The Business of Fashion Podcast
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How Dupe Culture is Challenging Traditional Luxury
22 oktober 2024 · 30 min
A growing number of direct-to-consumer brands are disrupting the luxury market by offering high-quality alternatives at more affordable prices. As traditional luxury brands focus on the ultra-wealthy and fast fashion dominates the budget market, these “dupe” brands cater to middle-class consumers who feel priced out of luxury but still want value for their money. Through transparent pricing and savvy use of social media, they are reshaping how consumers think about value and quality. Lees meer
“The term dupe stems from duplication, but it also does speak to consumer sentiment around pricing today - they do feel duped,” says e-commerce correspondent Malique Morris. “Luxury brands have exponentially raised their prices for hip products in a way that is locking out middle class shoppers who typically could splurge on a few nice bags or a few nice sweaters a year.”
Key insights:
As luxury brands continue to hike prices for their most popular products, middle-class consumers are feeling increasingly excluded from the luxury market. This sentiment is fueling the rise of brands like Quince and Italic. “Luxury brands have exponentially raised their prices for hip products in a way that is locking out middle class shoppers who typically could splurge on a few nice bags or a few nice sweaters a year,” says Morris. “The check is going to come due for luxury brands to explain why their prices are so high.”
Dupe brands take advantage of this dynamic by being open about their costs, breaking down exactly how much it takes to produce their items and what they’re selling them for. “Dupe brands are almost annoyingly transparent about pricing in terms of breaking down,” Morris explains. “That’s refreshing for middle-class shoppers who are seeing the prices of things like milk and eggs rise inexplicably. Outside of this vague bogeyman of inflation, their dreams of owning a Chanel bag is moving further away with no real explanation on that front either.”
Platforms like TikTok and Instagram…
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How Michelle Yeoh Conquered Hollywood — and Fashion
18 oktober 2024 · 1 uur 19 min
Michelle Yeoh has captivated audiences for decades, from her iconic role in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to her Oscar-winning performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Over her storied career, she has consistently pushed boundaries, proving her versatility both on and off the screen, breaking paths as an Asian woman on the global stage. Lees meer
Now, at the age of 62 Michelle has scored coveted global ambassador roles at not one, but two of fashion’s top luxury brands — Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta.
"Fashion has changed, and it’s not just about dressing younger people," Yeoh says. "You have to find representation across different generations, and I think what I represent is being proud that you are different, that you are older — and there’s nothing wrong with that. Just before the Oscars a silly television commentator said, ‘You’re past your prime because you’re 50-something.’ How dare you? How dare anybody tell you what you are capable of?”
This week on The BoF Podcast, BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed sits down with Yeoh to discuss her winding journey to the big screen and why fashion is finally embracing older women.
Key Insights:
Yeoh’s path to stardom began with her early passion for dance, which she began as a child in Malaysia before travelling to England to study further. When she had to set her dance dreams aside due to injury, the shift opened the door to acting in action and martial arts films alongside actors like Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Jet Li. “I watched [Hung] do the choreography and the fighting, and I thought, ‘this is exactly like dance,’” she says. “This is choreography. We all know what we are doing, it's about how you transfer the energy and the speed of the rhythm.”
On success and failures, Yeoh embraces the lows moment as opportunities to transform. “Failures are what make you learn. If you're only successful, how do you know that's the way? ... It's the journey, not just the destination," says Yeoh. "And in that journe…
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How Beauty Blunders Go Viral and What Brands Do Next
15 oktober 2024 · 30 min
The beauty industry thrives on virality, but in the age of social media, that can be a double-edged sword. One viral TikTok video can catapult a brand to success — or bring it to its knees. From Youthforia’s foundation shade controversy to Huda Beauty’s mislabeling error, brands are discovering that managing customer expectations and addressing backlash swiftly is critical to their survival. Lees meer
“It happens pretty fast when it does happen. … Sometimes it’s an unknown creator who can make [a product] go viral for all the wrong reasons,” says beauty correspondent Daniela Morosini. “You have to be willing to listen when they tell you that you got it wrong.”
Key Insights
Building a strong brand community involves more than just creating a product; it means engaging with your customers and allowing them to have a meaningful role in your brand’s development. “If you're going to create a community to help your brand grow, you need to understand that those customers want a seat at the table,” says Morosini. Listening to customer feedback, especially when things go wrong, is crucial.
Being proactive in addressing customer complaints is crucial. As demonstrated by Huda Beauty’s mislabeling issue, taking responsibility early on and offering solutions can stop a backlash from spiralling. Morosini notes, “She took full accountability and offered to make everybody whole if they’d bought the wrong shade.”
Hair care products, especially those tied to hair loss, tend to evoke emotional responses and intense scrutiny. The stakes are high as hair loss is a sensitive, deeply personal issue. As Morosini points out, “There are so many factors that can cause hair loss… people don't want to roll the dice if there's even a 1% chance a product could be the cause.”
Complexion product mishaps can be particularly damaging for beauty brands, as they quickly highlight inclusivity gaps. “It’s just so obvious when a brand has missed the mark with complexion,” says Morosini. “Oftentimes the scand…
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How Zac Posen is Reenergising Gap Inc.
11 oktober 2024 · 1 uur 4 min
Zac Posen burst onto the fashion scene in the early 2000s, gaining acclaim for his glamorous designs and dressing Hollywood's elite. After nearly two decades, Posen closed his label in 2019, finding himself at a crossroads that eventually led to a meeting with Richard Dickson, the new CEO of Gap Inc., and the chance to join the company as creative director. Now, he's on a mission to bring cultural relevance and excitement back to brands like Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta. Lees meer
“Within five minutes [of meeting Dickson], I knew that there was something very special. It was a cosmic moment where there was like a magic connection, where I saw that I had met my dreamer,” Posen says.
This week on The BoF Podcast, BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed sits down with Posen to explore his journey of redefining success, his transformative role at Gap Inc., and his vision for the future of fashion.
Key Insights
Closing his eponymous fashion label forced Posen to reevaluate how he defined success, shifting his focus from external achievements to personal fulfilment and creative expression. "Success for me is about being able to inspire a larger public, to be able to work within my own creativity and to use that and what I represent to help a larger public be in touch with their own creativity” he says. “To me, creativity is as essential as sleeping and eating and everything else wonderful in life."
Posen found new creative inspiration through returning to his roots of draping and garment creation. “I was back on a mannequin … and just expressing and sculpting in space, it felt exciting,” he shares, describing the joy of reconnecting with hands-on creative work in his father’s studio, the same place where his journey in fashion began. “It felt like a full circle moment.”
As creative director of Gap. Inc, Posen is working to modernise brands like Old Navy and Gap by emphasising storytelling, redefining brand identities, and making subtle evolutions that reign…
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How Influencers Make Money
8 oktober 2024 · 24 min
The influencer landscape has shifted dramatically over the last decade. While the image of influencers posting flawless selfies on exotic, brand-sponsored trips still resonates, the reality has become far more complex. Influencers now host live shoppable streams, publish newsletters on Substack and engage in intimate group chats. Their goal is not just to build a following and wait for brands to come calling, but to establish multiple sources of income through affiliate links, brand deals, and subscription models. Lees meer
“Influencers and creators have realised that they need to diversify and be on multiple platforms. They need to be connecting with their followers in multiple ways and have a deeper relationship with their followers,” says Diana Pearl, senior news and features editor. “Even five years ago, there were people who didn't really take this industry very seriously and didn't realise the difference they could make for their brand. Now it is impossible to ignore.”
Key Insights:
In the evolving digital landscape, influencers and creators are no longer relying on a single platform for success. Diversifying their presence across platforms, from Instagram to Substack, is key. Pearl emphasises, “It’s really all just about diversification... not relying so much on one source, not having to rely so much on Instagram, the algorithm, affiliate links and brand deals.”
While macro-influencers may reach a broader audience, smaller influencers often have more engaged, loyal followers. “Once you get so big and you've got millions and millions of followers, you can't have that type of relationship with 5 million people the way you can with 100,000,” says Pearl.
The rivalry between influencer marketing platforms LTK and ShopMy highlights a shift in the landscape, with ShopMy offering influencers more control and transparency. Pearl explains that while LTK encourages creators to centralise their content on its app, ShopMy allows influencers to share across platforms. “We know…
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Tim Blanks and Imran Amed Reflect on the Spring/Summer 2025 Shows
4 oktober 2024 · 1 uur 5 min
Amid economic uncertainty, a global luxury industry slowdown, and conflicts erupting around the world, designers at the Spring/Summer 2025 shows balanced restraint and expression, resulting in collections that sought deeper emotional and intellectual impact. Megabrands scaled back fashion week festivities as they battened down the hatches with budget cuts and streamlined shows. Lees meer
“I think there's a general caution and a realignment. I think the state of the world is more conducive to reflection than extravagance,” says Tim Blanks, The Business of Fashion’s editor at large.
It was the designers who took creative risks that stood out. At Marni, Francesco Risso created a cinematic spectacle, transforming cotton into expressive designs, emphasising simple beauty amid turmoil. Alessandro Michele made his anticipated debut at Valentino, honoring the legacy of Valentino Garavani while infusing his flair. At Loewe, Jonathan Anderson played with scale, encouraging audiences to rethink aesthetics.
In this episode of The BoF Podcast, Imran Amed sits down with Tim Blanks to unpack the highlights of Fashion Month and discuss how the current global climate is influencing designers and brands.
Key Insights
In his eagerly awaited debut for Valentino, Alessandro Michele seamlessly integrated his unique creative approach with the storied heritage of the house. Blanks describes the collaboration as “a natural consummation ... like lovers meeting after decades of being apart and that kind of explosion of joy.”
Sabato De Sarno's recent work at Gucci reflects the complexities of redefining a brand with a rich and influential legacy. While attempting to honor Gucci's heritage, his collections have faced criticism for lacking the distinctive and bold creative direction of his predecessors. Blanks remarks, “the problem is creating a new story for Gucci when the old stories are just so overpowering.”
At Loewe, Jonathan Anderson pushed boundaries by experimenting with scale and perspect…
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Can Department Stores Save Themselves?
1 oktober 2024 · 29 min
For decades, department stores were symbols of American retail success, but their shine has long since faded. Overexpansion that began in the 1990s, the growth of e-commerce and the decline of many malls has left a saturated market, with more stores than there is demand. Major department stores have been struggling for decades to adapt to changes in the way their customers shop, with little to show for it. Lees meer
"These challenges existed ten years ago, but the problem we have today is that it’s getting later and later, and more and more desperate for these department stores. Time is running out, and they still haven’t figured out the solution,” says retail editor Cat Chen.
