RSVP: kira@bibandsola.com

]]> http://fashionbusinessclub.net/blog/2011/05/15/bibsola-exclusive-collection-preview/feed/ 0 http://fashionbusinessclub.net/blog/2011/05/15/heading-fbc-members-invited-to-fpw-reception/ http://fashionbusinessclub.net/blog/2011/05/15/heading-fbc-members-invited-to-fpw-reception/#comments Sun, 15 May 2011 11:28:01 +0000 Pamela Reynolds http://fashionbusinessclub.net/blog/?p=6514

Qualifying as finalists to win a years mentoring from fashion and media experts, are FBC members and labels, Hemyca, Knock On the Door, Viking Wong and Yan To who presented their collections and shared their aspirations for their business to a panel of industry experts  The winner will be announced during FPW.

Fashion Press Week in partnership with DIARY will be taking place Wednesday 18th May to Thursday 19th May at One Marylebone, 1 Marylebone Road, London NW1 4AQ.

The event will showcase the AW11 collection launches from a variety of leading retailers and designer brands in a stunning location with a number of fantastic features lined up at the event.  Brands include Marc Cain, Austin Reed and Thomas Sabo amongst many others.

Press should register to attend at www.fashionpressweek.com

The show is open from 10am – 8pm on 18th May and 10am – 6pm on 19th May.

Following the success of November’s debut show, leading international law firm, Mishcon de Reya will again be sponsoring a gallery supporting emerging and ethical brands under the Fashion Discovered and Fashion Fair brands. This season Mishcon de Reya in association with Fashion Business Club, launched a competition to search for designers who fall under the Fashion Discovered and Fashion Fair guidelines to offer complimentary space within the event as well as win a year’s mentoring from a wealth of fashion, media and legal experts as well as an annual subscription to DIARY. Shortlisted brands include the talented Ivana Basilotta, inspirational Hemyca and fashion forward Viking Wong.

In addition, to further support their sponsorship at Fashion Press Week, Mishcon de Reya will be hosting Cafe Legal, a pop-up coffee shop at the event where brand directors and CEO’s can meet with the legal team to discuss any matters ranging from intellectual property, real estate, corporate issues and employment law.

For more information about the brands participating and the event itself please visit www.fashionpressweek.com.

Enquiries

Danielle Nathan

E: Danielle@fashionpressweek.com

T: +44 (0) 207 317 2788

SECOND ANNUAL WGSN GLOBAL FASHION AWARDS ANNOUNCE OPEN ENTRY

WGSN will once again honour fashion’s most inspirational and innovative at the second annual Global Fashion Awards in New York City. The Global Fashion Awards were created by WGSN in 2010 to recognise and reward those who are pushing the boundaries of fashion, propelling the industry forward and setting the style agenda on a global scale. The second annual WGSN Global Fashion Awards open entry launches today and is a call for all individuals and businesses working across the fashion industry around the world. Entries can be made online via www.globalfashionawards.com.

“The WGSN Global Fashion Awards celebrate the fashion industry as a completely connected, global platform.  In order to be successful in this universe, one needs the talents and expertise of a wide variety of players, from designers to business leaders, retailers to editors and marketers to models – it takes a whole village…but a very chic one”. Fern Mallis, Founder of New York Fashion Week

The shortlist will be announced in London at a party on the 20th of June at the St Martins Lane Hotel and the winners will be announced at a ceremony that will take place at the Global Fashion Awards’ larger and more fabulous new venue, Gotham Hall in New York City on the 20th of October in front of an audience of fashion’s most influential industry insiders.

“As a creative company, we are constantly looking for new experiences. Getting in contact with new realities, markets, cultures and interesting people is our every day basis. Since WGSN has clients all over the world, the Global Fashion Awards exposure and event was great for us and our clients who joined us on the journey”. Fernanda Pigatto, Institutional Relationship Manager, La Estampa

This year’s categories will again encompass all major business and creative disciplines in fashion including design, retail (off and online), buying, visual merchandising, store design, marketing and ethical practice. The WGSN Global Fashion Awards are the first and only awards that recognise these achievements on a global scale.

The winners will be selected by an expert panel of judges, made up of some of the most prominent people in the fashion and style industries, including designers, buying directors, stylists, merchants and marketing executives. The judges’ panel was carefully selected by WGSN to ensure impartiality and global expertise. The 2011 panel includes:

Chee Au, Chief Creative Officer, Shanghai Tang

June Haynes, Senior Vice President of Retail, Valentino USA

Graeme Fidler and Michael Herz, Creative Directors, Bally

Orsola de Castro, Founder and Curator of the British Fashion Council’s Estethica

Dolly Jones, Editor, VOGUE.COM UK

Simon Kneen, Creative Director and Executive Vice President of Design, Banana Republic

Averyl Oates, Buying Director, Harvey Nichols – Menswear, Womenswear and Accessories

