Little black dress that will have them ‘whistling’

Many in the industry say that video is the future. There were figures recently from one of the big retailers, possibly M&S saying that items that were accompanied by video footage sold better than those without. I know that when I’m in shopping mode and browsing online, video can be a useful way of seeing how a garment hangs and moves, how the fabric drapes, where the waist sits and other really important things you simply don’t get via static images.

I hadn’t really grasped how much of a sale clincher it can be however until I bought a dress from Whistles the other day. I’d been flicking through my iPad issue of the Sunday Times Style magazine a few weeks ago, looking at a piece on Christmas party dresses, when out of curiosity I clicked on the video content that was flagged up on the page. I don’t normally do this  – I’ve seen so many duff videos in the past – but on a whim I changed that habit. It was actually a really great little piece of video editorial, putting a range of party dresses through their paces by seeing how they stood up to energetic skating and by inference, the wear and tear of a party environment. Set in Westfield, it was also a great PR piece for the centre and one assumes each of the dresses profiled could be bought there. Because it was a piece of editorial with a strong call to action via recommendation it also was far more effective than a standard catwalk video.

Top marks went to a lovely Whistles dress with feather trimming on the hem. It looked cute, comfortable and sexy. I was sold. I needed to have it. Frustratingly there wasn’t a direct link to the website – missed opportunity guys – as is true of most Sunday Times iPad content. I then lost the impetus for a few days until I happened to be in a Whistles that had the dress in stock (my local Chiswick branch doesn’t) so that I could look at it properly. The Kings Road outlet didn’t have my size, but they did bend over backwards to order it for me from another store and delivered it to my office free of charge within a few days.

So, here I am, a delighted owner of a lovely new party dress whose purchase was prompted purely by video. Perfect proof of the pudding.