The Business of Fashion

Links | Future fashion, Pink slips and Recession buster

A little lightness to end the week here on The Business of Fashion. This 1930's clip from Youtube forecasts cantilever-heeled shoes and transparent net as the fashion must-haves for the Year 2000. The video has had almost 100,000 views. Could Raf Simons, Marc Jacobs and Alexander McQueen been some of them? Have a look at their collections for Spring/Summer 2008.

The Latest in Fashion: Pink Slips (New York Times)
Eric Wilson chronicles the revolving designer doors at fashion houses from New York to Milan to Paris in recent years. Of course, the latest door revolved this week in Milan, where Lars Nilsson was quickly replaced by Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi of 6267 as head designers for Gianfranco Ferre.

Luxe brands Follow the Money - to the Internet (WWD)
Several readers have written to alert us to today's WWD article about the role the Internet can play in helping luxe brands ride out the recession, which US Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke, all but confirmed yesterday. In what some are touting as the greatest recession buster for luxury companies, the Internet may (finally) be the next battleground in their quest for the luxury consumer's dollars, euro and yen.

Marc Jacobs: Getting into the fray

In what is what is likely a first in the fashion industry when it comes to the blogosphere, Marc Jacobs has joined the ongoing online debate raging about his supposed row with Suzy Menkes, the highly regarded fashion editor of the International Herald Tribune.

In his comment on Cathy Horyn's On the Runway blog, Jacobs says:

I did NOT stick my tongue out at Suzy Menkes……I pulled a stupid face with my tongue out in happiness for being done with what has been a great but most stressful season for me. I am not stupid, childish or a vindictive person….I had prior to the show left a silly t-shirt and a nice note for Suzy on her seat. Why would I do anything to further upset her? Right after a show!!?? Cathy and all else reading this, I am surprised that anyone who knows me at all think that I am that petty or stupid! Anyone who has ever been on a stage would know you can’t actually see the audience. I made a face at no one in particular….I didn’t have a clue as to who was sitting there. Come on guys, give me a break!!!!!

Jacobs' decision to respond to the backlash in a public forum, as opposed to using the normal channels of publicists and press releases, was a smart one. You can only respond to the blogosphere by going straight to the heart of the storm and engaging the community. Marc Jacobs' choice to do this on Horyn's blog also shows how On the Runway has become a formidable community with its own voice in the industry.   And the response from the community has generally been very positive.

New York Fashion Week: Marc Jacobs is backwards, upside down and inside out

Last night I witnessed the intricate ballet of savvy PR and event-planning that has helped build Marc Jacobs into one of the only truly successful, global luxury brands that has been launched in the past 20 years.

It was evidence of the basic human psychological desire to be part of the cool crowd. You know those nightclubs that intentionally keep people waiting outside to give off the impression of being the hot spot of the moment? This was not all that different, except Marc Jacobs has been doing this for almost 20 years, and he has it down to a fine art. Plus, this is not just hype. He has a reputation for delivering collections that will inspire designers and consumers the world over as they adopt his take on of-the-moment coolness. Nobody wants to miss it. It is the hottest ticket in town

Here's how the night unfolded.

9:00pm - Crowds of guests and press have formed outside the Armory, but nobody is getting in. People are pretty calm, given the show was supposed to  start at this time, except for a French woman who insists she must urgently get in now. She is promptly rebuffed.

Marc Jacobs: The Cult of Corporate Cool, New York

Who said that big brands can't retain the DNA of what made them interesting in the first place?

This past week in New York, I visited the Marc by Marc Jacobs store on Bleecker Street, the little brother store to Marc Jacobs mainline collection. Both businesses are owned by LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods conglomerate. Marc Jacobs is also the Creative Director for Louis Vuitton, the company's largest fashion brand. So, you might expect that the company feels corporate and over marketed.

Thus, it was a pleasant surprise to walk into the Marc store and see a huge yellow chicken mascot sitting in the store window. A (suitably cool) photographer named Thom was taking photos of customers posing with the chicken and then posting them in the store windows for all to see.  As Thom explained, the tradition of taking these kinds of photos goes back years in Marc Jacobs history to Marc's infamous Christmas parties, where extravagantly dressed up patrons would pose together as momentos of the party. You can check out some of these photos on Thom's website.

By translating this fun experience into the store, customers are engaging with the Marc Jacobs brand in such a cool way, that is not staged or fake, but an authentic part of Marc's lifestyle and appeal. Some more photos of the instore antics are below.

Crowning glory: The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund

For all of you budding young designers based in America, the CFDA has officially begun its annual search for America's most promising young designers. Each year, the CFDA awards a $200,000 grant to the winner, along with mentoring from a recognised fashion business guru as part of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund.  Past winners include the intelligent and talented Doo-Ri Chung (looking super glam in this ad) who is mentored by J.Crew's legendary Mickey Drexler and the refined-beyond-their-years Proenza Schouler design duo, Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernandez, who were mentored by Burberry's impressive former CEO, Rose Marie Bravo.

This is a really great initiative from the CFDA and other venerable fashion names like Barneys New York and Vogue. That said, I have one suggestion to make it even more powerful. I believe the CFDA should supplement the business mentoring and cash with a requirement and access to funding for the winning designers to find a suitable day-to-day business partner/advisor. While mentoring from an experienced fashion business executive is priceless, it does not make up for daily support and partnership.

I have made this point before, but so many young designers try to do everything on their own, and this means they deal with areas where they might not have any formal training or expertise. One look at the long list of established designers who have relied on business parters to act as thought partners on day-to-day decisions and to share the workload, shows that this is a real pattern of success in the industry.  Marc Jacobs (who has Robert Duffy), Miuccia Prada (has always worked with her husband Patrizio Bertelli), Tom Ford (who with Domenico De Sole turned Gucci around from a fuddy duddy backwater brand), Giorgio Armani (Sergio Galeotti worked with Armani for years before he passed away), Valentino (Giancarlo Gianetti is still his business partner, even if he is no longer his life partner), and Derek Lam  (Jan-Hendrik Schlottmann) have all shown that this tandem approach can help to get the business off the ground properly, allowing the designer to focus more on the creative aspects of the business.

This ad above, from today's WWD, lays out all of the requirements and the application procedure. Good luck!