Harpers Bazaar
Fashion Week Fantasy
Project type
App design
Year
2016
Client
Mother New York / Harpers Bazaar
My role
Design Director / Senior Designer
Fashion Week is one of the most influential cultural moments in the world, yet for most people, it remains something to observe from the outside. Together with Mother New York and Harper's Bazaar, we explored how this experience could become more participatory. The project was developed as a prototype to turn attention itself into a product layer.
My Role
I led the UX and UI design of the experience, shaping the core interaction model and visual direction.
Over an intensive three-month sprint, I worked closely with the Mother New York team through a series of workshops to develop and refine the concept. Together, we translated a fast-moving cultural event into a simple and intuitive system.
Problem
Fashion Week is built on exclusivity, and most people engage with it passively through social media and editorial content.
At the same time, much of its cultural impact happens outside the runway. Celebrity appearances, front row placements, and social buzz often drive as much attention as the collections themselves, yet this layer is not something people can interact with.
Insight
People don’t just follow fashion. They follow attention.
Reframing
How might people interact with the attention surrounding Fashion Week, instead of just observing it?
We designed a fantasy-style system built around celebrity presence and social impact.
Users create a lineup by selecting celebrities they believe will generate the most buzz. As events unfold, points are awarded based on real-world visibility, appearances, and social traction.
This creates a direct link between cultural moments and user participation.
Solution
Fashion Week Fantasy adds a game layer on top of Fashion Week by turning attention into something measurable and interactive.
This is not about predicting fashion.
It is about playing the attention around it.
User Experience
Users build their lineup, then return as Fashion Week unfolds to track performance and compare results.
Moments that would normally be passively consumed become meaningful, creating an ongoing and engaging experience.
Impact
The project resulted in a first-of-its-kind prototype that explores how cultural events can be turned into interactive systems.
Developed over three months through close collaboration and iteration, it demonstrates how passive audiences can become active participants.
