Digital Organization | Source: LuxuryLab

NEW YORK, United States — For many luxury and fashion executives, the case for exploiting and developing a strategic digital presence is clear. However, operationalising this intent is another matter altogether. In my experience, assessing how digital competencies should be embedded within an existing organization is the issue most frequently on the mind of luxury brand executives today. ” Yes, I know it’s important.” they say, “but who should do it, where should they sit and to whom should they report?”

This month, we are continuing our ongoing media partnership with LuxuryLab as part of a series of events designed to help luxury executives navigate the ongoing digital revolution. The NYU Stern-based luxury thinktank’s next one-day clinic will help participants think about the metrics, structure, and culture of a Digital Organization.

Too often, digital and social media roles are simply bolted on to existing jobs —often those of the youngest people in the room, simply because they know how to use Facebook and Twitter.

However, in order for social media strategies to work in fashion brands over the long-term, they must meaningfully employ people who can think both strategically and digitally at the same time, who understand the culture of fashion, and who have the interest and support of top management.  A brand’s digital voice ultimately comes from the people managing its digital presence, which is of greater strategic importance than ever before.

The last clinic on leveraging The Social Graph was a well-attended and positively-received session. Confirmed speakers for the next clinic, The Digital Organization, to be held on 26 March in New York include:

• LANCE NEUHAUSER, EVP and U.S. Director of Digital for PHD, who oversees the planning and investment of nearly $400 million in digital media, creating strategies and solutions that leverage the emerging media environments to enhance consumer experience, strengthen brand relationships and relevance, and drive business growth

• SHARON NOVAK, friend of BoF and operations strategy expert whose work was cited in the 2009 Nobel Prize for Economics and has been reviewed and promoted by McKinsey & Company

• RUSS WINER and SONIA MARCIANO, part of the NYU Stern faculty who will take participants through an in-depth case study on Intel and De Beers

The agenda is being updated regularly and is expected to include participation from executives at leading brands operating in the digital space.

Please consider using this special BoF link to register and mention BoF and you will also help us to earn a commission on ticket sales to support the development of our content and defray the growing costs of maintaining The Business of Fashion.

The Social Graph Clinic | Source: LuxuryLab

NEW YORK, United States — The Business of Fashion is pleased to announce our second media partnership with LuxuryLab, following the much talked-about Luxury Lab Innovation Forum held last Autumn.

On January 29th, the New York University-based think tank will hold its first Social Graph Clinic, “a one-day intensive workshop that takes an adroit and sober examination of social media’s underpinnings, platforms, and best practices. The objective is to enhance participants’ fluency in brand-driven social media efforts.”

Confirmed speakers include:

• Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics who will speak on How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business

• Shenan Reid, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Morpheus Media on Finding your Social Voice

• Fabio Freyre, Regional Vice-President of Facebook on Facebook, the Marketing OS

I will be speaking to brands on how best to engage bloggers. On that note, bloggers, let us know your pet peeves and top tips on how brands should engage with you. You can comment on this post, send a direct message on Twitter or send an email, and I will do my best to reflect your feedback in my presentation. Now’s your chance to have a say what you always wanted to say about those generic press releases, untargeted emails and unreasonable requests from fashion PRs. But please don’t just focus on the negative. What is the best relationship you have with a fashion brand and why?

Already, representatives from an impressive array of brands — including Brooks Brothers, Chanel, Coach, Dunhill, Gucci, J. Crew, Maxmara, Michael Kors, and Neiman Marcus — have confirmed their attendance. If you too would like to attend, please consider using this special BoF link to register and you will also help us to earn a commission on ticket sales to support the development of our content in the coming year and defray the growing costs of maintaining BoF. A portion of the proceeds will also be donated to the much-needed ongoing aid relief in Haiti.

A complete agenda and list of speakers is available here.

I look forward to meeting many BoF readers there!

