Halston's spring 2009 presentation.Photo: Imaxtree

Instead of a fashion show or presentation this season, Halston will showcase its fall 2009 collection with a music video distributed online. Fashion Week only starts the day after tomorrow, but it turns out it's never too late to announce you're not showing. Dree Hemingway stars in the video as a "modern-day Halstonette" prancing around New York, uptown and downtown, in Halston's fall collection (perhaps Whitney Port was unavailable).

A teaser of the video is going out to select editors and retailers today, and the full-length vignette will be sent out on Friday. Halston president and CEO Bonnie Takhar said the decision to show the clothes online instead of in real life had nothing to do with the economy and that they'd been planning this since September. Rather, they're trying to court that market coveted by and, at times, oddly elusive to marketing folk: young people. While previous collections were for 30- to 50-year-olds, this one is for 25- to 45-year-olds, and Halston doesn't want to be the last to arrive at the hot viral-video party they're having. “Now we are strategically incorporating and inviting various bloggers and blog sites. They have to be a part of every company’s marketing strategy today," Takhar says. Ooh, ooh they really love us! Ahem, our in-boxes are ready for that teaser when you are, Halston.

Halston Replaces Runway With Digital Video [WWD]