The end of fashion week/market week/selling season for A/W 2007 can only mean one thing:  private sales from emerging fashion designers from London, Paris and New York.

Malini Murjani, the New York based handbag designer known for her exotic skins and ethnic chic,  is holding a private trunk show next week for her exclusive private client list. Check out her website. It is hot.

Afshin Feiz recently held a trunk show in London. As of next season, Afshin, who is based in Paris and has been showing in New York up until now, will have his London debut, joining the ranks of many upcoming designers who see London as a potential launchpad.

Osman Yousefzada, is one such designer. He has been showing London for several seasons now has a new shared space with Jenne O, known for her sexy shoes, on Québec St, just north of Oxford Street in Central London. Osman and Jenne will be hosting a gallery opening later this month, and will also take the opportunity to have a sample sale.

This is not only a good way to gain additional revenues. It is also one way that many emerging designers help to fund their production needs. By providing a lucky few with the ability to order next season’s collections in advance at wholesale prices or by selling samples from previous seasons, designers can use the money to pay their suppliers for their production needs. This helps to cover the production costs of some of the orders from department stores and major boutiques who are often reluctant to put down a deposit (sometimes because they fear they will never see the orders, sometimes because they just have so much power over these small companies that they can do whatever they want).

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!

The term “business plan” is casually bandied about like a hot potato in the studios of emerging fashion designers. Everyone knows you need one, but still, so few emerging design businesses take the time upfront to properly plan for their success. I use these words intentionally. Success is very rarely accidental. Sure, we all benefit from some good luck from time to time, but real success can only come through hard work and good planning. For this, a business plan is critical.

So, what is a business plan for? Many people think that the primary purpose is to secure funding – i.e. loans from banks or cash from investors. And while this is certainly one important objective, it is not the most important one.

The truth is, the business plan is, above all else, for you: the person or people who will drive the business forward. It is the document that lays out your vision and objectives. It is your roadmap for how you think it should evolve and grow to achieve this vision. It contains the budget and projections for how your business will manage is finances and fund growth. It is the document that helps you decide what to do, and just as importantly, what not to do. It is a living, breathing document that you should use to measure your progress, while still being willing to adapt it to reflect new insights, unexpected competitive threats, and changes in your business environment. In short it is like your company bible – except that this is a bible you can adapt as you go along.

… Continue Reading

Selfridges in London held an event tonight celebrating the launch of a new Surreal Things exhibit at the Victoria & Albert museum. Anyone walking down Oxford Street over the past week has probably seen the designer windows commissioned by the Oxford Street emporium, showing the creative work of Victor & Rolf and John Galliano, among others. [If you haven't seen the windows, you can see photos of them on Susie Bubble's site]. Another window has been designed by the dynamic duo of Rich and Phil, also known as Rodnik, who were the real stars of tonight’s launch event.

I first met the Rodnik guys during New York Fashion Week in September 2006. I had been introduced to them via email by a business mentor of theirs, Maria Stammers, from the Portobello Business Centre in London. I had been exchanging text messages to arrange a meeting with Rodnik during Fashion Week in New York, but when I spotted two guys after the Peter Som show in cool webbed black wool cardigans with matching peach-coloured ties and that je-ne-sais-quoi English dandyism, I knew it was them. I tapped Rich on his shoulder and asked if they were Rodnik. At the time, they looked amused that someone would actually recognise them (or, at least, had heard of them). When I explained that I was the one whom Maria had referred, any awkwardness disappeared and we nipped off for an afternoon coffee in Bryant Park where I learned all about their budding business and their vision for where they wanted to take it.

Since then, we have kept in touch regularly and I have watched as they have  faced various business challenges (Production!), declared major fashion victories (Barneys! French Vogue! Lily Cole!), and shared their charm with the fashion world (Anna Wintour! Karl Lagerfeld! Julie Gilhart!), who have simply fallen head over heels for these two quintessential non-designer designers. With their brilliant marketing skills (Parasols! Spoof fashion show! FT Column!) they have built the beginnings of a brand.

Their latest adventure has been to put together an entourage/band/posse that includes the illustrious Peaches Geldof, maven of the London social scene (although Rich says posses are for cowboys not rockstar fashion designers). Tonight the Rodnik band gave its debut "concert" at Selfridges and the guys put on an inspired performance in line with evening’s surreal theme using a miniature piano, a child-sized set of drums, an old school record player pumping out The Doors and for lead singer, a mannequin with a top hat dressed in Rodnik .  The entourage provided requisite levels of vocal support and cool factor throughout while the photogs were all leaning into capture the moment.

Does this sound like a luxury fashion label? Well no, not really. But it is brilliant marketing and will continue to weave interesting stories around which the Rodnik lifestyle brand will be built.

Burlesque beauties hawking (surreal) scent-free perfume

Pre-show atmosphere


Surrealists

The debut


Stylish onlookers

Copyright Imran Amed 2007. All rights reserved.