In this episode of The Debrief, BoF senior correspondent Sheena Butler-Young speaks with Chen about why department stores are struggling to stay relevant, how activist investors are complicating the picture, and whether following the approach of European department stores like Selfridges can save this iconic segment of the retail industry.
Key Insights:
Activist investors have been targeting department stores like Macy’s and Kohl’s, but they are more interested in these companies’ real estate portfolios than retail. Chen highlights the parallels with Sears, where the investor Eddie Lampert spun out Sears’ real estate into a separate entity, ultimately leading to its bankruptcy. “The sentiment in the industry is that if these companies were bought out by activist investors it would not be a good sign for the health of these department stores. There wouldn’t be a long-term strategy for maintaining their health,” she says.
Nordstrom's strategy for revival includes focusing on experiential retail, enhancing customer service, and possibly going private under the Nordstrom family’s ownership. These moves would allow them to invest in the long-term health of the company without the pressure of quarterly earnings. “The Nordstrom family is really set on making some radical, transformative changes to Nordst…
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Alessandro Michele: “There is always Mr. Valentino somewhere with me”
27 september 2024 · 1 uur 4 min
Alessandro Michele’s whimsical, bold vision as creative director of Gucci revitalised the brand, turning it into a cultural juggernaut. Now, he’s attempting to do the same at Valentino, bringing his signature blend of nostalgia, craftsmanship, and artistic risk-taking to reimagine the Roman couture house. Lees meer
“This place has such a specific story,” he says. That name, Valentino—it’s a real name, with real life, with real love. … There is always Valentino somewhere with me.”
This week on The BoF Podcast, BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed sits down with Michele to discuss his evolution as a designer, his deep connection to Valentino’s heritage, and the importance of passion and obsession in achieving creative success.
Key insights
As creative director, Michele said that the weight of Valentino founder Valentino Garavani’s legacy continues to inspire and guide him, even in the smallest details of his work. “When I'm working by myself, with the people of the studio, with Jacopo, there is always Valentino somewhere with me. … There is always an open conversation with him because I can feel the things talking to me, through the dresses, the walls," he said.
Contemplating the meaning of success, Michele emphasises the importance of remaining true to himself as a designer. “It’s more moving left and right, rather than up and down. … Success is when you are in the right place, when you're free to be yourself,” he said. His approach to fashion is personal and deeply intuitive, and he protects his creativity by concentrating on his own creative fulfilment rather than trying to please everyone. “I don't need to be someone else. I think a big designer or a good designer needs to be himself.”
Michele approaches his work with a deep understanding that creativity comes with taking risks, both in life and in fashion. He views risk as an essential element of growth and evolution in his designs. "You are taking beautiful risks, but they are risks,” he said. “I like myself …
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Why Does Menswear All Look the Same?
24 september 2024 · 27 min
A style renaissance that changed how many men dress – mostly for the better – has congealed into a sea of sameness, at least in the eyes of a growing number of fashion critics and influencers. Too many interchangeable brands take the same approach, blending tailoring with casualwear in neutral-toned collections that are stylish but often fail to inspire. The look is often derided as a menswear “starter pack,” but remains popular with consumers. Lees meer
This week on The Debrief, Brian Baskin sits down with correspondents Malique Morris and Lei Takanashi to discuss why this “starter pack” approach works for the industry - but at the cost of long-term brand building and customer loyalty. Additionally, they probe what brands must do to recapture consumers' imagination.
“Any brand can make a good product, but what makes a brand good, especially a good menswear brand, is having a great story that's worth telling,” says Takanashi.
Key Insights:
Menswear brands today are following a familiar formula, leading to a prevalence of “starter pack” lookbooks. “They all do some sort of version of this. Approachability, timeless, stylish and handsome but inoffensive look,” says Morris. This marketing playbook, popularised by brands like Aimé Leon Dore and followed by many others, has led to a lack of creativity and experimentation. As Morris puts it, “everything is good and nothing is great. So if everyone can dress well, then no one is actually cool.”
What makes brands stand out over decades isn’t radical changes in design, but compelling storytelling and mythmaking. Morris argues consumers may not be loyal to today’s menswear brands in the long term if they're just buying into a trendy and easy to copy aesthetic.
But Takanashi notes that for certain brands that are seen as authentically embracing this style, their best bet is stick to what’s worked: “I feel like in the case of brands like Aimé Leon Dore and Supreme, the long game for them is becoming a heritage label … they have su…
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Skepta on Failing, Learning and Freedom in Fashion
20 september 2024 · 30 min
The renowned grime MC and rapper Skepta knows that there’s no such thing as an overnight success. After the rapper launched his fashion brand, Mains, in 2017, it was put on pause after a split from his manufacturer before making a return to London Fashion Week last year. Progress, he believes, takes time and resilience. Lees meer
"Like anything in the world, the best way to learn is to do it and fail,” he said. “I know that it’s not a short road … you have to be in it to win. And it could take one pair of shoes. It could take a hat, could take one bag … If you don't carry on trying and failing, you won't get there."
This week on The BoF Podcast, BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed sits down with Skepta to discuss Mains’ revival, his philosophy of perseverance and why he refuses to follow conventional rules in the fashion industry.
Key Insights
Skepta’s love for fashion was sparked by his passion for underground music and the style he saw at garage events. “I'm getting turned away from clubs… and when I'm getting turned away, I'm looking in the queue and there's people wearing Versace, Moschino, Patrick Cox loafers,” he says. The way that clothes and music felt, tied together to shape his taste. “That was where I really fell in love with fashion. The aspiration of wanting to wear the clothes, but also listening to the music that you listen to when you wear the clothes."
Skepta’s journey as a fashion customer, with a keen eye for garment construction and detail, led him to launch his own brand. "Years and years of experience of buying clothes and looking at stitches and the inside jackets, the panels, I just felt like I was experienced enough to give the tailoring expertise as well as the love and the true magical passion that's not taught in school. ... Paired with a great designer, Mikey Pearce, and team, it was almost like divine intervention for me to just do it."
Skepta’s creative process is iterative. "With music, you can actually change the audio after it’s…
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Luxury Fashion’s Designer Diversity Problem
17 september 2024 · 23 min
Luxury fashion remains an exclusive club, where leadership positions are often filled from within tight, familiar circles. Despite industry-wide commitments to diversity and inclusion, the sector continues to struggle with gender and racial diversity in its top creative roles. Many luxury companies still operate within networks that favour traditional backgrounds, making it difficult for new, diverse talent to break through. Lees meer
“It's a role where I think people's unconscious biases really can come into play because whether or not they receive something as good design or bad design is going to be so much influenced by the person who told them that it's good design or bad design,” said BoF’s Luxury Editor Robert Williams.
This week on The Debrief, BoF Senior Correspondent Sheena Butler-Young sat down with Williams to discuss the structural barriers that keep women and minorities from ascending to these coveted positions. They explore how the industry’s patriarchal business models perpetuate these challenges, the influence of consumer expectations in driving change, and how mass brands like Uniqlo are beginning to shift the narrative by appointing creative directors from unconventional backgrounds.
Key Insights:
The role of the creative director in luxury fashion has traditionally been defined by a singular, authoritative voice that dictates trends and tastes, often imposing what is considered "right" or "wrong" in design. Williams explains that this model, which elevates the creative director as a gatekeeper of style, makes it challenging for those who don't fit the traditional mould of authority in fashion to rise to the top.“The creative director defined in a very traditional sense … is so much about imposing this authority from the top. And while that's not how everyone operates a brand anymore, … when you have that tradition, that makes it harder for people who don't fit the bill of what someone is used to seeing as a person of authority and in power to rise up.…
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Clare Waight Keller on Finding Opportunity in Discomfort
13 september 2024 · 54 min
Clare Waight Keller’s career in fashion has been defined by her versatility as a designer and desire to step outside her comfort zone. She started out specialising in knitwear at the Royal College of Art before taking on a role in knitwear at Calvin Klein, before moving on to Ralph Lauren. She returned to Europe to work at Gucci under Tom Ford, and then stepped into creative director roles at Pringle, Chloé and Givenchy. Last week, it was announced that she was becoming the creative director of Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo, which is targeted at the masses, not the classes. Lees meer
Seeing new challenges as an opportunity to learn and grow, has led Clare to make many unexpected decisions from the start of her career.
“Those moments when you are pushed to your boundaries and don't quite know how to navigate… bring a great sense of drive for me. I love the idea of being uncomfortable with what I'm working on because it makes me learn quickly,” she said. “I enjoy the process of change, and I guess that's why I've worked in so many different places.”
This week on The BoF Podcast, BoF founder Imran Amed sits down with Clare to discuss her varied career path and her experience working in American, Italian, British, French and now Japanese fashion companies and how this has shaped her outlook on the industry.
Key Insights
Growing up in Birmingham, England, Waight Keller was captivated by the vibrant subcultures she encountered. That influence led her towards art school, and eventually, fashion. “I distinctly remember standing at a bus stop, going to college, with punks, skinheads or goths — people who really expressed themselves through fashion and took it to a real sense of identity,” she said. “They just seemed like the most interesting people. I wanted to be part of that.”
After working for predominantly male creative directors, Clare felt it was time to express her own perspective, leading her to the creative director position at Chloé in 2011. “There's such a sensib…
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Fast Fashion Disruption With Shein and H&M
10 september 2024 · 27 min
Shein has fundamentally changed the fashion market, challenging fast fashion giants that were not so long ago in the disruptor position themselves. Once the category's upstart, H&M now finds itself struggling to keep pace as Shein redefines consumer expectations with ultra-low prices, endless selection and lightning-fast production. In response, H&M’s new CEO has unveiled a strategy to target the elusive middle market, hoping to position the retailer as more affordable than Zara but higher-quality than Shein. Lees meer
This week on The BoF Podcast, executive editor Brian Baskin sat down with Senior Sustainability Correspondent Sarah Kent and Retail Correspondent Cat Chen to delve into the contrasting paths of these two retail giants and what it means for the future of fashion.
“H&M has been stuck in the middle with kind of a muddled identity … It's trying to figure out how to differentiate itself,” said Chen. Meanwhile, Shein’s breakneck growth comes with a heavy environmental toll, raising questions about the industry’s efforts to reduce emissions.
“Shein’s growth is phenomenal, but its environmental impact has grown even faster than its sales… now outpacing all other large fashion companies,” Kent said.
