Brands are always looking for new and innovative ways to tell their story. Social media has provided new channels for PR and marketing, and the core of this new promotional mix is often centered around engaging the the almighty Fashion Influencer, the early adopter, the brand ambassador. While many fashion PR pros may be well versed in the rationale and purpose of pitching fashion bloggers, few brands have gone beyond the fashion blog to engage with fashion influencers in the other places where they are connecting with each other and producing content online.

American Apparel has a history of working directly with fashion influencers as well using real people, aka not models, in their advertising. To recap, they made a series of ads with Chictopia members last year, held an in-store modeling call/shoot for customers during New York’s Fashion’s Night Out, and photographed style bloggers such as The Chic Muse in Mexico City and The Cherry Blossom Girl in Paris.

However, the partnership with LookBook.nu is the most extensive to date, and is rooted in AA’s true appreciation for the LookBook.nu community, as well as a company commitment to use resources as a big company to do cool artistic projects with artists whose work they enjoy. In case you aren’t familiar, LookBook.nu is an invite-only international community of members who post their outfits. Members then vote up the looks that they like, and the more votes, the more your reputation grows. LookBook.nu regularly runs contests with fashion brands that engage their community around producing content.

As a representative from AA explains, “basically, we were intrigued with LookBook.nu when it first came out, which led us to eventually advertise and feature their users on our site. We decided to do a bigger collaboration late last year and as part of it hosted a contest where their members submitted photos featuring their favorite American Apparel pieces. Now there are something like 7,000+ looks of people using our basics. Our 132 favorites became The LOOKBOOK.nu Lookbook by American Apparel.”

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[This post is sponsored by Moderne Press, is a boutique PR agency specializing in the representation of brands in the fashion accessories, beauty, home décor, and lifestyle industries. By working hand in hand with clients, Moderne Press provides personalized and dedicated service to create buzz for your brand. If you are interested in sponsoring an weekly links post, please email info[at]prcouture.com]
Themes that emerged during the  SS10 Shows and the Fashion Week Season (The Business of Fashion)

• Bryanboy was circumspect about all the newfound attention fixated on fashion bloggers. “I wonder if it’s just the latest trend,” he said to me outside Milk Studios in New York. “Will they get tired of us in a few seasons and move onto the next big thing?” It remains to be seen, but for now, the bloggers have arrived in full effect.

Fashion BS is an off the cuff weekly radio show (new shows every Monday) that discusses trends, commentary, and public opinion in the areas of fashion, beauty, and style.

Kimberly Barta, Vice President of Marketing, gives the dish on the Seattle Doc Marten Pop-Up shop (via Sundance Channel)

• People are from all walks of life: young Japanese punk band kids, to French tourists, to 60-year old downtown women. We seem to have something for everybody; you really cannot tell who is going to walk through the doors. As always, DM has an incredible reach across the board.

Who Do You Trust More: Beauty/Fashion Mag Editors Or Bloggers? (via The Frisky)

• Keep in mind that bloggers are still second-class citizens in the hierarchy of the publishing world. So they’re not getting nearly as much free crap as, say, an editor who works at Vogue literally gets on an hourly basis, mind you, but plenty. In fact, the above-mentioned Times article on the subject reported that at a recent fashion event, all of the magazine editors who attended waltzed out the door carrying a new designer bag, while the trash bloggers got none. (Twitter outrage ensued, naturally.)

Remember when PR Couture participated in a virtual fashion show with a Second Life fashion PR Agency? They just put out their first fashion magazine, a whopping 216 pages! It’s a fascinating read into the SL fashion industry, and it includes an interview with PR Couture founder Crosby Noricks on page 94.

The indie fashion PR component to top fashion PR blog PR Couture, Show Me The Pretty features 5-question interviews with hand-selected indie fashion labels. PR Couture shares the pretty and then turns it back to the designers to ask questions and get advice and feedback about their own fashion PR strategy from a variety of industry experts. Sound like fun? Email info[at]prcouture.com for more information.

Sara Seumae was a mom on a mission – how to introduce organic clothing into her family without going over budget? After scouting Seattle for quality, affordable organic fashion and finding it lacking, the answer quickly became – create it yourself.  After a year of research and despite no fashion design experience, Sara introduced SPUN, her collection of flattering must-have basics in February, 2008.  Now in it’s second season, each SPUN piece is made in the United States using high quality 100% Certified Organic Cotton dyed using environmentally safe low–impact fiber reactive dyeing processes. Recently, Sara teamed up with fellow Seattle indie fashion brand Revival Ink (provides eco-friendly apparel printing by hand) for a limited edition run.

Sara was lovely enough to send some of her line over to PR Couture to enjoy, and each piece has become quickly integrated (I’m actually wearing the Beater Tank in Tibetan Blue as I type this) into my late summer wardrobe. I love the fit and quality of the pieces as well as the price point – tanks, tops, cardigans and dresses range between $25 – $100. Follow Sara on Twitter @choosespun

Your clothes are clearly cut with fit in mind – what was the process like for determining just how to make everything so gosh darn flattering?

As a mother of 2, my body is just not what it used to be. With every single piece I design or ultimately make, I consider how it will look on my own body. I realize that not every woman wearing SPUN has had a child, but most of women like to wear flattering clothing. So I try to design wearable pieces that you can wear to dinner and not worry about how it will look around your tummy if you have a big meal. I also utilize my mom and sister for their advice. Sort of like taking them into the dressing room with me, I put on a sample and see what their feedback is. This process has been very helpful in determining which designs actually make it to the stores.

What was the moment when you looked around and thought “this could really work!”

I would be lying if I said that receiving press and getting the attention of my favorite blogs and magazines doesn’t make my heart beat like crazy. It really does. But last year, I was doing a show and this woman stopped by my booth rather quickly just to tell me that she loves her SPUN tank tops. It happened so fast and was so completely unexpected, but I still get excited thinking about it. I remember that right after she left, I stopped and looked at the line that was forming in front of my sales table and thought to myself that perhaps I could do this.

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