NEW YORK, United States – In the Summer of 2007,  around the time when Valentino Garavani finally resigned from his own label after months of speculation, I would have done anything to be a fly on the wall. What, with the planning of a 45th anniversary celebration in Rome, the controversy surrounding Permira’s battle with the Carlyle Group for control of the House, the never-ending will he-won’t he leave debate, and the ensuing rumours about potential successors (Giambattista Valli, Zac Posen, Proenza Schouler), there was a veritable tornado of activity going on in the Italian fashion house.

Today, 18 months later, I got my wish. I caught an afternoon press screening of  Matt Tyrnauer’s film, Valentino – The Last Emperor, in New York City. The film happened to focus on Valentino and his partner, Giancarlo Giammetti, at precisely this time. And while there was scant mention of the business issues of the day, it was still an engaging film that focused on the uninterrupted partnership of these two legendary men of a bygone era in la moda Italiana.

To get a rare inside peek into Valentino’s world, complete with yachts, pug dogs, a major domo and several over-the-top mansions, was certainly a humorous treat, and one which left many of my fellow audience members — Andre Leon Talley and Rachel Roy included — screeching with laughter.

In some of the more serious passages, which pitted Matteo Marzotto, of the Italian fashion dynasty, against Mr. Giammetti, it was clear that this was also a period of great stress for the two men who were trying to put a brave face on what they clearly believed was a big mistake for the business.

More than anything else, however, this was the life story of two men — incorporating business, love and fashion — who built a fashion house literally from scratch. From early bankruptcy in the 60s to rapid business growth in the 70s to a phase of extreme licensing in the 80s (Valentino car anyone?) and the years of multiple investors in the 1990s, these guys lived through it all.  But in the end, it was too much.

Giammetti himself stated that Valentino wasn’t made for this new era of fashion, which would require returns on investment, brand extensions and a scaling back of their truly extravagant lifestyles.

With  hindsight, we can also see how the business has struggled without their focus, perfectionism and dedicated partnership. The business has veered from one designer to another under the poor stewardship of Permira, which as I mentioned at the time of the investment announcement, has no previous experience in the high fashion business.

Now it is left to Valentino’s new successors to help find the way — and perhaps they will benefit from some of the advice and guidance that Ms. Facchinetti clearly did not have.

PARIS, France – When I first met Diane Pernet, it was hard to see beyond her iconic look : a towering pompadour, mantilla veil, cateye sunglasses and platform wedges, all in black, complemented by scarlet red lips and a signature scent.  Since then, I have never seen her in anything else.

But, despite her aesthetic constancy, she is one of those rare souls in the fashion business who still manages to surprise at every turn, with witty observations and an unflinching honesty. And, as I have come to know the person behind the veil, as it were, we have bonded over our shared passion for young design talent, debated ideas for fashion collaborations and industry progress, and exchanged dollops of industry gossip.

Diane, of course, is best known for building one of the most influential blogs in the industry, something she has done by focusing on emerging brands and edgy events from around the world, as opposed to the major brands which are covered ad nauseam elsewhere. But recently, she has been talking to me about A Shaded View on Fashion Film, which will launch at the prestigious Jeu de Paume in Paris in September.

BoF: What is A Shaded View on Fashion Film and why does it exist?

DP: Like Josephine Baker’s song Mes Deux Amours, I have two loves, fashion and film and I’m not really sure in which order they fall. The idea of fashion in movement intrigues me.

Around 8 or 9 years ago most of the fashion films that existed were runway shows.  Within the past few years, along with blogs, youtube, etc. everyone seems to be going out and experimenting with a camera. The results fascinate me.

In August of 2006 I launched, You Wear it Well, a traveling fashion film festival with a collaborator. We exaggerated when we called it a film festival; it was more like a 90 minute curated program. At that time and up until today, SHOWstudio has been one of the pioneers in moving fashion and I’m happy to say that they have accepted to screen with my festivals since the beginning of this journey and continue to collaborate under the new structure, ASVOFF.