Key Insights:
H&M’s CEO Daniel Ervér is focusing on a strategy to occupy the middle ground between ultra-budget brands like Shein and more premium fast fashion like Zara. The goal is to appeal to both ends of the market with a mix of affordable basics and higher-end pieces, as Ervér explained to Chen in her interview with the CEO. “[Ervér] said they were committed to this position of wanting to offer something to everybody.
Shein’s rapid growth has turned it into fashion’s biggest polluter, surpassing even Inditex in emissions. The company’s production model, reliance on cheap polyester, and coal-powered manufacturing contribute heavily to its environmental impact. “Over the last three years, their emissions have tripled as their sales have grown hugely,” Kent explain…
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Lyas on the Enduring Power of Fashion Storytelling
6 september 2024 · 44 min
Fashion narrator Lyas is one of the most compelling and authentic fashion communicators to have arrived on the scene, and whose takes on fashion shows and editorials are incisive, honest and well-informed. Lees meer
“I think we’ve lost the mindset of thinking that it’s possible to be creative and make money for the company, because the golden age of designers is over,” he says. “Now, every designer is disposable. It’s like musical chairs—every month, there’s someone leaving, someone coming.”
Lyas’s journey has been shaped by his belief in the emotional power of storytelling, which he sees as central to fashion communication. Using TikTok and Instagram to communicate his thoughts and opinions, his fashion roulette videos and witty runway dissections have captured the attention of hundreds of thousands of viewers. Recently, he has bemoaned the dilution of creativity across the fashion industry.
Key Insights:
Growing up in France and studying drama, Lyas was first drawn to the visual world filmmaking. Frustrated by the rigid criteria of the film industry, Lyas found freedom in fashion, where he could create personas and critique without fitting into predefined moulds. He connected with fashion insiders at parties, building his presence through social media and discovering a space that allowed his voice and persona to thrive. "I didn't find the sense of belonging in that cinema crowd, so I started going out with fashion people,” he said. “It became this way of creating this superstar persona at night and I fell in love with that."
Lyas quickly noticed the gap between private opinions and public silence in the fashion world. He began voicing unfiltered critiques, challenging the industry's hypocrisy. This unapologetic stance led to temporary blacklists but also opened doors, proving the value of staying true to his voice. “I started just saying it like it is on my TikTok... the first Sabato de Sarno I really didn't like, and I think most of the industry did not like it, but …
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How Nike Ran Off Course
3 september 2024 · 31 min
Nike’s streak as the undisputed leader in the activewear category spans generations, but the brand is facing its most significant hurdles in decades. However, recent shifts in leadership, oversupply issues and a botched direct-to-consumer strategy have chipped away at its once-untouchable brand image. As challengers like Hoka and On gain ground, and archrival Adidas surges, Nike faces mounting pressure to innovate and reconnect with consumers. Lees meer
“Nike remains a behemoth, … but all is not well,” says Miller. “The brand is on course for its worst financial performance in over a quarter of a century, and unfortunately for Nike, trouble is happening everywhere, all over the brand.”
This week on The Debrief, BoF executive editor Brian Baskin and senior correspondent Sheena Butler-Young sit down with sports correspondent Daniel-Yaw Miller to explore how Nike fell off track and the strategic moves it’s making to reclaim its market dominance.
Key insights
Nike’s reliance on retro sneaker lines like Air Force 1 and Dunks is driving consumer fatigue, as these once-coveted styles now languish on shelves. “At one point not so long ago, they were like gold dust,” says Miller. “But now they’re sitting on shelves for months and sometimes being discounted.” This overabundance is diluting the brand’s appeal and paving the way for smaller, more agile competitors to capture the spotlight.
Despite substantial investment in R&D, Nike’s innovation efforts have faltered, allowing rivals to define the next wave of sneaker trends, like performance sport styles and technology-driven designs. “Nike didn’t really have any new products to turn to and point consumers towards,” says Miller. Brands like On and Hoka have gained traction with innovations such as On’s CloudTec Technology and Hoka’s MetaRocker running silhouette.
The “Winning Isn’t For Everyone” campaign marks a return to Nike’s swaggering marketing playbook of the 90s and 2000s, and a potential early sign of the brand’s resurgen…
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Kamala Harris and the Politics of Style
30 augustus 2024 · 32 min
As the first female, Black, and South Asian Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris’s every move is closely watched — from her policy decisions to her wardrobe. With Harris now leading the Democratic ticket in the 2024 presidential election, her style and beauty choices — from her for her sleek silk press hairstyle to her endless variety of pantsuits — have sparked renewed discussion. Lees meer
“She is communicating something, even if it's not remarkable,” said BoF senior correspondent Sheena Butler-Young. “No one truly opts out of signalling something with how they present themselves.”
This week on The Debrief, BoF executive editor Brian Baskin sat down with Butler-Young and editorial apprentice Yola Mzizi to explore how Harris’s beauty and fashion choices are being interpreted by different audiences across the political spectrum, and what that means for the future of political style.
Key Insights:
Harris’s signature silk-pressed hairstyle has deep roots. “It's a centuries old way of straightening hair, and it's been around for generations upon generations. Most people associate it with just the hair that they have to have for Easter Sunday, or the style that the grandmothers would have,” Mzizi explains. Despite the history, Black Gen-Z voters have embraced the style, calling it the presidential silk press. “It's a way to support her candidacy in a fun way,” said Mzizi.
Harris’ wardrobe choices are being closely scrutinised, which has led her to more streamlined, straightforward ensembles. “The pantsuits, specifically the colour schemes — black, grey, navy blue, or just blues, with an occasional pastel, a pump as the shoe, or occasional Converse and pearls — are very much in line with how politicians dress,” said Butler-Young. Meanwhile, male politicians, like Harris’s vice-presidential nominee, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, have more freedom to experiment. “You look at her running mate Tim Walz, and his ability to sort of play around with style with those we…
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How Tweens Took Over the Beauty Aisle
23 augustus 2024 · 34 min
2024 has brought forth the arrival of the “Sephora tweens,” which refers to members of Gen Alpha (roughly defined as those born between 2010 and 2024) who have enthusiastically taken to buying up skincare and makeup. This phenomenon, driven largely by beauty-related chatter on social media, has resulted in a new wave of brands catering specifically to this younger demographic. Lees meer
“There are now teen brands, tween brands, 20-something brands, 30-something brands. … I think we can thank the DTC movement and everything that happened from 2014 on for this kind of innovation,” Rao says. “There's been a total disruption in beauty overall with challenger brands like Glossier that have come and really taken market share away from the big conglomerates and companies … that have been household names for a really long time.”
This week on The BoF Podcast, senior correspondent Sheena Butler-Young and executive editor Brian Baskin sat down with Priya Rao, executive editor at The Business of Beauty at BoF, to delve into how tweens have taken over the beauty aisle and what this means for the future of the industry.
Key Insights
Kids have long experimented with beauty products, but today, they’re starting earlier and earlier. "If you look at social media today, it's not just 10-year-olds or 11-year-olds. There are 5- and 6-year-olds putting on makeup and trying different lipsticks and lip glosses," shared Rao. This early engagement with beauty is not just a passing trend, but is becoming a norm, fueled by the accessibility of products to try in stores like Sephora and the influence of social media platforms like TikTok.
Another driving force behind this trend is the rise of celebrity-led beauty brands that resonate with young people. For example, Rare Beauty, founded by Selena Gomez, not only offers products but also promotes mental health awareness. "Tweens and teens can identify with these brands not just because of the products, but because of what they stand for," explained R…
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What Happens When It’s Too Hot to Make Fashion?
16 augustus 2024 · 30 min
Many of fashion’s largest manufacturing hubs, particularly in South and Southeast Asia, are increasingly at risk of dangerous, record-breaking heatwaves. As extreme heat becomes more frequent, more intense and longer-lasting, what is the cost to industry and how will we adapt to the growing climate risks? Lees meer
Senior correspondent, Sheena Butler-Young and executive editor, Brian Baskin sat down with BoF sustainability correspondent Sarah Kent to understand what rising global temperatures means for the future of garment production.
“We have to assume that it’s the new norm and or at least a new baseline. It’s not like every year will necessarily be as bad, but consistently over time, the expectation is things are going to get hotter for longer,” says Kent. “We both have to take steps to mitigate and prevent things getting worse, and we have to accept that we have not done enough to stop things getting this bad - and so we have to adapt as well.”
Key Insights:
Extreme heat leads to productivity problems, including increased instances of illness and malfunctioning machinery — even air conditioning units. The reason this isn’t surfacing as a significant supply chain issue is that it occurs in short, sharp bursts. “The supply chain is flexible enough and sophisticated enough that it can be papered over for the moment, particularly at a time when demand is not at its peak,” shared Kent. “Not all factories are working at full capacity all the time, so if your productivity isn’t 100% you can manage that for a few days or a week.”
When it comes to working conditions in garment factories, climate also tends to take a backseat, both for manufacturers and, often, the workers themselves. “The biggest issue for a worker is going to be okay, I’m not earning enough to feed my family, my job isn’t secure, and then it’s really hot and that’s making it worse,” Kent recalled hearing from union representatives in Bangladesh.
Whilst brands understand the interconnectivity between their…
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Convoy on How to Create Fashion Moments
9 augustus 2024 · 50 min
Creative directors and brand strategists Juan Costa Paz and Nordine Benotmane, who founded Paris-based creative agency Convoy in 2012, are paid to think outside the box for clients from Nike to Louis Vuitton. Lees meer
“We care about having conversations outside of the fashion echo chamber,” said Costa Paz. “I like to create tension, even if people don't like things, because I do think that it's good to try to create the conversation,” added Benotmane.
This week on The BoF Podcast, Costa Paz and Benotmane join BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed to discuss how they do it and their paths to fashion.
Key insights:
Convoy’s Costa Paz and Benotmane came to fashion from the worlds of music and cinema, respectively, and that’s a good thing. “The fact that both Nordine and I come from different spaces, we don't tend to abide by the rules of what makes a fashion moment,” said Costa Paz. “We're a little bit kamikaze in the way that we try to not think as the brand wants us to think,” added Benotmane.
Over the years, Convoy has produced content around fashion shows for brands like Miu Miu, Vuitton and Balmain. Describing these moments as, “like going to war”, Paz Costa believes there is an element of both care and challenge that is required when realising ambitious ideas with clients. “Sometimes you just need to hold hands with your clients and jump together into the void. I think that we usually land very well when there is communication and transparency.”
