VPL Runway Show, Autumn/Winter 2009

NEW YORK, United States — From the moment that I landed here in New York, the mood has been decidedly sombre. I bumped into a buyer from a major London fashion boutique at the baggage carousel at JFK who told me that “nobody is coming” to New York this time from the major UK fashion magazines. Budgets have been completely slashed.

A few hours later, the CEO of a up-and-coming US fashion business predicted that one third of the young designer businesses that have popped up in New York in recent years will go out of business, especially if they are financing themselves through bank loans, which are harder and harder to come by in this tight credit environment.

The next day, another CEO complained to me that boutiques like Georgina in Long Island are dropping like flies or trying to cancel orders at the last minute, unable to finance their operations (and pay their bills), creating daily headaches about how to respond. On top of all this, parties have been canceled, shows have been downscaled and goodie bags are few and far between.

Will the fashion industry ever be the same? Well, I think not. And neither, apparently, does Anna Wintour — at least for the time being.

For a couple of years now, a shift has been going on in the way that consumers buy and this has now been dramatically accelerated by the economic crisis, which seems to get worse and worse by the day. Even Anna Wintour has spoken out today to the Wall Street Journal, saying “Right now, what’s going to work is something their customer doesn’t have in her closet and that has a real intrinsic sense of value…Because to be honest there’s been too much product, too much copy-catting, and, probably too much consumerism. I think a sense of clarity, a sense leveling off and a sense of reality is needed.”

This is something we have been saying on The Business of Fashion for over a year now. But that fact that Wintour is now joining the chorus of people commenting on the fact that looking “overly flashy, overly glitzy, too Dubai” is just not going to work anymore, says a lot for a woman whose job it’s been to attract advertisers to flog exactly these kinds of products.

So, how are the designers responding to all of this doom and gloom and changing consumer requirements? So far, it seems they are either going dark and moody with a preponderance of black (which never goes out of style) or injections of colour — providing a bit of optimism to counter all of the off-runway chatter about the economic meltdown.

At Ohne Titel, Camilla Staerk and Alexander Wang, where Sarah Jessica Parker and Top Shop boss Phillip Green were spotted taking in Wang’s cool rock chick vibe which had buyers cooing, black looks dominated the runway.

At VPL, models traipsed out in layers of yellow and blue, past a provocative photo installation which seemed emblematic of the ‘fake’ beauty of the boomtimes, but the requisite black was also there, just in case. Colours were also prominent at today’s strong showing from Preen, where a series of textured black looks were followed by vibrant shades of yellow, and then, eye-catching cut out dresses in a kaleidoscope of colours.

More to come from New York as the week progresses. I’m expecting more black, more colour and more commentary from industry insiders grappling with the state of the fashion business today.

Most of the greatest fashion companies in the world are the result of a creative-business partnership. Tom Ford and Domenico De Sole. Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giametti. Marc Jacobs and Robert Duffy. Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli. The list could go on and on.

A business partner can share the immense workload of starting and managing a business, shield the designer from the day-to-day management so he or she can focus on the creative side, and provide a different set of skills which are important to the running of any business. This is the role that Kikka Hanazawa, a former classmate of mine, has been playing at VPL, one of New York’s most promising fashion start-ups.

The company was founded by Victoria Bartlett, a talented stylist-turned-designer from London. Her collections were initially conceived to meet the growing demand for utilitarian yet stylish under garments that could be mixed, matched and layered with other designer clothes. Since its inception in 2004, the line has gradually evolved to include accessories, bags and shoes while VPL’s foundational concept of underwear as outerwear remains intact. Earlier this year, VPL was named as one of the 10 finalists for the prestigious CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund prize for 2007.

The Business of Fashion sat down with Kikka to ask her a few questions about the role she plays at VPL. Young designers take note. Kikka and Victoria are following one of the tried-and-true methods for building a successful fashion business: the promise of a creative-business partnership.

How did the partnership between you and Victoria come about? Why
do you think it works so well?

I saw one of Victoria’s early shows and introduced her to some of my friends who are buyers. I liked the VPL brand concept from the beginning but she was struggling with execution (from production to sales) which is typical of any small designer line.

Then, Julie Gilhart (Fashion Director at Barneys) sent an email to my former boss at Theory, asking him to help out Vicky in any way. And, since I knew her line, I set up a meeting between the two to them.

Vicky was then hired to be Fashion Director for Theory, and we got to know each other better. She always came up with amazing product ideas, and they did well at retail. I decided to help her out with her business out for one season, and after that we realised we could work well together because of our complementary skill sets. She is creative, talented and press savvy, while I can do the rest. I also have a creative side in me, such as painting and letterpress printing, etc., but I would call them hobbies not a profession that I should pursue. I also do not like publicity and would rather leave that to her. Anyway that’s how we became partners.

I am not yet really ready to give any advice. When Daisy Wademan, a good friend of mine and author of the book, Remember Who You Are, was writing the Harvard Business Review article, The Best Advice I Ever Got, she interviewed Liz Lange, a maternity clothes designer. Liz told her that not listening to other people’s advice is the best advice she’s got.

I also heard from Andrew Rosen, who started Theory, that everyone said to him that no one would pay $200 for a non-designer pant.

Conventional wisdoms do not hold in fashion.

Above, a look from VPL’s Spring/Summer 2008 collection shown in New York last week.  All photos and content are copyright of The Business of Fashion. See our legal disclaimer for further details.