• by Tanya Gazdik , May 2, 2011

Fashion retailer Forever 21 is hosting a series of unique fashion shows worldwide that use holographic images instead of live models.

The promotion, conceived and produced with the help of digital agency space150, kicked off last week in Vienna, Austria. A total of eight shows are currently scheduled, with the next two in Brussels and London in June and July, says Los Angeles-based Forever 21 Marketing Manager Kirstin Nagle. A New York show, currently the only U.S. show scheduled, will be in the fall.

The Vienna show, timed to celebrate the opening of the flagship Vienna retail store, gave invited fans and customers the chance to see breaking fashion trends in a runway show comprised entirely of holographic models. It was both a press and consumer event, she says.

"Consumers obtained invites to the event through becoming fans of our Facebook Grand Opening event page," Nagle tells Marketing Daily . "For our upcoming events marketing and outreach will also be done through social media. Depending on each market and size of venue, a certain number of consumer invites will be given."

The show features a runway first: no live models. Holographic models, wearing designs from Forever 21's new line, walk the runway, disappear into starbursts and climb invisible staircases that light up underfoot.

"We know that our customers are tech savvy and stay on top of trends in both fashion and technology," Nagle says. "These shows are a way of connecting with our consumers in both areas."

Forever 21's program of digital brand entertainment began in June 2010 with the introduction of an interactive Forever 21 billboard in Times Square, New York. Also conceived in partnership with space150, the board located on the site of the iconic Virgin billboard, features giant onscreen models interacting in real-time with customers on the streets outside the store. Models snap Polaroids of the crowd in real-time or pick people up and drop them into a store shopping bag.

The brand operates 450 stores in the United States with operations internationally in Bahrain, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand and UAE (Dubai and Abu Dahbi).