This past Wednesday I attended a panel about cultivating viral engagement featuring fashion and digital content experts Stephan Rabimov and Steff Yotka for SCADstyle. Stephan Rabimov is currently a contributor at Forbes magazine. He’s an award winning journalist with over a decade of experience covering everything fashion related. Steff Yotka is currently the head of digital content at SSENSE in charge of social media, fashion coverage and news.
During the panel, a topic that both Rabimov and Yotka spoke to was mindfulness in relation to content creation. As new and upcoming creatives, we need to make sure we are content creators, not content participators. Every day we post, like, and comment with little to no recollection of what we are consuming. Everything we do must be done with intent, an awareness of our audience, and of the impact we are creating. Yotka suggests telling a story with meaning. We need to feel something when we create content in order for our audience to feel something when it’s done.
We put this journey into our work to better connect with our audiences because we are not alone in this stage. Our peers are right there with us. This will level up our work, but both Yotka and Rabimov believe that this alone is not enough. We need to create something that is memorable and surprising — something that will break the internet. Yotka says although this is the ultimate goal, this can’t happen all the time. She suggests starting small by finding what we’re good at and are passionate about. These key things will help us be conscious of our content creation and avoid content participation.
Another topic discussed during the panel was the future of fashion. Yotka believes that even with the rise of virtual media, in-person runways will continue to exist, and I agree. Every person that attends a runway show and takes a picture instantly becomes a marketer for that designer, making it one of the cheapest ways to advertise their new collections. Not to mention, it’s a completely different reality attending in person and seeing the garments candidly. It’s also such an iconic element of fashion that I can’t see the industry disregarding it.
Additionally, they discussed the role of Artificial Intelligence in the future of fashion. Yotka claims that it is nothing to fear because it is inevitable. She claimed that we must participate or get left behind. Rabimov said to think of it as a good thing to add to your creative “toolbox.” He remembered when artists were worried about their jobs after the Adobe Creative Cloud became popular. It turned out to be a great thing and increased job opportunities. Rabimov’s viewpoint was that this digital age is necessary and the industry would not survive without it. Listening to Steff Yotka and Stephan Rabimov was incredibly informative and spread light on a lot of hot, upcoming content regarding the fashion industry.
Words by Anna Jara.
Graphics by Reem Hinedi.