and what their favorite products are.
twitter Twitter is a social network which works like a microblog, where users can write messages with a maximum of 140 characters called “tweets�. Often, tweets contain something that has happened right at that moment or something that has recently been updated on the brand’s main website. An aspect of Twitter is re-tweeting, which is a post that launches another one. It is the most immediate way to get new followers with the same interests. Moschino Twitter page is always updated and, like Facebook, it posts link about other social pages or websites. Through retweeting, it is possible to know how people like you tweet and what they think. It is a form of free advertising. Being a real-time social network, Twitter leaves a comment about events where you are at that very moment. Fashion brands, like Moschino, receive a lot of tweets during, for example, their fashion shows. During the past two Fashion Weeks, Moschino was the most cited compared to other fashion brands and the
pinterest When you are browsing online and see something you like and you want to keep it, Pinterest is the solution because “pinning” allows you to save all these things. You have the possibility of creating your own wall, where you can share different files, saved into different categories. Pinterest has been very useful even for fashion companies. If you look at Moschino’s Pinterest wall, you will see everything from runway shows, backstage events or editorials, separated in different boards. This allows users to easily find what they are looking for and to pin pictures about the brand. By opening the preview of the image you generally find a link to Moschino’s website and the hashtag #moschino, which is often quite useful
conclusion
Summarizing all four social networks, we see that each of them is connected to one another and to a company’s main website. This gives users the ability to easily navigate through the world of a brand and always be up to date with its events, collections and so on. (My brand of choice was Moschino) Social media represents a tool for communicating that gives companies the ability to advertise themselves quickly and easily to consumers. The strategy of Social Media Marketing (SMM) is important for companies to be competitive, it will allow companies to gain more consumers, evaluate their tastes and habits, and know what they want, decreasing communication costs and increasing profits.