Yesterday, as I was picking up my regular morning cappucino from Ottolenghi (the best espresso in Notting Hill), I was surprised to see literally hundreds of people queuing all the way down Ledbury Road, waiting in anticipation for the latest batch of Anya Hindmarch "I am not a Plastic Bag" bags to go on sale. While Ledbury Road is often buzzing on weekends, it is usually quiet during the week, giving Notting Hill the village-like charm that it is famous for. I had read on the Vogue site that morning that these bags were being released, but I never expected people to be so desperate for the bags that they would wait outside on a cold weekday morning for hours on end.  I guess that fact that Lily Cole, Keira Knightly, Lilly Allen and others have been spotted with these bags of late has something to do with the pent-up demand.

On the surface, from a business and marketing perspective, the exercise appears to be great for the Anya Hindmarch brand, which is not terribly well known outside of fashion circles. By partnering with Sainsbury’s to widely distribute the bags later in April, she would appear to be building brand awareness with a new audience of customers who would have found her regular collection of bags out of their price range.  That said, the company claims that they had no idea that the bags would be in such demand, that this was not some clever marketing exercise, and that they really wanted to focus on the environment as a key concern for the British public.

Taking the company’s claims at face value and with a pinch of salt, lets evaluate the potential for success on both of these aims anyway, i.e.  1. creating awareness of the Anya Hindmarch brand and 2. creating awareness of environmental issues.

First, yes, there will be more awareness of Ms. Hindmarch’s brand, but it seems that it will be with customers who can’t afford her regular bags. So, how will she monetise and cash in on this awareness? She certainly isn’t making any money on the £5 bags themselves.  Having hundreds of people show up at Harvey Nichols and Harrods and Ledbury Rd to buy a £5 bag is one thing, but how will she take that first interaction with these customers and extend it into a meaningful relationship that will create revenues down the road? Furthermore, since an environmental position is not a core part of the Hindmarch brand’s DNA, the effort in and of itself doesn’t seem feel authentic, as it would for high-end enviro-conscious brands like Noir or Edun.

Second, if this was an aim to increase general environmental awareness, by using celebrities and ‘fashion’, Ms. Hindmarch has only served to attract fickle customers who just want what’s perceived to be hip.  They are not necessarily buying into the environmental movement (even after buying the bags they probably still haven’t heard of An Inconvenient Truth, the Kyoto Protocol or Carbon trading). Rather, they are likely just buying into yet another trend that will one day fade when the next trendy ‘it’ item comes along. Just the fact that people were spending £200+ on these bags on Ebay shows that many consumers are missing the supposed point altogether. It still remains to be seen whether people actually continue to use the bags instead of plastic bags once the hip factor has worn off.

To be honest, I found this whole "not a plastic bag" initiative quite confusing. It is important that companies think carefully about what the specific purpose of each  activity is, to be sure that it aligns with their overall strategy and to ensure they execute on it well. The Hindmarch company has potentially made several mistakes that could have negative impact over the longer term. The "We are What We Do" charity that partnered with Hindmarch on the initiative is publicly stating that they are unhappy with how some things have turned out, especially with regards to the bags selling on Ebay, which is a direct result of marketing the bag like a fashion item.  For the broader public, its just another high-street fashion collaboration of disposable fashion a la Giles for New Look, Proenza Schouler for Target, and Stella McCartney for H&M: here today, gone tomorrow. If only environmental issues and the problems that they could bring for all of us were as simple as that.

This calls into question the credibilty of Hindmarch’s environmental aims and certainly takes away some of the halo effect of the initiative.  By treating this bag like any other fashion item, Hindmarch created a buzz that might be helpful for a Dior saddlebag, but which seems stupid for a canvas bag trying to send an environmental message. (Maybe they weren’t really worred about sending the environmental message at all?) This in turn has resulted in some negative press about the bags on the BBC and some blog sites questioning the real eco-friendliness of the bags. Real environmentalists are finding this all laughable and it could turn them off the brand completely.

As far as I see it, the only things that Hindmarch has successfully done is to create brand awareness amongst a customer base that could never afford her products and create buzz about a product in the same way as every other "it" item, allowing smart Ebayers to capitalise on the buzz while the Charity partner looks on and wonders what went wrong, and why the money being made is not going towards the cause that the whole things was supposed to be about.

This marks the week that one of America’s most successful fashion brands hits the shores of Europe, with the opening of the first European Abercrombie and Fitch flagship in London’s Savile Row. The hype has been nonstop, with the media going crazy,  London buses trumpeting the new store’s appearance by draping themselves in images of perfectly proportioned models baring their torsos (and the preferred Abercrombie aesthetic) for all to see. According to reports, there will always be two models in swimwear in the store at all times.

Shopping at an AF store is about the experience of Abercrombie and Fitch. It speaks volumes about the brand and what it stands for. The signature music. The achingly hip (an invariably attractive) store associates. The artfully ripped clothes and distressed sweatshirts. I remember being shocked one day, walking into a suburban Chicago A&F store to see the sales associate spraying perfume on the mannequins in the store. It seemed to me that over years, the company had got its in-store experience down to an exact science, a formula that works in New York and Newport and everywhere in between.

