New York Fashion Week 2021, which oddly enough begins today and ends tomorrow, marks the return of BMW of North America to the catwalk. BMW rejoins Fashion Week, a celebration of fashion, culture, design, and economic development.
This year, BMW chose to collaborate with acclaimed women’s fashion designer, LaQuan Smith, on a custom-content series. Smith, a celebrated designer with an A-list clientele that includes Beyonce, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Kim Kardashian, is known in haute couture as something of a risk-taker, definitely not a negative for a car company like BMW, with vehicles that inspire spirited performance.
“Over the past two years, New York Fashion Week has become an important platform for BMW, one on which we can not only showcase, but also celebrate the diversity and inclusivity of the fashion community,” said Uwe Dreher, vice president of marketing, BMW of North America. “The connection between high fashion and a premium automotive company such as BMW extends beyond design and style to include a spirit of innovation and performance.”
Designers in the automotive and fashion worlds are sometimes daring, provocative, and innovative. This series is meant to show how both require patience, persistence, and veracity. Outside the rarified world of fashion designers and their well-heeled clients, we may not understand the aesthetic or the more bizarre examples that end up in the news, but we can appreciate the effort and originality required to stand out.
BMW has chosen to back LaQuan in this year’s Fashion Week to showcase his work, and that of their own X5 M and X7 sports activity vehicles. In previous years, other automakers have used Fashion Week to not only display their vehicles, but to shuttle VIPs and their guests from nearby hotels to the show, providing them with an introduction, albeit brief, to the brand.
“I am thrilled to partner with BMW of North America on this special content series,” said LaQuan Smith. “There has been a synergy between the brands from the onset, which has highlighted the parallels of luxury craft and design between the fashion and automotive industries, as both have continued to innovate and persevere through these challenging times.”
A supporter of the arts and culture in the Big Apple, BMW’s partnership with Fashion Week is one way to reach audiences that may be unfamiliar with the German automaker. This approach, while not unique among carmakers, is still a good promotional platform.
[Images: BMW]
Just for giggles, here’s the actual press release done by BMW for this:
https://www.bmwusanews.com/newsrelease.do?id=3688&mid=
This “news article” is clearly a copy/paste job with some switched-up verbiage.
C’mon, TTAC. Really? Back when I was editing a newspaper, I’d have s**tcanned a staffer for this.
>MIKE
Good catch. not something to be proud of.
Not trying to be a jerk, but I’ve notice a lot of this sort of thing coming from this particular author.
Of all the things going on in the automotive world at the moment, I’d think fashion week is the last thing any of us would want to read about. It almost seemed like it was picked because the only work that needed to be performed was a press release rewrite. There’s a lot that could have been done, but I still would have rather read about the guy doing the V8 swap into the Model S or the guy that did a freevalve conversion on a Mazda motor. THere’s also a treasure trove of stuff on youtube that could be covered. In fact, the Avtoros Shaman popped up in one of my feeds. That would be interesting to write about. There is also the Coches de Madera racing that none of the sites has covered yet.
Is it even legal? Journalism costs money, there is no free lunch.
Poor reporting is not illegal.
Jason was going for snark. Apparently, we missed a bit.
Well, a press release isn’t snarky, so when you copy-paste about 90% of it, the end result is usually a bit bereft in the snark department.
I get your meaning. We don’t tolerate plagiarism here. Jason and I discussed this and he didn’t intend to copy the release. I’ve also made it clear to our staff we aren’t just here to aggregate releases without adding value. Thanks for catching this, and I assure you that this shouldn’t be a pattern going forward.
I’m not sure what the defined scope of your coverage is; but speaking personally, thinly veiled re-writes of press releases don’t have much interest for me. Here’s an idea — and your reporter can do the story by telephone — how about a piece on the various YouTube car mechanical people, such as Scotty Kilmer. Apparently Kilmer (a Houstonian who recently decamped for Tennessee) got his start doing “repair scam” features and the like for one of his local TV stations. Then there’s Pierre Hedary, who has a passion for “sorting” (his words) vintage Mercedes-Benz cars (and there are others in this particular category). How did these other guys get started? What motivated them to do this? And so on. FWIW, Hedary and Kilmer certainly appear to know their stuff. Hedary has a B&M restoration business in Florida; but Kilmer — a pretty old guy — appears to do it just for kicks and clicks.
Thanks, Tim, I appreciate the response.
Maybe they’ll hire Georgia May Jagger as the spokesmodel for the new M4:
https://i1.wp.com/imageamplified.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/GLAMOUR-SPAIN-Georgia-May-Jagger-by-Jonas-Bresnan.-Miriam-Arruga-December-2016-www.imageamplifie.jpg?resize=662%2C883
https://imageamplified.com/glamour-spain-georgia-may-jagger-jonas-bresnan/
Some fashion dude schleps for BMW. You give me a new BMW, even this rather ugly SUV and I’ll sit in the back seat and try and look cool. Yea I’m a sell out, but I bet I need the money more this guy.
Yech! Look at the tiny grill on that SAV. If anything, it should be at least twice as tall.
There, I’m the only person who has ever said it.
Honestly… does ANYONE care about this outside of the inner circles of New York’s fashion scene? Somebody had better let them know that BMW’s aren’t cool anymore – and haven’t been for a while.
Random Thought.
I wish i could get a dose of Melody Lee 1/month or so. Might be good for chuckles.
Peel off the BMW logo, put Nissan or Hyundai on there, modify the grill just a bit, and no one would be any the wiser.
Someone could have fun with photoshop Swap Kia grill with MB or Audi CUV. What’s with this Jason, maybe he is not a real person but a new AI software bot they purchased as a cost saving measure? …..and why is the pinnacle of fashion: jeans, t-shirt and grabbing one’s crotch? Please note fashion in V-16 Cadillac ad as a compro to where society is, and this BMW is supposed to be a “luxury” marque.
Fashion week in NY? I though New York is a ghost city and not cool anymore. May be cold but not cool.
Snark or no snark, press release or none…..:
Those who can (build ultimate, or even competitive, driving machines), do.
While those who no longer can, are the ones desperately attempting to obfuscate their shortcomings, by casting about doing all manners of dumb stuff instead.
Right here is where BMW lost its’ way…..the Ultimate Fashion Machine.
We don’t care. Fix the steering.