Pinterest brought its phone-free experiment to London Fashion Week on Sunday, asking 50 guests at Claudia Smith London’s debut couture show to put their phones into beaded bags as the runway began. Guests could take their phones out for the finale, when all 12 looks appeared together, and keep them out for the after-party. Pinterest and Smith designed ruby-red beaded bags for guests to keep.
Designer Claudia Smith staged her namesake brand’s show at the British Museum during London Fashion Week. Pinterest proposed the phone-free format and sponsored its execution. Assigned photographers captured the show from the end of the runway, and guests could receive access to official images afterward through a QR code on their seats. They could post the clothes; they just had to watch them first.
Heather Clark, head of fashion and luxury at Pinterest U.K., said the distinction was intentional from Pinterest’s side. “People being on phones in fashion shows is a reflex,” she told Glossy. She said she has heard designers say they hope guests will put their devices away once a show starts. “I’m not as optimistic about that happening … without an invitation,” she said.
Per Pinterest, consumers viewing a collection without the distraction of a screen mimics how they use its platform: while they are still gathering ideas, before they have decided which label to buy. For her part, Smith developed visual references on Pinterest before creating the collection shown at the British Museum.
Smith collected ideas for the collection’s colors, textures and silhouettes, then translated them into sculptural couture with embroidery, crystals and beading. The collection, titled ‘BEYOND R.E.G.A.R.D.,’ draws on the historic Alphabet of Gems, where, in past centuries, gemstones were used to spell private messages. According to the organizers, Smith was the first Black British female couturier to be granted an exclusive solo partnership with the British Museum.
“Pinterest gave me a space to explore that language visually and intuitively before it became couture,” Smith told Glossy in an interview.
A former model who studied furniture and product design at London Metropolitan University, Smith founded the label CenturyB4 in 2021, and appeared alongside couturier Deborah Milner in Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio Couture Walks series in 2023. She officially launched her namesake label with the show on September 20.
Clark said she was aware The Row had also asked guests to keep phones out of its shows in previous seasons. “We did understand that and think, ‘How can we make this more unique and original?’” she said. Pinterest had tested a phone-free experience at Coachella, which Clark said was the closer inspiration for Smith’s show.
Clark said the debut gave Pinterest a way to show luxury brands how early the platform can enter a designer’s process. It wants to make a similar case for shoppers: According to Pinterest, 96% of searches on the platform are unbranded, giving fashion companies a chance to reach people before they have settled on what to buy.
“They’re very interested in being there while taste is still forming, before the brand preference is fixed,” Clark said of the luxury brands she works with. They now want “more than reach,” she added, including a better understanding of whether images discovered and saved months earlier play a part in a purchase.
Elsewhere at this season’s London Fashion Week shows, the distance between runway and checkout has been getting shorter. M&S streamed its London Fashion Week debut and made the looks available to buy immediately. At eBay’s Endless Runway, viewers could shop pieces during the livestream. Claudia Smith London’s show made a different pitch to the brands in the room: There is commercial value in what happens before a customer starts shopping.
Smith’s couture was available to purchase by inquiry. Pinterest’s argument to brands was that a shopper who saves a look today may consider the designer when she is ready to buy later. Clark said luxury brands increasingly want to reach people at that earlier stage, though she offered no evidence that this particular show led to purchases.
Pinterest will track whether Smith’s boards gain saves, followers and engagement after the runway images are added, but it gave no pre-show benchmark or target. Clark said the show was also meant to demonstrate to luxury brands how Pinterest can put their products in front of shoppers before those shoppers have settled on a label. Pinterest has not said whether the partnership led to customer inquiries or new business from brands, and did not disclose what it spent on the show.
Clark said Pinterest will also judge the show by the conversation it creates beyond the platform. “Was this a standout moment for London Fashion Week?” is one question she said the team will ask. Pinterest has posted about the show on LinkedIn, while FashionNetwork and Luxury London covered the partnership ahead of the event. Clark hopes it goes further, like Pinterest’s phone-free activation at Coachella did. “I’m hoping that this moment also has a cultural ripple effect,” she said. Pinterest has not set an immediate sales target for the show.
But the schtick comes with a risk for a new house. “You want people leaving with Claudia Smith in their heads rather than simply the buzz of ‘the Pinterest phone-free show,’” said Hannah Alley, a luxury marketing and partnerships consultant and former Selfridges brand partnerships manager. The test now is whether people ask about the clothes and book appointments.
“Attention [from Pinterest] has its place for the brand, but what matters more is whether this debut establishes a true foundation for the house,” Smith said.