The science of A&F is now being tested in London.  It will be interesting to see how this formulaic aesthetic and defined approach works in London. Up until now, the brand has had quite a bit of appeal here in Europe, especially because of the fact that it wasn’t (legally) available here. European shoppers would come back with one of those perfectly hip pieces of Americana — jeans or a sweatshirt — as a postcard of their latest trip Stateside. What Abercrombie does, it does very well indeed.

However, once the brand becomes more readily available here and the novelty factor wears off, this tried-and-true formula will be put to the same test as every other store’s offering. London shoppers are a demanding bunch and are used to rapid turns of inventory, cutting edge design, an innovative merchandising. They will be looking for something fresh each time they come into the store, and I suspect the formula may need some tweaking and constructive diversions from the tried-and-true in order to translate Abercrombie’s American success to this new market. With that said, I can’t wait to check out the store myself and see how it has all turned out.

Does this story sound familiar? A supermodel in her early thirties has the whole country watching her all the time. Her image peeks back at you from every magazine you open up.  She is the face of everything from soap to high-end couture. She has the effortless international cool chic that every other woman in the country wants to emulate, and that every man wants a piece of. Young disciples around the country wait with baited breath to see her upcoming collections, which will take her signature cool and make it available to the masses.

No, she is not Kate Moss. Nor is she Milla Jovovich. Welcome to wonderful world of Vaneeza Ahmad, aka Vinnie, Pakistan’s most famous supermodel and one of its leading actresses. Vaneeza and her boyfriend Shehryar also happen to be good friends of mine in Karachi. I was very excited to hear that Vaneeza has recently launched a collection of "lawn prints", banking on her celebrity reputation, business acumen and creative  skills to take her career to new heights.

The collection bucks the Pakistani tendency to focus on the elite couture market that is out of reach for most average consumers. By working on a collection of printed fabrics that are beautiful, well-made and accessibly priced, Vaneeza is able to reach a wide audience, staking her position as one of the proponents of the democratisation of fashion in Pakistan, a trend we have seen take hold in much of the West over the last 10 years. But, don’t expect Vaneeza to stop there. She will continue modeling, acting and expanding her V9 collection to include a full collection of RTW and homewares, building one of Pakistan’s first true lifestyle brands.

Here are some publicity images from the V9 collection which was unveiled in a series of exhibitions across Pakistan this month:

All photos are copyright Vaneeza Ahmad and were taken by Zoobs.

Copyright Imran Amed 2007.  All rights reserved.

The master in the art of living makes little
distinction between his work and his play,
his labor and his leisure, his mind and his
body, his information and his recreation,
his love and his religion. He hardly knows
which is which. He simply pursues his
vision of excellence at whatever he does,
leaving others to decide whether he
is working or playing. To him he’s always
doing both. –James Michener

Although I don’t always agree with her critical opinions, I have really been enjoying reading Cathy Horyn’s new blog for the New York Times: On the Runway. Not only does Cathy use a more casual (sometimes downright catty) voice than in her NYT reviews, she has also started to attract a real community of fashion lovers who are engaging with each other (and with Cathy) actively through blog comments. Several characters have started to develop in the "On the Runway" community, including Autre, who has clear and well-stated views on many of the collections that Cathy has reviewed and on her reviews themselves. A veritable online frenzy often ensues, debating everything from Miucca’s fabrics and Dries’ prints to Stefano’s cuts and Christopher’s crystals.

It was very smart of the NYT to supplement its traditional fashion coverage with this community concept through Horyn’s blog. It is the first successful execution I have seen on the NYT site to build a targeted community (read: loyal audience for advertisers) to take it beyond the transactional way most of us use to interact with news media. Instead of quickly digesting articles and then clicking somewhere else, readers are compelled to stay and engage each other in further discussion. This inevitably does lead to more clicks and return visits to the site, and much of it is driven through that oft-spoken-of concept of user-generated content.

I have been seeing this more and more on many news sites, including The Globe and Mail which enables comments for even its regular articles, through which sometimes hundreds of comments are posted. Style.com has also been working with the Sartorialist, who has a dedicated section on the site — though for some reason, people here don’t seem to be engaging as much — especially when compared to the passionate conversations on the Sartorialist’s own blog.

In a previous blog on the business of blogging, I spoke of how many fashion editors are being asked to write blogs in addition to their regular responsibilities. Not everyone is happy about it. But, having seen Horyn’s blog and the proliferation of new fashion content on the Internet, this seems to be the only way the traditional players are going to be able to keep up with the upstarts. However, it’s the old adage of "Content is King" that still prevails. Only so long as the content remains good will this strategy prevail. I look forward to seeing where Cathy takes the blog in the future.

This evening, as I was making my regular rounds of favourite fashion blogs, I spotted a photo of my friend Sarah that was taken by The Sartorialist (for Style.com) at the Louis Vuitton show on Sunday. In typical Sarah fashion, she has her phone in her hand and was probably busy texting when Scott asked to take her photo. It is also typical of Sarah to look beautiful in the most natural way.

Photo courtesy of Scott Schuman for Style.com.