Capitol Couture: Fashion Marketing

The high-fashion futurism of the Hunger Games film series is brought to life via Capital Couture, an online fashion and culture magazine. 

Conceived as a promotional vehicle for fans, the site creates a rich fictional world with ties to our own. Upon entering the site, visitors are confronted with portraits and an interview with two lead characters, Peeta and Johanna, wearing pristine designs from Maison Martin Margiela and Alexander Wang.

Elsewhere, profiles on high-fashion designers like Mary Katrantzou, as well as more experimental names like Peter Popps (whose sci-fi shoe designs are favoured by Lady Gaga) build a portfolio of styles that highlight the extravagant, avant-garde aesthetic of the Capitol (the films’ dystopian capital city). See our Fashion In Flux Design Direction for a stylistic overview of this future-facing design ethos.

Last year, luxury e-commerce platform Net-a-Porter sold a range of Capital Couture-inspired clothing designed by Trish Summerville, costumier of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The futuristic collection included laser-cut leather, dramatic eveningwear and streamlined silhouettes. Judging by its success, we see the potential for future film and TV projects with strong visual aesthetics to not only inspire fashion design, but also incite robust working relationships – like the ones established here between luxury fashion and costume designers – to create rich visual worlds. Menswear site Mr Porter's launch of clothing line Kingsman is another expample. 

See Future of Branded Content for similar media and marketing strategies and coverage from this year’s Comic-Con 2014 to read up on further Hunger Games marketing.