The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
OXFORDSHIRE, United Kingdom — Michèle Lamy defies categorisation and convention in all facets of her life, not least on stage at VOICES, BoF’s annual gathering for big thinkers. She joined BoF’s Tim Blanks to discuss her open, nomadic approach to life, which has yielded some of the most fascinating creative collaborations in fashion in recent decades.
Known primarily as an entrepreneur and producer, Lamy is perhaps best described as a catalyst of experimentation, whether in partnership with her husband Rick Owens or Gareth Pugh, or through her personal passion project, Lamyland — more a state of mind than anything else — which debuted during Frieze London in 2014 with a barge on the Regent's Canal. In January, Lamyland landed at Selfridges in the form of a boxing gym installation filled with product created for the occasion by Versace, Supreme and more brands.
“I am curious, I liked to be seduced,” said Lamy. “I am seduced by a lot of things.”
When asked if she is drawn to extremes, Lamy was defiant, explaining that her life is fuelled by a desire “to try, to stand up, to say that it is.” What scares her? A boring life, she said. “That’s extreme.”
To subscribe to the BoF Podcast, please follow this link.
Subscribe to BoF Professional for unlimited access to BoF articles, plus exclusive benefits for members.
To contact The Business of Fashion with comments, questions, or speaker ideas please e-mail podcast@businessoffashion.com.
Designer Carly Mark sparked conversation about what it takes to make it as an emerging designer in New York when she announced she was shutting her ready-to-wear line and moving to London. On Thursday she held her last sample sale.
To stabilise their businesses brands are honing in on what their particular consumer wants to buy, introducing new categories and starting conversations.
That’s the promise of Zellerfeld, a 3D-printing partner to Louis Vuitton and Moncler that’s becoming a platform for emerging designers to easily make and sell footwear of their own.
With a new heavyweight backer in Italian firm Style Capital — which helped Zimmermann secure a billion dollar valuation — the French contemporary womenswear brand has ambitions to go global. But it sits in a competitive and hard-to-crack category.