This season among other entries, they will propose 6 films from their FUTURE TENSE: Fashion’s Future is Now! A decade ago it was too soon, now the time is right and it is the first Fashion Film Festival in Paris and that makes me very excited. I’ve always enjoyed being a pioneer.

BoF: You’re a former fashion designer turned fashion journalist. What does that have to do with the work of independent filmmakers?

DP: For 13 years I designed a collection under my own label, but before that I studied documentary filmmaking and before that I was a reportage photographer, so image has always played an important role in my life. I like to think that I am supporting the creative people that are now experimenting with film and fashion. In all these films, fashion is the principal subject, theme or cinematic aesthetic. The festival puts the attention on the drama, power and personification that fashion evokes and commands on screen.

BoF: Do you think there is a commercial role that these kinds of films can play in the fashion industry?

DP: Absolutely, just take a look at all of the print media and websites, they have all jumped on the band wagon because they understand the power of the moving image and their products and the reach of the internet.

BoF: What has surprised you the most about the films you have seen in the selection process for this year’s festival?

DP: The final selection still won’t be made for a few weeks and it is really going to be difficult. 

Perhaps if I tell you the jury prizes, I will cover what we’ve seen as the most interesting categories:

1st Prize: For the film that best combines a distinctive style with narrative virtuosity.

Best Artistic Direction: For the film that creates an extraordinary sensory universe. Here we put the focus on image, style, colors, casting, choice of music and other cinematic elements. (The story, acting and rhythm will not be crucial criteria for this prize).

Best Director: For the most well directed movie. A compelling story, outstanding acting and rhythm. This prize will recognize the talent of a director regardless of production issues or budget constraints.

BoF: What are the highlights we can expect for this year’s edition?

DP: Jessica Mitrani, a director from Colombia, submitted a film about shoes, one shoe in fact, a Mary Jane. Italian Director/Photographer, Francesco Carrozzini submitted a short film that was part of SHOWstudio’s Moving Image project called “Don’t Blink!” Linda Evangelista, British Director Malcolm Pate did a film called Heaven, Camilla Robinson with Rain Li did a film called Sweet Pea that I really love, Warren du Preez and Nick Thorton Jones did an animation called Mutation.

Actually I could go on and on, but best I stop here.

ASVOFF will debut at the Jeu de Paume museum in Paris on 26 September. Banner photo from “Don’t Blink” Linda Evangelista, as seen on SHOWstudio, courtesy of Francesco Carrozzini.

LONDON, United Kingdom and STOCKHOLM, Sweden – A couple of years ago, as I was exploring the graduate collections of a stellar Central St Martins MA class, I met Molly Grad, one of the strongest talents to emerge from the legendary fashion school that year.  Apart from the deft tailoring and layering of Molly’s collection itself, I was engrossed in her sketchbook, which was filled with anatomical photos interspersed with her illustrations.

I recently met up with Molly for lunch and she gave me a wonderful book called Fashion Illustration by Fashion Designers, written by Laird Borrelli, who is also a friend. In the book, Laird gives us a sneak peak into the dreams and designs of the world’s leading designers, alive (Boudicca, Giles and Phillip Lim) and dead (Yves St Laurent, Gianfranco Ferre).

I reached Laird via email in Sweden, where she is on holiday but still agreed to answer a few questions, from a Swedish keyboard, so we could benefit from her renowned expertise on the history (and business) of fashion illustration.

BoF: What inspired you to publish this book now?

LB: Well, I have been writing books on fashion illustration for about eight years now and they have been widely copied. Through my work at Style.com, I have the opportunity to go on studio visits and my eyes are always drawn to the inspiration boards and the drawings (when there are any) on them. I thought it would be great to give share these hidden treasures with an interested audience.

BoF: Do you think the art of fashion illustration is dying?