Convoy also leads creative direction for Condé Nast’s Vogue World, which kicked off Paris Couture Week with a pre-Olympics sports-themed extravaganza. “This is a new way of seeing media,” said Benotmane. At the same time, he recognises there is always still space to explore. “Maybe this is a new way of doing the media, but we could have told stories of the athletes, the way they prepare for the competition, their relationship to fashion, a lot of things that we maybe didn't manage to do this time because it's still a n…
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Willy Chavarria on Promoting Social Justice Through Fashion
2 augustus 2024 · 33 min
Willy Chavarria has become a force in American fashion, known for his Chicano-inspired take on menswear. Last year, Willy broke through, winning the CFDA award for Menswear Designer of the Year. For more than two decades before that, Willy worked behind-the scenes in major American fashion companies like Ralph Lauren, American Eagle and Calvin Klein. Lees meer
But now, he is focused on building his own business. At the centre of his designs is a focus on community and equality:
“I sat with my team before we actually started the Willy Chavarria label and I said that this is how we're going to move forward with this brand. Everything that we do is going to be aimed to raise people up and to make people feel good and to celebrate human dignity,” he said. “That will be the foundation of the brand.”
This week on The BoF Podcast, Willy joins me to discuss his journey from the San Joaquin Valley into the fashion big-time in New York City, his commitment to social justice, and how the American fashion industry is evolving today.
Key Insights
Chavarria has always been fascinated by the way people dress. Growing up in the San Joaquin Valley in California, he was far away from the centres of fashion, but still paid close attention to style around him. “Part of my personal outlook was the way people chose to dress themselves in order to project an inclusion in a particular group,” he recalls. “The women in the family, I think of them in the red lipstick and the dark floral dresses getting ready for mass every Sunday, the black veils for the widows and the men with their fine pressed shirts.”
Growing up half white and queer in a macho, predominantly Latinx environment, Chavarria often felt out of place. “I was always looking at my surroundings as an outsider. It was difficult when I was young, but now I look back on it and I'm so grateful because it gave me a perspective that was highly visual, very analytical, and it gave me so much time to work on my own creativity and to be just…
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Stéphane Ashpool on Fashion, Sports and the Paris Olympics
26 juli 2024 · 30 min
Sport and fashion have always been a part of Stéphane Ashpool’s life: He was raised watching his artistic parents socialise with designers like Claude Montana in Paris, while simultaneously falling in love with basketball watching the LA Lakers on TV. He followed both of these passions into adulthood, eventually launching streetwear brand Pigalle in 2008 and going on to collaborate with brands like Nike. Lees meer
“I have as much curiosity for couture as I have for sport kit,” said Ashpool. “I knew I wanted to kind of blend those things spontaneously. I had no clue what it was going to bring me but that's why I started to put things together.”
This week on The BoF Podcast, Ashpool joins BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed to share his journey with clothing brand Pigalle and how his unconventional path into fashion led him to designing the French national team’s Olympic uniforms.
Key Insights
Raised in the Parisian suburbs with his dancer mother and artist father, Ashpool was deeply rooted in the worlds of sport and fashion from a young age. “I had this charming home, and when I went in the streets, I had this more masculine type of vibe. And that was related to the sport I love the most, which is basketball,” he says. “My mother and her friends were dancers, so I've been surrounded by a lot of the gay community, people coming from all over the globe, eccentricity, people that really embrace style.”
Established in 2008, Ashpool’s brand Pigalle was named for the Parisian neighbourhood he grew up in and born with the district’s multi-dimensional spirit in mind. “I didn't exactly know what I was doing, but what I did know was the best of both worlds. I like to blend, so I have as much curiosity for couture as I have for sports kits,” he shares. “[At the start] we didn't know how to handle things, to organise ourselves, but the fire was burning. It was really exciting to enter a lane that no one really did before.”
When Ashpool was approached by Le Coq Sportif to des…
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Vennette Ho on the Future of Beauty M&A
19 juli 2024 · 16 min
2024 has the potential to be a dynamic year for dealmaking in beauty, as brands including Makeup by Mario, Kosas, Merit and even Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty begin exploring their strategic options. But strategic buyers and private equity firms are also adopting more selective acquisition strategies. Lees meer
At The Business of Beauty Global Forum 2024, Vennette Ho, managing director and global head of beauty and personal care at investment bank Financo Raymond James shared her expert views on this year’s M&A scene in the beauty industry. Vennette is the industry’s most respected investment banker, so when she talks, the beauty industry listens.
“M&A happens when there's a fundamental change in the consumer. The consumer needs and the consumer wants are something that the strategics today don't have,” Ho explained. “Every time there's an evolution of a consumer need or want or expectation, M&A has to become a necessity for large strategies to look at.”
This week on The BoF Podcast, Imran Amed, BoF founder and editor-in-chief sits down with Ho to discuss the evolving nature and market of the beauty industry.
Key Insights:
According to Ho, consumer expectations for beauty brands have changed, as well as how they engage with them. Acquiring indie brands helps conglomerates meet those expectations. “A lot of the big companies don't have … the ability to incubate internally, they don't have the ability to come up with something. It really comes honestly from the hearts of founders and it comes from private companies. As a result, M&A becomes really necessary,” she says.
Ho advises founders to get to know lots of potential acquirers when considering a potential acquirer, in order to understand who shares your values before making a deal. “It also goes for the other side that they feel like they know you and you can have a better alignment from the beginning,” she adds. .
The perfect exit process is not just about the closing of the deal but also what happens after. “What hap…
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Why the Fashion Industry Needs a Makeover
12 juli 2024 · 31 min
In a special episode, BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed joins Bob Safian on the Rapid Response podcast, part of the respected Masters of Scale series. Lees meer
“The most interesting thing you can do, if you look at historical photos going back 50 or 100 years, is to look at what people are wearing. It gives you a sense of what's happening in the world at that time,” said Amed. “When we look back to 2024, and see the Hoka sneakers, the athleisure, and the streetwear looks that people are wearing, these are a reflection of what's happening in the world right now. That's what makes fashion so powerful.”
In their conversation, Amed and Safian discuss the rapid growth of the global fashion business, the dominance of the megabrands and the resulting crisis of creativity and challenges faced by independent fashion brands, as well as the impact of ultra fast fashion brands like Shein and Temu.
Key Insights:
According to Amed, the fashion industry's focus on business growth is stifling creativity, leading to a homogenised market, where innovation is increasingly scarce. "Creatives are being put into boxes and forced to work in ways that are all about meeting the demands of these large, now publicly traded companies that are analysed by all the same investment banks and analysts as Procter & Gamble and Apple. When you're in these big public companies, every quarter you have to show growth, and it really puts a drain on creativity."
Independent designers are facing significant hurdles in a market dominated by mega brands. "The big brands in this industry have become so big, so dominant that it makes it really hard for younger independent designers,” Amed explains. “Lately, I've just had this feeling that the early stage part of our industry is not very healthy. There's been a lot of things happening in the industry that have just made it really, really hard."
Amed believes artificial intelligence is poised to revolutionise the fashion industry. "It's going to be really …
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Tim Blanks and Imran Amed on Haute Couture Week A/W 2024
5 juli 2024 · 54 min
Paris Couture Week has come to a close, and Tim Blanks and Imran Amed sat down for their seasonal review of all the most important collections — from Schiaparelli to Armani, the standout looks, and of course the designers who brought them to life. Lees meer
They also discuss the significance of Dries Van Noten’s final collection, which was the most important moment during the menswear shows, and also how the brand will take things forward now that Dries is stepping back.
“Alain Gossuin, the first model on the catwalk, was the first model in Dries’ first show. They had to dig for those models. They had to really get out there and find all these people and it was spectacular. All of that was very emotional, but I think Dries really kept the lid on it with the way that he came out at the end and waved as if to say, ‘maybe I'll be back soon.’”
Key Insights:
Down to the way the models moved, Daniel Roseberry's collection for Schiaparelli was a cinematic spectacle, merging traditional haute couture craftsmanship with futuristic design elements. “When [the models] stared at you it was challenging. They weren't staring at you to welcome you into their world.They were imperious. It's quite piercing but it was so deliberate that it felt like a different element in the show,” shared Blanks.
In light of Virginie Viard's departure, there is now a significant opportunity for change at Chanel. “If they want to take a chance on change, it's an amazing time to do that. Chanel is codes — and whoever goes in there has to understand those codes — but there's stuff you can do with those codes,” remarked Blanks.
At Gaultier, Nicolas di Felice’s interpretation of the French house left a lasting impression. “The intensity of the audience's engagement with him was so genuine you could see the future,” said Blanks. “He's quietly created an authentically cultivated real sense of goodwill amongst people. I think people in the industry are really rooting for him.”
Additional Resources:
Couture D…
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Diane von Furstenberg on the Making of Her New Documentary
28 juni 2024 · 43 min
From her miraculous birth as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor to becoming a fashion powerhouse with her signature wrap dress, Diane von Furstenberg's remarkable journey is one of resilience, innovation, and empowerment. Lees meer
In a new documentary about her life called "Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge,” Academy Award-winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy combines archival footage and intimate interviews with von Furstenberg’s closest friends and family to paint a vivid picture of a woman who has always been true to herself and her vision.
“The most important thing is to work hard at being true to yourself and liking yourself. If you are true to yourself, you are free,” shared von Furstenberg.
“Women are defined by society and placed in boxes and labels, and sometimes are forced to make decisions that they don't want to,” added Obaid-Chinoy. “Diane's story coming at a time like this is so important because it is an anthem of freedom.”
This week on The BoF Podcast, von Furstenberg and Obaid-Chinoy speak to BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed at the London premiere to share their experience of making the documentary and the new learnings this process surfaced about a life well lived.
Key Insights:
When creating documentaries, Obaid-Chinoy’s goal is to carefully peel back the layers of a person until reaching their core. After countless hours of conversation and travel with von Furstenberg, she believes she succeeded. “This is a story about a woman who faced adversity and rose up each time. I feel like all my films are about women who are faced with extraordinary circumstances. And Diane fits right at the heart of it.”
For von Furstenberg, the documentary also tells a crucial tale of her mother and her legacy. “It's about this woman who refused to die, who refused to be a victim, who told me never to be afraid, who never told me to be careful, who wanted me to have a big life,” she shared. “when you have a strong mother, you know, and you're being t…
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Deena Aljuhani Abdulaziz on Redefining Arab Fashion Media
21 juni 2024 · 41 min
Deena Aljuhani Abdulaziz was drawn to fashion from a young age, devouring issues of Vogue and Tatler. This led her to set up D’NA, a members-only boutique based in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. 10 years later when she closed her boutique, she became the founding editor in chief of Vogue Arabia – but soon parted ways with the publication due to a misalignment in values. Lees meer
Now, Aljuhani Abdulaziz is back with her own media publication, on her own terms. ‘Deenathe1st.com’ is an editorial lifestyle website dedicated to fostering a creative community that celebrates Arab culture.
