The best fashion apps for the iPad

As the fashion industry starts to embrace iPad technology, a number of new apps have launched. Here are the best so far.

Net-a-Porter

Not simply another version of the online retailer’s website, the Net-a-Porter application uses an interactive magazine format to showcase catwalk trends and designer products. Packed with nifty touchscreen content, shoppers are invited to play with fashion spreads and video clips (a four-minute documentary on Halston; a runway report on candy colours). Highlights include the “Front Row Fashion” section, where browsers can watch catwalk shows and touch images of each model to see products that best represent the trends, and “Shop The Magazine”, where eager buyers can cut to the chase and purchase. That said, while all products have a 360° view option, some images don’t keep the high-resolution quality when enlarged (chances are this is a teething glitch). Still, on balance, the app is sumptuous and fun.

Shop Style

This is an extension of the shopstyle.com website, where customers can browse 100 or more brands, from Vanessa Bruno and Juicy Couture for women to Brooks Brothers and Lacoste for men, and Diesel and Ralph Lauren for children – plus beauty and homeware products. There is a touch option for the latest looks; buyers can flick through suggestions for day and evening wear variations and will then be taken through to the original point of sale, such as Barneys or shopbop.com, to purchase the item. There are, however, no multi-angle shots of products, a real drawback.

Gilt

An enhanced, efficient version of Gilt’s luxury sale website, this app offers numerous brands at considerable discount available for a limited time, including Prada perfumes, Elle Macpherson Intimates, Antik Batik and Completely Bare spa and skincare. Buyers can see forthcoming sales and thumb through images of each product.

Yoox

The touchscreen version of the website yoox.com, this application offers deals on designer brands such as John Galliano and Viktor & Rolf via a simple interface. Bargain hunters will find plenty to forage for (on the day of testing, new Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche jeans were on promotion for €49), plus there’s a touch option to view details on clothing.

Gucci

Gucci is the first luxury brand to embrace the iPad, with not one but two applications. The first, a showcase for Gucci’s world, opens with an image of its famous embossed leather followed by a touch-and-flip lookbook of the pre-autumn 2010 season. Elsewhere on the application are videos of all the Gucci catwalk shows, an icon for the pop-up sneaker stores the brand opened with DJ Mark Ronson, and titbits from creative director Frida Giannini’s iTunes playlist plus a little black book of addresses in cities that she loves. The second application complements the launch of Gucci’s new perfume, Guilty, where viewers can explore the concept behind the patchouli-based scent. 

Tod’s

Tod’s “My Life In This Bag” app focuses on their D-bag collection, as six owners including a mother, a socialite, a globetrotter and an art dealer open their bags, lives and address books to browsers. Video clips, maps, reading lists and photographs are all included, as is an interactive 360° view function of each bag and information on colours and materials. Easy to navigate, although insider knowledge on how the D-bag was created would have been useful.

Lulu Guinness

Tongue-in-cheek, witty and wonderfully quirky. An inspiration board takes browsers into the world and personality of the Lulu Guinness Lip Clutch handbag range. A video clip with the designer herself explaining the creative process behind one of her handbags (the one with a mechanical chirping bird in a cage) is a delight. Click through to browse and buy, and superimpose Lip clutches on to photos to make your own DIY Lulu Guinness electronic postcard.

MaxMara

During New York’s Fashion’s Night Out last week, MaxMara celebrated its 50-strong Cube Jacket range by launching a free application on iPad stations dotted all over their Madison Avenue flagship store. Buyers can virtually customise their own Cube jacket in any number of combinations, adding inner mink vests, fox cuffs and hooded body warmers. This is not a direct shopping application however, more a showcase.

All Saints

This British fashion brand has kept its app simple. All clothing and accessories are shown in full-screen, multiple-angle mode. Buyers can complete direct purchases in UK sizes 6-14 in a couple of touches. The store locator function is easy to use, as is the size guide and information on product care. One highlight is the inclusion of a search function so buyers can search for “T-shirts” or “cardigans” quickly and simply. For those who want to road-test, iPads featuring the All Saints application have been installed in the brand’s store in Soho, New York.