Jana Ririnui, Founder and Director, Academy of Freelance Makeup

William Tempest, Founder and Designer, William Tempest

Daisy de Villeneuve, Illustrator, Designer and Writer

Rebekah Roy, Fashion & Celebrity Stylist

“The landscape of the fashion industry has become more transparent and open. The Internet and social media have fostered new relationships, opportunities and means of operation for fashion businesses and exposed the fashion marketplace to a new global consumer. As the largest and foremost style and design forecaster, WGSN is charged with finding and honouring the world’s idea-makers – the ones whose actions and influence inspire the fashion industry and the broader consumer market”. Susanna Kempe, CEO of WGSN

For more press information on the WGSN Global Fashion Awards and to register your interest, please contact Courtney Blackman. Email: courtney.blackman@forwardpr.com Phone: +44 20 7839 5059

About WGSN

WGSN is the global authority on style and design. The company identifies and analyzes current and future style trends and provides its customers with state-of-the-art online tools that that can be used to create commercially successful products and services. WGSN defines and shapes wining style and design for over 36,000 customers globally. WGSN customers include many of the world’s leading apparel, style, design and retail companies including Levi Strauss & Co., Adidas, Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products, Benetton Group, and Marks and Spencers, among others. WGSN is head quartered in London and has offices all over the world including Milan, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, Los Angeles, Melbourne and Tokyo. For more information, visit www.wgsn.com. Follow WGSN on Twitter: @wgsn.

For all our members and guests who attended the sell out meeting – we hope your enjoy a refresher from FBCtv – and for members who missed the meeting, we hope you enjoy and are inspired by two exceptional women.

Blog written by: Bukie Aje-Lloyd

Open from 12 noon Thursday 10th March to Saturday 12th March 2011

Location: N.Peal, No. 37 Burlington Arcade, Mayfair

http://www.npeal.com

Autumn/Winter 2010 Campaign image shot by Photographer Terry McGough

]]> http://fashionbusinessclub.net/blog/2011/03/03/n-peal-cashmere-sample-sale/feed/ 0 http://fashionbusinessclub.net/blog/2011/01/17/markus-lupfer-dolly-jones-at-fbc-27th-jan/ http://fashionbusinessclub.net/blog/2011/01/17/markus-lupfer-dolly-jones-at-fbc-27th-jan/#comments Mon, 17 Jan 2011 11:59:08 +0000 Alison Whelan http://fashionbusinessclub.net/blog/?p=6025 Markus Lupfer

Designer extraordinaire Markus Lupfer will be the next fashion star to grace FBC with his presence at the upcoming bi-monthly meeting on the 27th of January. Markus Lupfer will be interviewed by FBC board member and editor of  VOGUE.COM, Dolly Jones. The meeting will also mark FBC’s 5th anniversary.

Markus’ sparkly sequined creations have become somewhat of a trademark, worn by global fashionistas such as Rhianna, Beyoncé, Anna Friel and Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meister. FBC co-founder Alison Whelan says ‘I cannot think of better way to celebrate 5 years of FBC than with the sequin genius, highly colourful and charming Markus Lupfer.‘

FBC co-founder Courtney Blackman adds, ‘In 2010 FBC interviewed an infamous stylist, a maverick fashion buyer and a multi-faceted model, and the year came to a close with FBC at the forefront of fashion as one of the most influential clubs. In 2011 for our 5th birthday, we pick up from this dynamic position by inviting designer Markus Lupfer to be interviewed by FBC board member and editor of VOGUE.COM, Dolly Jones. Markus is an influential and inspiring personality in the fashion industry that has collaborated with an array of mega brands from the High Street and on more exclusive projects with a handful of luxury labels. The diversity of these projects is proof of his entrepreneurial might. His designs exhibit exceptional talent and his famous knits have been spotted on just about everyone. FBC and I are proud to be welcoming Markus and even more so that he will be launching FBC’s 2011 calendar of events.’

FBC board member and editor of VOGUE.COM Dolly Jones will be interviewing the multi-awarded designer on issues such as to how he came to achieve such success, what defines a labels creative direction and the strengths and threats creativity faces by the Internet.

If you would like to attend please let us know by contacting: membership@fashionbusinessclub.net, or if you are press please contact Penelope Sacorafou at press@fashionbusinessclub.net

FBC co-founder Courtney Blackman, and FBC member Amisha Ghadiali are lending their expertise to the Ethical Fashion Forum’s (EFF) Excellence in Ethical Fashion training day on Friday the 10th of December.

The EFF is bringing together experts in fashion business and sustainability to develop an intensive day of training. The event will cover market and sales success, business and financial success, and excellence in sustainable sourcing.   

Courtney and Amisha will be taking part in the Meet the Experts session, whereby 19 of the UK’s foremost experts in fashion and sustainability will be available for one to one advice sessions.

Courtney, who specialises in fashion marketing and PR is the founder and managing director of London’s Forward PR and is an EFF board member. Courtney will be on hand to talk to attendees about building or increasing press and media presence and profiling their brands.

Amisha is an ethical jewellery designer and former associate director of the EFF. Previously responsible for social media and promotion, Amisha played an overall strategic role within the organisation. Amisha now works with fashion brands helping them understand the complete picture when it comes to bringing sustainability into their businesses, and advises them on how to increase their presence in the media and online.