“What I hold dear is what anybody would hold dear. Representing my culture correctly and fairly,” she says. “And it's not trying to show off Western ideas to the region. It's the other way around. It's showcasing the region and what we share creatively with the rest of the world.”
This week on The BoF Podcast, Aljuhani Abdulaziz joins BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed to share her career journey, the lessons she’s learned about fostering culture and community, and why the fashion community needs a new publication.
Key Insights
Born in California but raised between the US and Saudi Arabia, Aljuhani Abdulaziz is an expert code switcher who’s always felt able to act like a cultural bridge between the two worlds. “It never felt like an effort. It just came naturally. I think that's part of what makes me who I am in a sense,” she shares. “It's not just in figures of speech, but also in how you would interact with people, because there are different customs and traditions in different regions and in different households. It's really about a state of mind.”
Aljuhani Abdulaziz’s first fashion influence was her mother, who she describes as “still very, very chic.” As a child, her discovery of Tatler magazine pushed this passion even further. “I picked it up and I opened up its pages and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, this is it!’ I was just so grateful and happy that it existed.”
Aljuhani Abdulazi…
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Law Roach on Keeping Busy After ‘Retirement’
14 juni 2024 · 1 uur 1 min
As a self-styled “image architect”, Law Roach has earned global recognition for the red carpet looks he has created for some of the most famous — and most photographed — women in the world. Lees meer
But in 2022, when he suddenly announced his retirement on Instagram, writing “If this business was just about the clothes I would do it for the rest of my life but unfortunately it’s not! The politics, the lies and false narratives finally got me! You win…I’m out.”
While Roach continues to work with top clients Celine Dion and Zendaya — he was the mastermind behind Zendaya’s tennis-inspired “Challengers” press tour earlier this year — he’s also pursuing his entrepreneurial ambitions. Later this year, he will launch a new online learning platform to train the next generation of stylists.
“It was hours and hours of me talking with a script writer and being recorded to get out all my processes, from the way I set up a room to style and the psychology of choosing the right dress. So it's super comprehensive and I'm super proud of it. And we’re launching it with me as the very first instructor.”
This week, on the BoF Podcast, Roach joins me to trace his career right from the beginning when he was selling thrifted clothes from the trunk of his friend’s car in the South Side of Chicago and to exclusively share the details of his new online learning platform and what he hopes people will learn from it.
Key Insights:
Roach’s first memories of fashion are from his childhood in Chicago. “My first runway show was church on Sunday morning, watching those women with the hats and the outfits, but high fashion had always been something that was very aspirational but also seen very unattainable at the same time.” He then began his career selling vintage pieces from the trunk of a friend’s car before moving to a brick-and-mortar storefront. “That turned into a revenue stream for me and which then turned into a boutique, which turned into Kanye West coming in one day,” he said. That celebrit…
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Gucci Westman and David Neville on Creating a Luxury Beauty Brand That Lasts
7 juni 2024 · 19 min
Husband and wife duo Gucci Westman and David Neville’s luxury beauty label Westman Atelier has become an industry favourite, winning fans for its curated collection of cosmetics, holistic approach to beauty and strong focus on ingredients. Lees meer
“Our customer knows that she's getting something that is clean, is going to perform, is going to be good for her skin, and is going to be a luxury experience she hasn't had before,” said Westman.
“We think about brand-building in the literal sense of building a brand brick by brick. Every day we are building our team, building our capacity, building our assortment, introducing new products,” shared Neville.
In this conversation from The Business of Beauty Global Forum 2024, Priya Rao, executive editor of The Business of Beauty, sits down with Westman and Neville to discuss how they’re building a multidimensional luxury beauty brand that lasts.
Key insights:
Growing up in Sweden, Westman said that the importance of high quality ingredients was instilled in her at a young age. “The Swedish lifestyle is all about value over quantity, having a slow burn and really savouring that experience. I think that really informed my ideas around what we should do and how we should do it,” she shared.
Neville believes that a product focus is crucial to longevity. “We spent about three and a half years prior to launching in the market just developing with a singular focus on our products. That mentality has been with us all along this journey.”
Westman highlights trust as another essential ingredient to their brand formula. “Our customer knows that she's getting something that is clean, is going to perform, and is going to be good for her skin. I think we've established this sort of loyalty and trust is imperative in this kind of thing.”
To build a brand that lasts, Westman Atelier’s strategy is to take it all one step at a time. “We think about brand-building in the literal sense of building a brand brick by brick. Every day we are build…
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Héctor Bellerín on Football, Fashion and His New Brand, Gospel Estudios
31 mei 2024 · 46 min
Footballer Héctor Bellerín first made a name for himself with his defensive skills on the pitch but it’s his outspoken views and distinctive personal style that have transformed the Spanish right-back into a cultural trailblazer. Lees meer
Now, Héctor, who has been called “the world’s best-dressed footballer”, is launching a new label, Gospel Estudios, which has served a creative outlet as he continues to play football.
“This was a way to recharge my battery. It was a way of learning something new, do stuff with my hands, trying new things. It was a process of discovery and learning and trial and error,” he says.
This week on The BoF Podcast, Héctor sits down with me to talk about the burgeoning relationship between fashion and football, how he developed his strong sense of personal style, and to share his plans for the launch of Gospel Estudios for the first time on The Business of Fashion.
Key Insights:
After starting his career in Barcelona, Bellerin moved to London in 2011 to play for Arsenal. During his nine years at the club his off-duty style gained him both media admiration and criticism. “I got a lot of stick when I was at Arsenal and things didn’t go well, a lot of people used to say he’s not playing well because he’s focused on fashion,” he says.
Héctor Bellerín looked to another footballer, David Beckham, as an example of how to bridge the gap between fashion and sport. “He opened doors for everyone. And I think not just in football, but for men overall … In these very masculine places it’s very hard to be different.”
At Gospel Estudios, dependence, rather than independence, is the foundation upon which Bellerín is building his sustainable brand. “My mom works in the studio. My friend’s dad works in the studio. My granddad repaired sewing machines back in the day so he repairs the same machines,” he says. “It’s important to let people know that we are dependent. We are dependent on a lot of people.”
Sharing his philosophy on responsible consumption, Belle…
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Charles Jeffrey on 10 Years of Loverboy
24 mei 2024 · 45 min
In 2014, in a nondescript basement club in East London, Charles Jeffrey’s Loverboy was born. At the age of 18, the Scottish-born designer moved from Glasgow to London to pursue a BA in Fashion Design at Central Saint Martins and has since earned his place in the long line of highly creative fashion designers coming from the city. With an upcoming exhibition at Somerset House, the one time upstart is ready to look back on 10 years of his brand. Lees meer
“I'm Charles Jeffrey, I'm not Alexander McQueen, I'm Charles Jeffrey, I'm not Gareth Pugh. I'm Charles Jeffrey, I'm not John Galliano,” he said. “I have a way of looking at fashion and I want to nurture that and see it to its end.”
This week on The BoF Podcast, Jeffrey joins me to share his journey into London’s fashion scene and reflect on the past, present and future of Loverboy, underscoring that he has his own unique vision to contribute to fashion.
Key Insights:
Jeffrey credits video games for sparking his interest in fashion design. “I was a big geek and me and my friends would play in the forests and play Lord of the Rings with sticks. I would sit and draw the outfits and characters that we would all be. We all had our own alter egos and we would just really live in that world.”
Since the inception of Loverboy, Jeffrey was conscious of building a brand, and chose not to name the brand after himself. “I could have had a business that was just called Charles Jeffrey but I wanted to keep that Loverboy thing because I felt it was a sticky kind of concept. I could apply it to products, Loverboy tartan, Loverboy polka dot, Loverboy pinstripe, or the Loverboy beanie,” he said. “All these things, you start to give them names; it's the psychology of business and brands and advertising.”
Jeffrey understands that creating core hero products is essential to creating brand loyalty and drawing in customers to discover other products. “How can I make a beanie, which is a bit of a novelty and a throwaway, something that people w…
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How Esteban Cortázar Got His Groove Back
17 mei 2024 · 44 min
Esteban Cortázar first fell in love with fashion as a teenager growing up in Miami. Over the years, his career in fashion has come with lots of ups and downs. After he became one of the youngest designers to ever present at New York Fashion Week he had to shut his label down. He went on to become the creative director of Emanuel Ungaro at just 22 years old, before leaving after he disagreed with the owners’ plans to bring on Lindsay Lohan as a consultant. He relaunched his eponymous fashion house but it closed during Covid. Now, Esteban is launching ‘Donde Esteban,’ a new brand on his own terms, on his own schedule, celebrating his roots in Colombia, Miami and Ibiza. Lees meer
“Where we can lack as young designers or as designers doing independent brands is that it's really like a puzzle,” says Cortazár. “And you have to have all of the pieces in place for it to work. Having an investor is certainly not enough, you really need to have all of the different angles in place, especially today, to be able to sustain a business.”
This week on The BoF Podcast Esteban joins me to share his career journey and the lessons he’s learned about building an independent fashion business today.
Key insights:
Born to a Colombian painter and former British jazz singer, Cortazár’s childhood straddled continents, lifestyles, and subcultures, all of which has greatly influenced his artistic sensibilities. “I grew up around a very bohemian environment through my family and my parents — colours and paints and oils and instruments. That already set the tone of a very artistic point of view from a very early stage,” he says.
Emulating what he saw in the fashion magazines he devoured as a teenager, Cortazár’s early shows were always organised to a professional standard despite his young age and lack of training.
Cortazár jumped at the opportunity to become creative director of Ungaro at the age of 22. “I knew how much questioning there was going to be from the industry about me and my age, my ex…
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Vanessa Friedman on the Past, Present and Future of the Met Gala
10 mei 2024 · 47 min
The first Monday in May has become synonymous with the Met Gala. Every year, celebrities and brands come together on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This year’s theme was The Garden of Time and attendees went to enormous efforts to try to catch the spotlight amid one of the busiest red carpet moments of the year, orchestrated by Anna Wintour, global chief content officer of Conde Nast and editor-in-chief of American Vogue. Lees meer
“Anna Wintour has raised the ante every year to the extent that this Met Gala made $26 million in one night,” says New York Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman on this week’s episode of The BoF Podcast. “The amount of social media impressions it generates is beyond compare. The guest list that she curates, because it is an entirely curated guest list, is like nothing else.”.
