dunhill Day 8: Heritage and Online Innovation.

Since the arrival of economic downturn a few years ago, countless editorials and journalistic fashion commentaries have linked the growth of heritage houses with the consumers’ yearning for something that stands in opposition to fast fashion, and promises to stand the test of seasons to come. But, as is typical of its nature, fashion now demands something more of the well established and revered – digital innovation.

And the best houses are steadily coming up with the goods. Take, for example, Burberry‘s 3D digital AW10 ad campaign which blends the unique experience of a live catwalk show with ease of access, allowing you to get 180-degree views of a particular item. Yes, the incredible, hulking aviator jackets might have been the first attraction, but with the launch of this new method of online marketing, Burberry enticed a whole new legion of fans.

^ Burberry’s Digitally Interactive AW10 Campaign

Now, dunhill, which has been undergoing a renaissance since its inception (started out as a saddlery, then switched to all things motoring-related, now a fully-blown fashion behemoth owned by Richemont), has decided to get in on the action with the launch of Day 8 – an online platform and iPad app for engaging content.

Not a “blog”, the press release states (does the word “blog” really connote such bad things that they’ve got to run from the association and label their endeavour “the world viewed through the dunhill eye” instead?), Day 8 aggregates content from various corners of the cultural world for the delectation of the consumer. And, as cynical as I could be, and as much as you could term this a blatantly obvious jumping on the bandwagon, this is a bloody good effort.

The launch of the online interface features a film of a commission undertaken by illustrator Chris Dent, entitled “Homes”. In this work Dent sets his interpretation of the four ‘homes’ of dunhill around the world onto paper, and the resulting dunhill cityscape is pretty impressive: Bourdon House (London), Prince’s Building (Hong Kong), the Twin Villas (Shanghai) and Ginza (Tokyo) neighbour each other, whilst the Oriental Pearl (Shanghai) brushes shoulders with the Millennium Dome (London) and the Bank of China (Hong Kong).

^ Dent’s commission for dunhill, “Homes”

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdTKpVZe7O4?fs=1]

Add to this Day 8’s features on the Manhattan Short Film Festival (for which dunhill’s Bourdon House is the venue), the making of its Chassis leather range, Japanese artists Wataru Komachi’s display for the Tokyo ‘home’ inspired by a 1930’s dunhill employee (Clement Court, who travelled over land from Paris to Tokyo), and the work of photographer Andrew Zuckerman.

^ Chassis holdall

It’s a veritable visual feast, and has me hooked again since the exit of former Creative Director Kim Jones. No doubt the partnership between digital innovation and dunhill will last a good deal longer?