For more information on attending the event, click here.

FBC member Imran Amed, editor of The Business of Fashion held the third instalment of his Fashion Pioneers initiative on Friday the 26^th of November. An extra large studio in the lower ground level of The Hospital Club in London was the backdrop, with live streaming on various websites around the globe, including on FBC member DisneyRollerGirl’s site in the UK. FBC members in the audience included Fashion Scout director, Martyn Roberts, founder and MD of Muks, Jaime Cooke, and fashion stylist Rebekah Roy.

FBC members Jaime Cooke and Rebekah Roy

Fashion Pioneers puts the industry’s true visionaries in the spotlight. The ones who had the foresight well before the rest of us and have shaped the way we all see, interact, buy and work in fashion.

Legendary image-maker and founder and director of SHOWstudio, Nick Knight took to the spotlight this time around for very rare live interview.

Nick has been a leading photographer for over 30 years after abandoning studies to become a doctor. He ‘liked the look of the art department,’ and he felt like life was leading him toward image making so he, ‘took up arts to prove something to himself,’ and it quickly became an ‘addiction…a curse and a pleasure’.

‘Ever since I started photography, I wanted to change it’. Nick felt that there was a new medium and that photography as it was, was shifting under his feet. ‘Photography has killed itself off. It references itself from a heyday that doesn’t exist anymore.’ Nick started filming shoots in the 1980s stating, ‘Clothes are designed to be seen in movement’. He wanted to show people the process, to lift the veil on how the media shows fashion, where it is ‘either trivialised or scandalised.’ He wanted to show the process, to give people access to how brilliant fashion is and to understand it as an art form, reinforcing that, ‘The biggest luxury we have left is access.’

Imran Amed and Nick Knight

What does the future of fashion hold? According to Nick fashion shows will evolve into huge consumer events and entertainment is the key. ‘You have to turn it into an event. You can’t just make it live.’ A fundamental revolution is underway. Production schedules will be brought forward to enable consumers to purchase immediately, distribution will change and designers will no longer have to have shows. Film allows designers to have much more control. In a nutshell, the industry is, ‘in total flux. It’s thrilling’.

So what makes a good fashion film? A fashion film has to make the clothes desirable and the message has to be delivered with intensity. There is no need for narrative. The message is imbued in the clothing, and the key is the relationship between the image-maker and the model. ‘You need to have that personal relationship.’ Nick’s secret recipe consists of two people (not a massive crew). One person is the image-maker, the other is the model. Also on the list are one camera and one light. ‘I don’t need a lot of stuff,’ he says, and he is adamant that technology does not have an effect on creativity. It is simply an enabling tool. ‘Technology gives you possibility’.

Imran Amed and Nick Knight

What is Nick’s advice to the budding image-maker? ‘If you really want to do it, you have to work harder than anybody else,’ and you’ll have to be prepared to give up your love life, food, security and be ready to take on board a lot of discouragement, but according to Nick, ‘It’s one of the greatest things you can do,’ and the only tools you really need are ‘your heart and your mind.’ Equipment is irrelevant. If you have something to say, you’ll find a way to say it.

At close, Nick pointed out a poignant industry truth. ‘The fashion industry is so frustratingly narrow,’ going on to say, ‘I’ve tried to articulate an alternative,’ in regards to age, race and shape. ‘Society isn’t well represented in fashion. It should be’.

Congratulations to Imran who says, ‘It was an honour to have such an honest and insightful conversation with an immensely important cultural figure such as Nick Knight, and share it with the global BoF community. There was much to learn from his experience and point of view’. Imran is also ‘excited that Nick Knight was a trending topic on Twitter during the talk’!

FBC would like to congratulate FBC member Mark Bage, creative director of Sarah Coggles, on a double win at the 2010 Drapers Awards. No stranger to awards over the last several years, Sarah Coggles, the York-based boutique that launched in 1976, was shortlisted in five different categories, so it was not surprising that two trophies went home with Mark. Mark and his team won Buyer/Buyer Team of the Year and Independent Retailer of the Year.

Mark says, “We are very proud to have won the two main Drapers Awards. We were awarded ‘Buying Team of the Year’ and the overall winner of the night with ‘Independent Retailer of the Year’. It is such an amazing honour to have won so many in one night as the event is considered to be the industry’s Fashion Oscars.”

Mark and his team accepting both awards

The event was held at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel and several FBC members were there to help celebrate 20 years of the awards. Matches commercial director, Frances Card; director of RAH Productions, Helen Puxley and associate director of EdenCanCan, Jonathan Kirkby were there, and table 17 was especially crowded with FBC members: Courtney Blackman, MD of Forward PR & FBC co-chair; Lauretta Roberts, digital development director at WGSN; Harold Tillman CBE, chairman of the British Fashion Council and our guest interviewee for the 25th, fashion retail consultant, creative advisor and trend forecaster, Yasmin Sewell.

See Lauretta Roberts interview Yasmin Sewell on Thursday the 25^th of November at Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED™. Contact: membership@fashionbusinessclub.net