Friedman joins BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed to share her journey into fashion journalism, reflect on what this year’s Met Gala says about the state of fashion and culture and of course, dissects the standout looks of the night.
Key Insights:
Over the past few decades, fashion has become a pillar of popular culture thanks to the rise of social media and our image-first culture, said Friedman. “We now communicate globally more through imagery than we communicate through words or papers or speeches or books,” she says. “We are constantly making judgments based on the images we see … and those images are intrinsically connected to fashion … It's a language that we all think we speak and therefore we can use as communication.”
The Spanish luxury house Loewe, owned by LVMH, was one of the evening’s sponsors, which for Friedman is an embodiment of the culture-shaping ethos held by LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault. “He doesn't want his brands to be just fashion brands. He wants them to be culture brands. It's going past luxury into shaping culture at large.”
This year’s Met Gala raised an impressive $26 million, but Friedman says this raises questions …
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Stan Herman on a Lifetime in Fashion
3 mei 2024 · 36 min
Stan Herman may be 95 years old, but the designer, activist and former president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America remains an unstoppable force. His recent memoir, “Uncross Your Legs: A Life in Fashion” details his journey through the American fashion industry, including bringing New York Fashion Week to Bryant Park. Lees meer
This week on The BoF Podcast, Herman joins BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed to reflect on his remarkable life and career, and to talk about how big business has changed the fashion industry.
“With so much money being floated out there, it's changed the whole nature of the business,” he says.“Once we anointed designers as superstars, once big business and Wall Street put their cashmere gloves on, fashion was not the same.”
Key Insights
Herman, who grew up in a Jewish family in New Jersey, traces his initial interest in fashion to his parents. His father owned a number of silk stores. His mother died when he was only 12 years old, but in writing his book he discovered that she was a talented seamstress. “I found things about her that I had never known. How she sewed, how she made patterns on the floor, how she knew how to cut a bias dress,” he recalls. “We didn't have very much money at the time and she made lots of house dresses that she lived in.”
Herman’s career includes stints designing ready-to-wear under the label Mr. Mort and creating uniforms for America’s largest corporations. “I lived this life of a designer with an intellectual school teacher and I plotted my life,” he says. “I worked for eight years in companies, then I was first a third designer, second designer. I learned the hard way.”
In 1991, Herman became the president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, a position he held for 16 years. During his time at the CFDA, New York Fashion Week was born, initially staged in a cluster of white tents in Bryant Park. “That park has become for me my life in New York,” he said. “It's never been the same since…
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How Calvin Klein Taps Into Culture
26 april 2024 · 22 min
On January 4th of this year, when Calvin Klein dropped its new spring 2024 campaign with a shirtless Jeremy Allen White wearing the brand’s signature underwear, it set the internet ablaze. Social media feeds flooded with reaction videos and media outlets covered the campaign widely. The following week, Calvin Klein saw a 30 percent year-over-year increase in underwear sales. Lees meer
While the brand could never have predicted the gigantic response the campaign would generate, Calvin Klein’s chief marketing officer Jonathan Bottomley says the brand did everything it could to put the strategy in place for it to do so.
“In a culture that's very flat, how do you create those spikes … we adopt what we call an entertainment mentality,” said Bottomley on stage at the BoF Professional Summit in New York.
This week on The BoF Podcast, BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed sits down with Bottomley to unpack Calvin Klein’s marketing strategy and how they cut through the noise to create cultural moments.
Key Insights:
Calvin Klein’s entertainment mentality can be broken down into three main parts. “Firstly, we put a lot of focus on creating stories and creating content that people are going to want to spend time with. The second thing is we think really hard about the talent, not just in terms of reach of engagement, but the opportunity to create a cultural character, show them in a way that maybe you haven't seen before,” Bottomley explains. “And then the third thing is media. We work with real intention to blend the media mix, to try and game the algorithm and and really to cut through.”
Bottomley stresses that the brand does not aim to court controversy. “There's an authenticity to what we do, which is partly the DNA as a brand. This idea of sensuality and empowerment, they go together,” he says. “It's much more to do with partnership, creative expression, and this idea of a character that we feel is going to work, but that our partner really believes in.”
On balancing b…
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Willy Vanderperre on Youth Culture and His New Exhibition in Antwerp
19 april 2024 · 46 min
For more than 30 years, photographer Willy Vanderperre has been fascinated with youth. Vanderperre has carved a niche for himself in the fashion industry, capturing the youthful essence of models like Julia Nobis and Clément Chabernaud for fashion houses including Dior, Prada and Givenchy. Lees meer
“It would be bordering on pretentious to say that I understand youth. I am 53 years old and I am fully aware of that. It's impossible to understand youth nowadays. I can just have an interpretation of what I think youth is through my eyes and through the experiences I have with those kids,” says Vanderperre.
Ahead of the opening of his exhibition “Willy Vanderperre Prints, Films, a Rave and More…” at MoMu – Fashion Museum Antwerp, Vanderperre sits down with BoF editor-at-large Tim Blanks to discuss this approach to image-making his creative collaborations with Raf Simons and Olivier Rizzo, and more.
Key Insights
Whilst studying photography at Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Vanderperre first encountered the friends who would become his closest collaborators: Raf Simons, Olivier Rizzo and Peter Philips. “We all grew up in different parts of Belgium, we all have very different backgrounds, we also come from different subcultures, so I think it's also that that linked us together at one point.”
A rave and hedonistic subculture is an essential component of his body of work. “Of course we had to include the rave. My main focus has always been youth, and it will always be. I am from that generation of Belgian kids that when the rave scene was big, I was young and I indulged in that lifestyle,” he shared.
Vanderperre views challenge, both for himself and his audience, as a defining characteristic of his work. “What is a beautiful picture? Does it always have to be beautifully lit or perfectly lit? … Technique is important, but it's a means and I think we should play with that,” he explains.
As for his work philosophy, Vanderperre keeps it simple: “I like the idea of observi…
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The Assoulines on Thirty Years of Fashion Publishing
12 april 2024 · 43 min
Prosper and Martine Assouline’s business began with a passion project: A book dedicated to their love for La Colombe d’Or, a boutique hotel in the South of France; Martine produced the images and Prosper was responsible for the text. But since publishing that first title 30 years ago, Assouline Publishing has gone on to capture the history and visual memory of places like Ibiza and Jaipur, industry icons such as Estée Lauder and Valentino Garavani, as well as fashion houses like Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton. Lees meer
“The idea was to make a book about the spirit of a place, … to mix the past, the present, the people, and all the DNA,” says Martine.
“I always say to my team in the art department that when a book is finished, we need to start it. … You think it's finished but it’s just beginning,” says Prosper.
This week on The BoF Podcast, founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed sits down with the Assoulines to learn how this fixture of fashion publishing was born and how they intend to maintain that original creative spark while growing it into a global lifestyle business.
Key Insights:
While Assouline may be a leading luxury publishing house today, Martine and Prosper were outsiders without prior experience or contacts in this world. They had to learn along the way. “We learned that it was a real job. A real industry, a club where everyone knew each other,” said Prosper Assouline. “We learned while doing - everything,” added Martine.
Prosper Assouline says the process of creating a new book is architectural and the magic lies in the details. “We didn’t just want to do books because Amazon is full of proposals and other publishers are full of proposals.”
For Martine, the continual consumption of culture and arts is a key ingredient in Assouline’s formula. “You have to eat culture. You have to go to a museum. You have to see films of today, of yesterday. You have to look at magazines, hear music, all kinds of different books. It's very important.”
In the Assoulines…
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Jordan Brand’s Larry Miller on the Power of Second Chances
28 maart 2024 · 20 min
Starting in 1999, Larry Miller worked alongside Michael Jordan to build Nike’s Jordan brand, which today generates more than $5 billion in revenue for Nike. But his journey to the C-suite was a unique one. Lees meer
Growing up in West Philadelphia, Miller joined a gang, which led him to serve multiple prison sentences for a series of crimes, including second-degree murder.
Through a rehabilitation programme, he was able to begin his college education while in prison, and upon release, he was able to start his career with an accounting job at the Campbell Soup Company. In 1997, Miller started working for Nike under founder Phil Knight, and became the first Black vice president of apparel at the company before going on to become president of the Jordan brand in 1999.
But it wasn’t until years later that he went public about his backstory with the publication of his book, “Jump: My Secret Journey From the Streets to the Boardroom.”
At BoF VOICES 2022, Miller sat down with UTA executive Darnell Strom to share his story, talk about the power of second chances and explain how he found redemption.
“I’ve come to the realisation that a lot of times we are afraid to talk about the obstacles that we overcome. But in reality there’s no shame in overcoming obstacles,” said Miller.
Key Insights:
“When I was 16, I shot a kid and he died and I was charged as an adult at 16 years old… pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, was sentenced to four and a half to 20 years,” Miller revealed at BoF VOICES 2022.
Once he had revealed his story, Miller says Michael Jordan and Phil Knight were supportive and encouraged him to share his story. “It’s been amazing to me the response that I’ve gotten from people who I’ve known and worked with and who have just encouraged me and embraced the fact that I’ve got this past.”
Following the release of his book, Miller apologised to the family of Edward David White, the man he killed. In White’s honour Miller created a foundation for his descendents to …
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Owen Eastwood and Tim Brown on Building High Performing Teams
22 maart 2024 · 18 min
As a performance coach to England’s national football team, the Royal Ballet and more, Eastwood taps into his Māori heritage to help groups foster a sense of togetherness and drive performance. Lees meer
For Allbirds co-founder and chief innovation officer Tim Brown, co-founder and chief innovation officer at Allbirds, a company that has gone on a rollercoaster of ups and downs since it IPO in 2021, his former life as a professional football player for New Zealand has taught him lessons he’s brought from the pitch to the boardroom.
“When we want to create a high performing environment, we make an undertaking to each other that we will do nothing to diminish the dignity of every person, and when we all leave this experience or whatever it is together, our dignity will be enhanced,” Eastwood told Brown stage at BoF VOICES 2023. “For me, therefore, you need to understand the story of the people you work with.”
This week on The BoF Podcast, Brown and Eastwood unpack how companies can drive high performance while maintaining a supportive culture.
Key Insights:
While working with the British Olympic team, Eastwood encouraged the athletes to find a level of investment in their own story by creating a film which showcased various Olympians all the way back from 1896. “The Olympians themselves just took selfies the whole time with these images of those ancestors who they in particular could relate to, maybe something that shared their own identity story. I think it opened their eyes.”