Gap 1969

Innovative yet simple, this app allows Gap to showcase its complete 1969 denim collection by way of a wallposter-esque layout. Buyers can swoosh across the poster and click on videos, browse “moodboard” creations, view images from the 1969 launch party, and, of course, shop the range. A slick highlight is the match-and-mix function, which lets buyers see what different denim washes look like on various top-to-toe combinations.

All of the featured iPad applications are free and available via the Apple app store. The apps will synchronise with your iPad and download the latest content automatically.

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Forget It bags, it’s the iBag

Slim, elegant and gracefully curved, the iPad is an object of lust for even the staunchest technophobe, writes Carl Wilkinson. Protecting it with a clunkingly practical case in black nylon is not an option.

Thankfully, almost every designer of note has stepped up to solve the problem. After all, with the end of the It bag being prophesied due to the recession, it’s time they found another accessory for their creative focus.

Thus, for the rugged outdoorsy type, Built offers patterned or brightly coloured neoprene cases from £34. For the label-conscious, Louis Vuitton has an LV monogrammed number for £240, Gucci is on board with a monogrammed satchel for £150, Salvatore Ferragamo has styles in calfskin or canvas, Paul Smith offers a host of stripy Apple-related accessories, Yves Saint Laurent has a sleek patent version, and Liberty is due to launch its version (presumably floral) later in the year. And, for the more idiosyncratic, Hackney designer Ryan Frank has made a case from cork matting; Dodo offers handmade bamboo cases; and surf store Howies has knitted woollen sleeves.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. British label Mulberry has collaborated with Apple on a range of bags (prices from £150) that marry style and practicality, encompassing leather wallets, colourful clutch and handbags, all specifically designed to incorporate a piece of Apple; so Bayswater bags, for example, can discreetly hold a 13-inch MacBook in a padded internal section.

“Deciding to develop the collection was a no-brainer,” says Emma Hill, the label’s creative director, who describes herself as “hopelessly devoted to and obsessed” with her iPad. “I think the Mulberry customer wants to retain the coveted exteriors of Mulberry icons, like the Bayswater for women and the Brynmore for men, but inside have enhanced features like padding, pockets and headphones access – combining style with function.”

Accessories designer Bill Amberg has also embraced the boom in Apple products. “As technology has grown smaller, what we carry it around in has grown smaller too,” he says. Like Mulberry’s Hill, Amberg has drawn an innate connection between luggage and modern gadgets, so all Amberg’s cases (prices from £140) come with a neoprene base to protect a laptop, and pockets for phones and cables, and this autumn he will launch two slimline briefcases designed for slimline gadgets.

Still, despite the boom in designer labels embracing Apple, the most common iPad case you’ll see on the street is the company’s own: a £30 black sleeve that opens to reveal the iPad’s screen while forming a stand that makes typing easier and allows the iPad to become a free-standing screen for movie-watching. Which prompts the question: when something so functional is available, why buy a designer case that is almost as expensive as the device itself?

“People want different styles” of cases for their different lives, says Elizabeth Selvey, luggage buyer at Selfridges. “Compared with Europe, people in the UK are a lot more casual, for example. You can cycle or walk into work and don’t have to wear a suit every day, so people are looking for something a bit different.”

And not just in Europe, apparently. According to Tony Haile, technophile and general manager of New York-based web analytics company Chartbeat, “In the tech startup world you’ve got creative people who’ve all become so homogenised by Apple products (we all use identical Macbooks, iPhones and iPads) that a case can be an important expression of individuality.”

On the other hand, he notes, “while I haven’t seen any awful ones, I would question someone who stops by with a Hello Kitty iPad case ...”

www.builtny.com

www.ryanfrank.net

www.dodocase.com

www.howies.co.uk

www.mulberry.com

www.billamberg.com

www.apple.com