LB: No, but it has gone from being one of the sole means of fashion communication to having a very minor role. The first photographic cover of Vogue was a watershed in the history of fashion illustration and a watershed mark of its decline. Photographs, no matter how altered or retouched, will always have some association with reality and by association truth. I like to think of them as prose poems and illustrations as more fictional narratives. They are more obviously filtered through an individual vision than photos. Illustration lives on, but in the position of a poor relative (think of all of those Jane Austen novels).

BoF: Is there any way in which fashion illustration itself could become a business? Might people want to pay for these beautiful, original works of art?

There are lots of art reps who get and pitch jobs for illustrators. There is also money to be made in print design. As regards to the originals, there is a barely existent market for contemporary illustrators like Antonio Lopez, Mats Gustafson, etc. William Ling in London, with his FIG gallery, is trying to change this and seems to be having some success.

==

Fashion illustration is an exercise in individuality: sometimes-fantastical, sometimes bare-bones, sometimes out-of-this-world, fashion illustration captures both the spirit of the garment, but also the mood of the collection and the individual personality and style of the the illustrator themselves.

Molly Grad, MA Collection A/W 2006 (courtesy of Molly Grad and Style.com)

Antonio Lopez (courtesy of Fashion Illustration Gallery)

Mats Gustafson

Recent Articles from The Business of Fashion

• Made in Italy | Time for accountability II
• Q&A | James Ogilvy, Publisher of Luxury Briefing
• Squa.re | Chanel’s pioneering video

We have recently become addicted to a series of videos from TED — or, Technology, Entertainment and Design — an annual conference where passionate people descend on Monterrey, California to listen to other passionate people, each of whom are given 18 minutes to give the talk of their lives. The idea is that the best ideas will spread, by sheer virtue of the combined influence of all of the mavens and connectors in the room.

The notion of the idea virus also happens to be at the core of Seth Godin’s expertise. Godin gave this prescient talk at TED in February 2003 and declared to the world’s leading thinkers: "No matter what we do for a living, we’re in the fashion business!" 

What he  is getting at is that we in the fashion business know that it is the most remarkable ideas gain attention –  and every six months we are on the lookout for the freshest visions of how people want to dress and live today. Sometimes this may mean borrowing ideas from a different era and making them relevant for now. Nicholas Ghesquiere, a fashion innovator whose ideas influence both his high-falutin peers and the mass market alike, is a perfect example of this.

Godin also says marketing today is "not about interrupting people with full page ads," but this is a lesson that the fashion industry still needs to learn. Just flip through any fashion magazine and witness our worship of the full page glossy ad, even at a time when a recommendation from Susie Bubble, photograph from The Sartorialist, or endorsement from The Manolo can have much more weight at no cost at all — and simply because you are creating remarkable products.

While we suspect there will always be a role for advertising in the fashion business, smart fashion brands are also focusing on delivering a remarkable product that will get fashion people talking.

Even for the most culturally-savvy business types, the world of fashion can be daunting. Everyday, fashion people will mention places, names, books, buildings, restaurants and other references that they assume you must know: Truman Capote. Madeleine Vionnet. Diana Vreeland. Zaha Hadid. The Faena Hotel. Leigh Bowery. Patrick Demarchelier. The Misshapes. Jane Birkin. Matthew Barney. Marcel Breuer. Mies van der Rohe. Steven Meisel.

These cultural references form the basis of evaluating and understanding what is going on in fashion today.  So, while  you may not need to have curatorial knowledge of Dior’s New Look or be able to map out the influence of Oscar Neimeyer’s architecture on fashion, it is still important to have some basic understanding of how all of this fits together.

Of course, it’s a body of knowledge that will take years to build up, but to get you started, we have discovered what may be the fashion business professional’s version of a high-school cheat sheet for cultural credibility. 