Allbirds was founded in 2024 with a mission to make sustainable footwear, but 10 years on, Brown said that he’s learned how important it is to stay true to that internal story, both in communicating with employees and consumers. “As a creative person, as a storyteller, are we doing enough within our organisations to tell stories internally in the same way that we're telling them outside of the organisation?” he asked.
Eastwood said those sorts of strong, dynamic, internal stories are key for ever…
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The Retail Philosopher Creating Waves in Egypt and Beyond
15 maart 2024 · 40 min
Amir Fayo, the founder of 69 Group, marries brand architecture and art direction to create retail and hospitality concepts rooted in culture and connection. Best known for operating Egyptian stores Maison69 and Villa Baboushka, Fayo breaks with conventions to create immersive store experiences that resonate with consumers on an emotional level. Everything starts by not thinking of himself as a retailer. Lees meer
“I don't know how to do retail. Retail is structured. Retail is data. Retail is numbers. … I connect to people, to how they feel, what makes them tick, what makes them be interested,” he says.
This week on The BoF Podcast, BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed sits down with Fayo to discuss his innovative attitude toward retail.
Key Insights:
Fayo, who was born in Wales and raised in Egypt, says his architectural style is heavily influenced by his multicultural upbringing. “Egypt gave me a heart, the UK gave me my creativity and the US gave me my thinking process.”
There are three pillars to how Fayo approaches a project. The first is building an environment in which people can form an emotional memory. The second is creating a sense of social intimacy. Finally, he remains focussed on the idea of elevating the everyday. ‘I want to elevate [mundane moments] to be something that people remember, that people want to come back to,” Fayo explains.
When designing retail spaces, the idea of home is kept at the forefront. “When we started to define that code, I said, where is that space where there is no right and there is no wrong? It should be home,” says Fayo. “We're going to design homes because homes should be welcoming. Homes should create belonging. Homes should create easy connections.”
Additional resources
Vogue Arabia's Editor-in-Chief on the Diversity of Urban Markets in the Middle East
All Eyes on Egypt
BoF Insights | Fashion in the Middle East: Optimism and Transformation
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Tim Blanks and Imran Amed Reflect on Autumn/Winter 2024
8 maart 2024 · 47 min
This fashion month was all about looking ahead. At several major brands, newly-appointed creative directors ushered in a new era, including Seán McGirr at Alexander McQueen, Adrian Appiolaza at Moschino and Chemena Kamali at Chloé. But beyond the creative director premieres, recurring motifs of technology and the pared down everyday reflected the current state of the world — and what’s to come. Lees meer
“Early on, I detected this rather peculiar strain of sci-fi,” says Tim Blanks, BoF’s editor-at-large. “There is that incipient sense of apocalypse lurking and I think if you step back and take a really long view of what was happening, you could feel that kind of anxiety,” says Tim Blanks, BoF’s editor-at-large.
Following the conclusion of the Autumn/Winter 2024 shows, Blanks sits down with BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed to discuss the highlights of fashion month.
Key Insights
At Louis Vuitton, Phillippe Parreno’s immersive set design and Nicolas Ghesquière’s futuristic garments left lasting impressions. “There was a lot of white and a lot of reflection, a lot of shiny stuff. They could have been heading off to a space station. And the sound was insane. The sound makes you want to go home and open a nightclub in your living room,” says Blanks.
Undercover’s Jun Takahashi featured a poem about a single mother raising her eight year old child, written by German filmmaker and playwright Wim Wenders. “Every detail is just so beautiful and evocative and then Jun Takahashi showed the collection to go with that; everyday clothes, but completely transmogrified by his insane ingenuity,” recalls Blanks.
At Alexander McQueen, Seán McGirr’s first show displayed his energetic direction for the house following Sarah Burton’s departure. “I think that as a creative director debuting at a house, it's much harder to create new energy than it is to create merchandisable clothes. And I think that's what he succeeded in doing; he created a new energy around that brand,” says Amed…
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Avery Trufelman on the Meaning Behind the Clothes We Wear
1 maart 2024 · 41 min
On her award-winning podcast “Articles of Interest,” host and producer Avery Trufelman dives deep into the stories behind the clothes we wear. From the evolution of prep to the origins of wedding dresses, Avery guides her listeners through the multi-faceted layers behind the aesthetics of fashion. Lees meer
“It's crops, it's the earth, it's handwork, it's culture, it's society. You tug on a thread and you get everything,” she said. “That's what I'm slowly realising [about fashion].”
This week on The BoF Podcast, BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed sits down with Trufelman to discuss her path into podcasting, taking her lifelong passion for clothes and what they mean into an audio format, and what she’s learned about fashion along the way.
Key Insights:
A self-proclaimed “public radio nepo baby,” Trufelman has audio in her blood — her parents met working at New York Public Radio. But while she grew up with audio, she didn’t start experimenting with fashion until she was a teenager, expressing herself through quirky thrifted fashion ensembles, much to the confusion of her peers. “I knew in the back of my mind that it was too much, that I was sort of alienating people,” she says. “It just made me realise how powerful clothing was. That dressing in this wild way sort of set me apart.”
Trufelman initially came up with the idea for “Articles of Interest” while interning at the design and architecture podcast “99% Invisible.” Presenting a fashion podcast to an audience more focussed on architecture, Trufelman began to see the ways in which fashion touched every facet of life. “In the beginning, fashion was sort of a dirty word for me,” she says. “Now it's all about fashion because everything has fashion. Buildings have fashion, cars have fashion, colours have fashion. Fashion is just taste over time and the most easy way to measure that when you look at a picture of any era, it's the cars maybe, but mostly the clothes.”
Four seasons into “Articles of Interest,” Trufelm…
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Arizona Muse on Modelling and Fashion’s Dirty Roots
23 februari 2024 · 46 min
In 2010, model Arizona Muse was catapulted into the fashion spotlight. After opening and closing Prada’s Spring/Summer 2011 show, she was signed as a face of the brand. But after years of the modelling, grind and some serious personal reflection, the British-American model has swapped the glamour of the runway for environmental activism. Lees meer
“[Modelling] nearly destroyed me. You pretend you enjoy it because everyone wants you to enjoy it. But the truth is, you'd prefer to be doing something else.”
This week on The BoF Podcast, BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed sits down with Muse to discuss her journey to the fashion runway, her reflections on fashion’s contribution to the climate crisis and why she sees self-care as a form of environmental activism.
Key Insights:
While Muse is grateful for modelling career, she said it caused immense strain on her mental health. “It's been a blessing in so many ways, but it also nearly destroyed me. It really nearly destroyed my mental health,” she shares. “What's hard about modelling is people are judging you all the time on what you look like … They don't even judge you on what you wear. It's just purely what you look like.”
The model first tapped into her passion for environmental activism after being invited to a charity lunch where she learned that textile materials were grown in soil by farmers. “Working at the centre of this industry, working with all the most amazing fashion houses that we've all heard of, how is nobody talking about the farmers who grew our clothes for us?” she says.
She also sees her own self-care as part of her activism. “How can I take the best care of my being so that my being can be in the best shape that it can be, to be in service to the other beings around me who are human, to the other beings around me who are non-human, and to the biggest being of us all who is the earth?”
Muse recognises the need for governments to support organisations like DIRT, she also insists there is a level o…
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Kevin Macdonald Probes John Galliano’s Soul
16 februari 2024 · 39 min
In the world of high fashion, few names have commanded as much attention — and controversy — as John Galliano. Lees meer
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, his sensual designs and runway theatrics earned him worldwide acclaim.But Galliano’s career imploded in 2011 when a video of him emerged using antisemitic slurs. In a new documentary, “High & Low: John Galliano,” BAFTA-winning director Kevin Macdonald examines Galliano's meteoric rise, scandalous downfall, and the role of forgiveness and redemption.
“If there's one thing that people could take away from the film, it is [that] things are never that simple. The grey predominates in life and in morality,” says Macdonald.
This week on The BoF Podcast, BoF editor-at-large Tim Blanks sits down with McDonald to discuss the phenomenon of cancellation and his own feelings about Galliano after completing the documentary.
Key Insights
Alongside archive footage and interviews with industry insiders, the film features extensive conversations with Galliano himself. Macdonald says Galliano seemed to forget the series of events and antisemitic remarks he said. “I think he genuinely blotted that out. I don't think he's pretending not to remember. I think that it's a sign of him creating a story for himself about things that have happened … to get by,” Macdonald says.
According to Macdonald, Galliano does not expect total forgiveness but hopes for understanding. “He knows some people will never forgive him for the antisemitic comments he made, but he wants people to understand who he is and where that came from and what part it had in the way it played in his life.”
Macdonald attributes the attention the film has received prior to its release to nostalgia for a bygone era. “I think there's a romance about this past where people were misbehaving and being creative geniuses and led to crash and burn and didn't have to answer to HR,” he says.
High & Low – John Galliano opens in cinemas on 8th March 2024.
Additional resources
John Galli…
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Pat Boguslawski Is the Secret Weapon Behind John Galliano’s Fashion Drama
9 februari 2024 · 54 min
Pat Boguslawski is setting the fashion world in motion. Lees meer
The Polish movement director at Maison Margiela is the creative mastermind behind some of fashion’s most memorable runway moments. From German model Leon Dame’s viral runway stomp in 2020 to the seductive strides of corseted characters in John Galliano’s triumphant 2024 Maison Margiela couture show, Boguslawski is redefining the role of the model and bringing back the spectacle of the show.
“I always tell the models that it's better to give more than to give less,” he told BoF editor-at-large Tim Blanks, on this week's podcast.
Key Insights
Growing up in Poland in the nineties, Boguslawski devoured fashion content on TV and in print. But as he watched everything turn into a product, he felt the storytelling essence of fashion diminish. “I started doing my job because I got bored. I just didn't like the direction we were going towards. … I promised myself that I'm gonna start bringing that energy back to fashion and create major runway moments.”
Boguslawski is a multi-faceted creative. He started training as a dancer at age 15, transitioned to modelling and also studied drama and acting for four years before shifting to movement direction. “I'm so grateful that I was so curious because now I kind of use everything that I did in the past at my job,” he says.
Directing the movement for the 2024 Maison Margiela couture show, Boguslawski encouraged the tightly-corseted models to channel their pain and discomfort into their characters. "I remember saying, 'Use that pain, use that suffering in your character. Just use whatever you're feeling right now. … Don't try to be perfect. Just let me see the suffering,'" he recalls.
