Apple+Fashion+Match Made in Heaven

As cable channels and open TV networks feel the pain of dwindling audiences and ever decreasing revenues, Apple TV announced the launch last Tuesday of Made2Measure a TV network dedicated to style. This is the concept that according to its two sponsors ( Appel TV and WME.IMG) brings together fashion and entertainment in a world where value is more and more enveloped in the latter.

Developed in super channel format Made2Measure includes a saucy interview show ( Tea at the Beatrice), films; documentaries and runway flashes. It also includes lots of guidance as to how to develop a unique and self-owned style. The exercise seems to signal a new trend in media services which departing from the assumption that the most precious gift for the 21^stcentury global tribes is entertainment it dispenses the concept in every way, shape and form.

Because it is on Apple TV it also breaks the strait jacket regime of prime time. Viewers can connect any time, all the time, and above all at odd times to select their favorite programming bits. They can rerun programming, interact with producers; anchors and stars through social media and add to on air discussions through texting. They can vote out content and they can ring into the forefront of programing efforts appealing concepts and content that is awaiting to be discovered.

This kind of fresh thought producing content will soon trigger two much awaited developments in the TV industry. Accelerate the exit of fashion related reality shows while attracting a host of new fresh and brave talent that will constantly create content to feed the programming grid. As new talent takes over aesthetics proposals will become more provocative and actual thereby modifying the way we approach fashion and style.

But perhaps the most important long term contribution of Made2 Measure will be its capacity to blend with runways  as opposed to portraying them. And then we shall see fashion take a new dimension with a life of its own that could shape everything we do from selecting a wardrobe to teaching a class. Because the channel and, Apple and fashion are about life in the 21^st century not about clothes.

On Tuesday, Made2Measure, the first TV channel from the sports/entertainment/fashion behemoth WME/IMG, and one devoted entirely to fashion (broadly defined), is debuting exclusively on Apple TV, thus underscoring yet again Apple’s desire to be seen as the No. 1 tech brand in fashion, as well as WME/IMG’s belief that fashion and entertainment are pretty much becoming one and the same, and giving all of us the opportunity to decide whether they are right.

The program lineup is the broadest, and most high-minded, I’ve seen yet from a fashion channel. Unlike the Style Network, the former all-fashion TV channel from NBC Universal, which was largely devoted to reality and how-to programming and is now called the Esquire Network and shared with Hearst, M2M will show (according to the WME/IMG announcement):

• An insider interview series called “Tea at the Beatrice,” held in the chophouse owned by the Vanity Fair editor, Graydon Carter, and hosted by Glenn O’Brien, former GQ Style Guy, with a guest slate that includes the model Gisele Bündchen, the designers Jack McCollogh and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler, and the artist Richard Prince;

• A fashion/tech documentary series called “Visionaries.” Subjects include the artist Daniel Arsham and Virgil Abloh, creative director of Kanye West and founder of the label Off-White. (Presumably, Apple’s Jony Ive and Marc Newson are also on the “dream subject” list.);

• Reruns of fashion films and documentaries such as “Valentino: The Last Emperor,” “Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?” and “The Day Before”;

• Runway shows from the last three seasons from Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Dior, Vuitton and Saint Laurent (among others), as well as shows from “MADE” new designer showcase names: Baja East, Adam Selman, Area and Chris Gelinas;

• A talk show with Laura Brown, executive editor of Harper’s Bazaar called “In and Out of Fashion with Laura Brown”;

• Feature-length original documentaries from “M2M Films,” starting with a piece on the “Battle of Versailles,” the 1973 show that sent United States fashion onto the global stage, as five American designers faced off against five of their French counterparts.

So there’s lots to watch — and not a classic reality TV fashion show à la “Project Runway” or “Fashion Star” among them. The announcement includes this somewhat telling statement from Mark Shapiro, chief content officer of WME/IMG, which suggests why: “Premium video programming that’s authentic, modern, and thought-provoking is still difficult to find.”