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If you follow a few big-name fashion bloggers, this paisley-print, handkerchief-hem summer dress in fetching sherbet pink has probably flown through your Instagram feed once or twice in the last week. If you follow a lot of fashion bloggers, you've likely seen it dozens of times. Did the entire #OOTD crowd decide, en masse, that this was the dress of the summer? Not exactly.
Turns out, the dress is the center of a marketing campaign for Design Lab, a range of fashion-forward pieces from Lord & Taylor. Adweek reports that the brand gifted the style to 50 bloggers who, in exchange for unspecified compensation, posted pics of themselves in it. As Lord & Taylor's CMO Michael Crotty explained to the trade, the logic behind the blitz was to create a conversation you couldn't ignore:
"The goal was to make [the potential customer] stop in her feed and ask why all her favorite bloggers are wearing this dress, and what is Design Lab? Using Instagram as that vehicle is a logical choice, especially when it comes to fashion."
While the connection between blogger promotion and retail sales is sometimes unclear, it's safe to say this campaign was a runaway success. Adweek reported that the dress had sold out by the end of the weekend, but we're seeing it still available here (and on sale!) in a size Large only, so it may be that other sizes are sold out (Ed. Note: And, it's sold out. That was fast!). It's like the sartorial equivalent of an earworm of a tune on the radio; sometimes repetition is the first step to love.
Click ahead to see how 18 different bloggers wore the dress.
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