For Boguslawski, a connection with the audience is a key part of the show. “I like when the audience feels intimidated. It's exciting and I love the adrenaline that comes with it.” He recalls the impact of his direction during a rehearsal before the show. “I remember we were watching the mai…
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Brandice Daniel on Making Room for Diversity in Fashion
2 februari 2024 · 29 min
As founder of Harlem’s Fashion Row, Brandice Daniel is a change agent. For more than 15 years, she has been working to bridge the gap between the fashion industry and Black and Latinx designers who often don’t come from famous fashion schools like Parsons or FIT. Lees meer
Following the surge in interest in diversity, equity and inclusion following the murder of George Floyd, there are growing headwinds which are stalling progress.
“We've regressed so far, so fast. It is really disappointing, especially in an industry that is supposed to be cutting edge … How can you be innovative without addressing DEI?” she says.
This week on The BoF Podcast, BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed sits down with Daniel to discuss how the industry can foster real change.
Key Insights:
Harlem’s Fashion Row was founded in 2007 — long before DEI became a corporate buzzword — after Daniel noticed how little diversity there was at US department stores. “[I] realised that less than 1 percent of the designers that were on those websites at the time were designers of colour, however … African-Americans were spending $22 billion a year on apparel. And that was when I really got my aha moment.”
2020 was a pivotal year for Harlem’s Fashion Row. After George Floyd’s murder sparked global conversations around racism and representation, more fashion and retail brands opened the door to diversity. “It was very easy to tell during those days who was wanting to do very performative work versus who actually was interested in doing the work,” Daniel explains. “The companies who were doing the work before 2020, they are still doing the work.”
Still, despite the momentum that 2020 brought, she’s been disappointed in the lack of long-term action. “We've regressed so far, so fast. It is really disappointing, especially in an industry that is supposed to be cutting edge … How can you be innovative without addressing DEI?” she says.
When it comes to finding your sense of purpose, Daniel believes in focu…
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Ending Climate Colonialism in Fashion
26 januari 2024 · 21 min
The fashion industry is responsible for up to 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. But the most profitable fashion companies are often headquartered in the countries that have historically generated more emissions, while the nations with a smaller carbon footprint often find themselves more severely impacted by extreme weather driven by the climate crisis. Lees meer
“The industry is structured in a way that's very colonial … it's the rich countries that are reaping all the rewards and benefits, and it's the poor countries that have kept this industry profitable,” says Ayesha Barenblat, the founder and CEO of Remake, a non-profit that advocates for sustainable practices in the fashion industry.
This week on The BoF Podcast, BoF chief sustainability correspondent Sarah Kent sits down with Barenblat, sustainable fashion designer Sammy Oteng and Vidhura Ralapanawe, executive vice president at manufacturing company Epic Group at BoF VOICES 2023 to discuss how to end climate colonialism in the fashion industry.
Key Insights:
In fashion, the climate crisis appears in colonial structures that perpetuate unequal distributions of power and profit. According to Barenblat, companies act as “glorified marketeers, telling production nations how to deal with the climate crisis. They're setting science-based targets, but they're not paying for it … let's flip the script and actually have a conversation around the people who create value for this industry and how we centre them in the conversation.”
Countries in the global South have become dumping grounds for low-quality clothes from the global North. An estimated 40 percent of the textiles that arrive in Ghana are discarded as waste, however the true scale of excess garments is unknown. “We don't even know how much we are producing in terms of fashion. We say 100 billion to 150 billion [garments produced each year], that's a 50 billion gap,” explains Oteng. “Until we understand a problem that we have, we can't move on to havi…
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Matthieu Blazy’s Creative Alchemy at Bottega Veneta
19 januari 2024 · 18 min
Matthieu Blazy has been a quiet but powerful force in the fashion industry for years, having worked under powerhouse designers like Raf Simons and Phoebe Philo. But in 2021, he earned that status on his own when he was named the creative director of Bottega Veneta. Since then, he’s developed a reputation for pushing creative boundaries; BoF editors named his carnivalesque Autumn/Winter 2023 collection, which featured tank tops and jeans made of leather, as their favourite show of the season. Lees meer
“I was very interested in this idea of boring clothes. How can we push it so it really becomes something precious and luxurious?” Blazy says.
This week on The BoF Podcast, Blazy sits down with BoF editor-at-large Tim Blanks at BoF VOICES 2023, where he opened up about his creative processes and work at Bottega Veneta.
Key insights:
For Blazy, collaboration and a close connection with his teams are paramount for creativity. Before taking the creative helm of Bottega Veneta, Blazy spent four years at Maison Martin Margiela. “The way I work with the team is quite emotional. … When I arrived at Margiela I took my office out of the studio and I put it inside the atelier. It was nice because it was not just me thinking on my own. We were actually making it together,” he shares.
Whilst Blazy recognises the power of technology in fashion, at Bottega Veneta, he still puts the emphasis on craftsmanship first. “When you make something by hand, it will always have a little mistake, which is not a mistake, which is part of the process. … so when you go to the store, you won't find twice the same product. You have the idea of a theory, of course, but it's never the same. One artisan cannot finish the work of another artisan.”
As a global brand, Blazy hopes customers around the world will be able to see themselves in Bottega Veneta under his creative direction. “Fundamentally I want [global customers] to also find something where they also recognize themselves in the story that is not j…
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Dan Levy and Jonathan Anderson on Balancing Creativity and Commerce
12 januari 2024 · 24 min
The delicate dance between artistic integrity and commercial viability is a challenge Dan Levy and Jonathan Anderson know well. Levy's Emmy Award-winning Netflix show Schitt's Creek harmonises creative brilliance with mainstream appeal, while at the luxury label Loewe, Anderson’s refreshingly original designs have earned him both critical acclaim and commercial success. What unites their work is a real commitment to personal vision. Lees meer
“I can't think of something more heartbreaking than starting with an idea that I loved, allowing people to change it to the point where it loses its DNA, then it goes out into the world and either succeeds or fails, and I have to look at that and say, ‘Well, that's not me,’” says Levy. “You can never get that back. The fight to protect that [idea] is so important.”
This week on The BoF Podcast, Levy and Anderson speak with BoF editor-at-large Tim Blanks about how they balance creativity and commerce in a conversation from BoF VOICES 2023.
Key Insights:
"Schitt's Creek" began as a bare-bones-budget Canadian production and became a worldwide sensation during the pandemic. “We went and made something with absolutely no outside opinions, and because the stakes were so low, we were able to really kind of make the show for ourselves,” he says. “So what we made was quite pure.”
Through his work at Loewe and his namesake label, Anderson has realised that designers can’t be afraid of backlash. “Sometimes you have to make the decision that you may have to give the audience what they don't want to annoy them. Because there's nothing better when people are annoyed because then they think.”
For both creatives, the pandemic was a watershed moment. Anderson recalls, “it destroyed every formula that there ever was,” whilst Levy explained, “it also gave the consumer or the audience the freedom to find what they liked.”
To find creative success, Anderson puts it simply: “I think for something to be successful, you have to give everything you have.…
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Diane von Fürstenberg on the Power of a Little Dress
5 januari 2024 · 22 min
Diane von Fürstenberg has been synonymous with women’s empowerment since she first unveiled her revolutionary wrap dress in 1974. But for her, the garment became much more than a symbol, it became the key to her own independence. Lees meer
“I did not know what I wanted to do, but I knew the kind of woman I wanted to be,” von Fürstenberg told author and spiritual wellness advocate Deepak Chopra, her friend of three decades, on stage at BoF VOICES 2023. “I wanted to be in charge. I wanted to be free. I mean freedom. I wanted to be my own person. And I wanted to have a man's life in a woman's body. And the way I became that woman was a little dress.”
This week on The BoF Podcast, von Fürstenberg and Chopra look back on the designer’s journey from princess to fashion powerhouse, and share their collective wisdom on finding meaning in life.
Key Insights:
Born in Belgium, von Fürstenberg is the daughter of a Romanian father and Greek-born, Jewish mother who survived the Holocaust. “She taught me that fear was not an option,” von Fürstenberg says of her mother. “That no matter what, you could never be a victim.”
Despite her decades-long career in fashion, it wasn’t until von Fürstenberg received the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s lifetime achievement award in 2005 that she considered herself a designer. “Because I didn't go to fashion school, I thought I wasn't a designer,” she recalls. “But the one thing I know I am, I can design life … You're not in charge of your destiny, but you can navigate your destiny.”
Von Fürstenberg's work with various causes and non-profits is as close to her heart as her namesake business. “I never really loved the word philanthropy because it sounds like landscaping. You feel like you need an expert, but it is about being human. And it is about paying attention to others.”
Additional Resources:
Diane von Furstenberg Makes a (Profitable) Comeback
Diane Von Furstenberg’s CEO on Building a Career in Fashion
Diane von Furstenberg Shutt…
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Brunello Cucinelli on Humanistic Capitalism in an Age of AI
29 december 2023 · 21 min
Since 1978, Brunello Cucinelli’s namesake brand has been a standard-bearer for both luxury clothing and a more responsible way of doing business. At a time of great change, Cucinelli believes that businesses must strike a balance between embracing technological innovation that could threaten livelihoods, like AI, to push creativity forward while also keeping humanity at the heart of business. Lees meer
“I believe in a kind of contemporary way of capitalism. We are a listed company. We do want to make a profit, but a fair profit at that. There should be a balance between profit and giving back,” he explains.
This week on The BoF Podcast, Brunello Cucinelli speaks with BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed about ethical business building, artificial intelligence and his philosophy of “humanistic capitalism” during conversation at BoF VOICES 2023.
Key Insights:
Cucinelli’s approach to labour is guided by his working-class upbringing and seeing his father was demeaned and belittled at work. “I saw tears in his eyes and that was my source of inspiration to have a completely different vision of the world,” he says. “I wanted my human beings to be surrounded by pleasant places. I wanted them to make handsome money. And I wanted them to be treated like thinking souls.”
This philosophy of ‘humanistic capitalism’ also extends to customers. “We need to redress the balance. Shoppers want to know exactly where a specific item has been made, how it's been made, whether creation has harmed it along the process. We need a new social contract with creation,” he explains.
Mr Cucinelli believes artificial intelligence offers both solutions and challenges. “Technology is a blessing from creation, but sometimes it steals the soul that creation bestowed upon us,” he says. However, he adds, when used correctly, “AI will be just a partner for us, and we will rediscover the value of truth and human beings.”
When it comes to planning for the future of his company, Cucinelli hopes his succ…