揭祕世界頂級時裝秀上明星座位怎麼排
Not long ago, making a seating chart for a fashion show was a pretty ugly process. A master plan hashed out in New York might be faxed halfway around the world to a designer for approval, where it would be marked up and sent back half a day later. Last minute additions to the guest list were made by hand; RSVPs were collected by phone.
不久前，爲時裝秀製作座位表還是一個非常粗糙的過程。在紐約敲定的一個主計劃可能需要穿越半個地球，傳真給一位設計師審批。隨後，這位設計師會在上面做一些標記，半天后再發回來。最後一分鐘添加的人選往往需要用手寫在嘉賓名單上；嘉賓回函也需要通過電話一一確認。"We were using so much paper, and time efficiency was also an issue," said Rachna Shah, the executive vice president of KCD, a fashion publicity firm that helps organize runway shows for major labels like Calvin Klein (PVH) and Tommy Hilfiger.
“我們要使用大量的紙張，而且時間效率也是個問題，”KCD公司執行副總裁拉奇納?沙阿說。這家時裝公關公司時常幫助卡爾文?克萊恩(Calvin Klein)和湯米?希爾費格(Tommy Hilfiger)這類大品牌組織走秀活動。Then the fashion world met Eddie Mullon. In 2004, Mullon arrived at KCD's New York office to extract a virus from a publicist's computer. (The company found out about the Malawi-born, Britain-bred computer repairman and software developer through flyers he had posted around the city.) He became a technology consultant for the firm and watched them struggle to figure out who would sit where at the dozens of shows they organized in New York, London, Milan, and Paris twice a year.
隨後，時裝界遇到了埃迪?米隆。2004年，米隆來到KCD公司紐約辦事處，從一位職員的電腦中提取了一個病毒。（出生於馬拉維、在英國長大的米隆是一位計算機維修工和軟件開發人員。KCD公司從米隆在紐約市四處張貼的小廣告上知道他這號人物。）他隨即成了這家公司的一名技術顧問。米隆在KCD公司每年兩次於紐約、倫敦、米蘭和巴黎組織的數十場時裝秀上隆一次次地目睹了這些公關人員爲確定誰坐在哪裏而疲於奔命的情形。
"They would have 50 people working on a document, taking a picture, scanning it down and faxing it to Paris," Mullon recalled. "I said, 'I could do this on a computer. It would be like a video game.'"
“他們需要50名員工製作一份文檔，拍照，掃描，然後傳真至巴黎，”米隆回憶說。“我說，‘我可以在電腦上搞定這一切，它會跟視頻遊戲一樣好玩。’”This was the genesis of Fashion GPS, a platform that creates seating charts for the majority of mainstream, high-end fashion shows, which can each generate hundreds of millions of dollars in economic impact. Mullon built proprietary software that allows multiple show organizers to work on a chart at once -- think of it as Google Docs for the fashion set.
這就是Fashion GPS的起源。目前，大多數高端時裝秀都在通過這個平臺創建座位表，這些時裝秀的每一場都有可能催生數億美元的經濟影響。這款由米隆設計的專有軟件可以讓多場時裝秀的主辦方同時在一張圖表工作。沒錯，它就是時裝版的谷歌文檔(Google Docs)。The Anna Wintours and Kanye Wests of the world can be dragged and dropped into their appropriate seats, and seating assignments can be changed in real time at the event via an iPad app, "depending on who turned up and who didn't," Mullon said. For show-goers, he developed GPS Radar, a smartphone app that keeps track of invitations, seating assignments, and gets updated with the latest images of what's gone down the runway. He has also experimented with airport-style check in kiosks and RFID tags, which he embedded in the paper invitations for Christian Dior's latest show in Paris, allowing attendees to breeze past receptionists with nary a pause in their stiletto-ed stride.
時裝界的安娜?溫圖爾和坎耶?韋斯特們可以被拖放至適當的座位，座位分配可以在走秀過程中通過一款iPad應用實時改變，“主要取決於誰來了，誰沒來，”米隆說。他還面向秀場觀衆開發了GPS雷達系統(GPS Radar)。這款智能手機應用不僅能追蹤請柬、座位分配表，還可以實時更新秀臺的最新畫面。此外，他還試用了一下類似機場的自動檢錄技術和RFID（無線射頻識別）標籤。在最新一場克里斯汀?迪奧(Christian Dior)時裝秀上，他就把RFID標籤嵌入嘉賓的紙質邀請函之中，從而讓這些腳蹬高跟鞋的觀衆無需片刻遲疑就可以落落大方地穿過接待生。"The way that Europe works, they want an invitation that's physical," he said.
他說：“這樣做在歐洲行得通，他們希望收到一張看得見，摸得着的邀請函。”For designers, Fashion GPS has been "game-changing," said Aliza Licht, Donna Karan's senior vice president of global communications. "We used to have to e-mail each guest with his or her show seat assignment number. Now we can send seat assignments to five hundred people at the same time in one click."
對於設計師來說，Fashion GPS一舉“改變了秀場的遊戲規則，”唐娜?卡蘭(Donna Karan)時裝公司全球傳訊事務高級副總裁阿里扎?利希特說。“我們過去不得不給每位嘉賓發電子郵件，通知他們的座位號。現在，我們只需要輕輕一點，就可以同時把座位安排表發送給500個人。”And though fashion favors form in nearly every other regard, for Fashion GPS, functionality has been a boon. "From every standpoint, it's made the process more efficient," said KCD's Shah. "It's allowed us to focus on other things, as opposed to just who's sitting where."
儘管時裝界在幾乎所有其他方面都特別注重形式，但就Fashion GPS而言，功能強大絕對是一個福音。“無論從哪個角度來看，它都提高了這個流程的效率，” KCD公司的沙阿說。“它讓我們可以把心思放在其他事情上，而不是整天爲誰應該坐在哪兒這件事忙得焦頭爛額。”