Nancy MacDonell, the talented editor we work with over at Style.com, has crammed years of her cultural knowledge (and that of other editors and designers we respect like Jason Campbell and Gentry Lane) into a compact book titled In the Know: The Classic Guide to Being Cultured and Cool

This book will not only help you understand the cultural context that influences many of fashion’s most talented creatives, it will hopefully also be the start of a journey to explore the ideas and themes that you find most interesting — which is even more rewarding.

And, next time you’re reading the (sometimes incomprehensible) show notes that are left on the seats to entertain you as you wait (and wait) for a fashion show to begin, you may actually begin to decipher those notes to help you to understand where the designer is coming from…as opposed to trying to make sense of it all in a vacuum.

We spend a lot of time here on the BoF discussing the impact of new media on the fashion industry. In fact, yesterday we weighed in on the issue over at JC Report in a full-length article about some of the new online media sites and communities that are popping up. But that doesn’t mean we don’t like flipping through a good old-fashioned magazine from time to time, as long as it brings a fresh perspective and the images and editorial are strong. Three new magazines recently landed in our mailbox and we thought we’d share them with you.

The first issue of New York Look magazine  gives a behind-the-scenes look into the S/S collections and all of the planning and mayhem that go into those 15 minutes of fame for a brand. Actually, it might not be quite 15 minutes. NYL provides a play-by-play of the seasons hottest shows with statistics like the number of models to the names of celebrities in attendance. Our quantitative nerdy side was immediately drawn to the lengths of shows. The longest was Narciso Rodriguez at 45 minutes; the shortest was a tight 8 minutes for Chloé. Apart from fun useless statistics, the magazine also has stunning photography and a tongue-in-cheek piece on Anna Wintour’s love for Roger Federer, as we witnessed at Oscar de la Renta’s show in September.

Stimuli Magazine is edited by Dominic Sio and features young designers  like Christian Wijnants and Kaviar Gauche in its inaugural issue. There is also an interview with our friend Robb Young, who has just published another interesting article in the IHT on the emerging fashion design scene in Russia. It’s great for up-and-comers to get serious media treatment.

Lastly, Issue One is actually now on issue number three. Issue One provides an opportunity for advertisers to have an 8 panel advertisement which is bound to catch a reader’s attention. This time, it is taken up by DSquared2. Apart from this, Editor-in-Chief Paulus curates an avant-garde look at the fashion scene, delivers some seriously sleek styling, scores an interview with the recently deceased Gianfranco Ferre (yes, before he died, this magazine is not that fashion forward to interview someone after they have died), and provides a look into Boudicca’s business, all in one issue.

Images courtesy of Look, Stimuli and Issue One.

Earlier this year, Tyler Brûlé, famous for launching Wallpaper* magazine and for his now defunct Fast Lane column in the weekend Financial Times, launched Monocle magazine, a self-described briefing on global affairs, business, culture and design.

In the Brûlé days, Wallpaper* was a large format glossy magazine with a black logo printed on a white cover, with plenty of photos and little text. While it was pretty to look at, you could get through the magazine in less than 20 minutes of page-turning, and the website offered nothing extra — in fact, it was pretty much an empty shell.

Monocle couldn’t be more different. It is a smaller format magazine with a white logo printed on a black cover and plenty of text printed on matte (almost dull) paper. The focus is on the written content, which is rich, varied and quirky. The magazine did get off to a slightly slow start, but it has picked up steam over the past few issues and is beginning to find its voice. The business content is a bit random (an interview in Issue 01 with the CEO of Lego left me underwhelmed, for example) but the fashion content while light, is spot on.

Issue 05 features a ranking of the top 20 most liveable cities in the world (Munich came first, Copenhagen came second, London and New York didn’t make the cut), a mock-up of the perfect high-street constructed from the world’s best retailers, restaurants, and even dry-cleaners, and a feature on Badi Culture, Zurich’s ritualistic bathing traditions. To add to this, the Monocle website is flush with additional content and videos that complements what readers can find in the printed version.

The Business of Fashion recommends Monocle, a magazine for the 21st century.