Illustration by Holly Berry

Fashion Business Club isn’t just about networking with people in the fashion industry.  Its members, each with different and ever growing agendas, are constantly evolving the creative industries as well as the social ones- including inspiring young people in the community to get involved with politics through fashion.

FBC board member Daisy de Villeneuve by Barry Lategan

Daisy de Villeneuve, an FBC board member, is on the judging panel for Think Act Vote, a campaign dedicated to motivate people in taking what they believe in and using that in the forthcoming election.  In collaboration with Komodo, an ethical fashion label, Think Act Vote will search for an earth friendly (carbon neutral) campaign t-shirt from contesting up and coming designers, artists, and illustrators.  The only credential? The t-shirt will have to include the slogan: Think Act Vote in order to get the message across to the public. Daisy de Villeneuve says: “Thick Act Vote is a fantastic way to encourage young people to get voting- if you don’t vote then you can’t complain about the result!”

And that’s the truth.  Coming from founder, Amisha Ghadiali: “If politics were a fashion label, you wouldn’t wear it. We want to use creativity to create a community around the choices we make for our future.”Amisha is also an associate director at the Ethical Fashion Forum, of which FBC co-chair Courtney Blackman sits on the board.

The deadline for submissions is 12 noon on Sunday 7th March where the winner will be announced at a launch party in April and then produced by Komodo.  As ethical hero Katherine Hamnett puts it: “Use it before you lose it.”

As the city prepares itself for London Fashion Week, FBCers are gearing up, preparing themselves for the week ahead.

FBC co-chair and MD of Forward PR Courtney Blackman is launching Prophetik’s first fashion show at London Fashion Week.  Courtney also represents the jewellery label LeJu who is exhibiting for their sixth  season at London Fashion Fashion.

During London Fashion Week FBC editor and fashion stylist Rebekah Roy is styling several shows including Merit Award Winner William Tempest, Alice Palmer, Jasper Garvida, menswear designer Stefán Orschel-Read and Prophetik. She’s also been busy styling lookbooks with FBC members Jaime Cooke of Muks and Helen and Myra of Hemyca.

Prophetik will be opening the season at Vauxhall Fashion Scout run by FBC members and co-directors, Martyn Roberts and John Walford on Friday the 19th of September at 1:00pm.

To request at ticket request for Prophetik contact Sophie Gardner at: prophetik@forwardpr.com

Imran Amed editor of The Business of Fashion and FBC member was interviewed on CNN this week. To see the interview click CNN. The interview will also be aired on CNN International again this weekend on Saturday and Sunday on a program called Luxury Life.

London Fashion Week is quickly approaching and many, if not all of our members are participating in LFW.

Over the next few weeks FBC will be posting articles on what are members are doing during London Fashion Week!

It was all sequins and furs, studs and silks to launch Fashion Business Club (FBC)’s 4th birthday! Dressed to the nines, each member put their best heel (or stiletto) forward and participated in making this FBC event one of the greatest!

The FBC Team: Laura McCluskey, Alison Whelan, Rebekah Roy, Dave Wise, Courtney Blackman, Myka Volney, Rita Nazareno

Frances Card, Director of Frances Card Consultancy, graced FBC with her fabulousness in honoring our special guest interviewer, Sarah Curran, CEO of my-wardrobe.com. Kicking off the interview in stellar attires and a positive attitude that filled Swarvoski CRYSTALLIZED™ to the brim, the two ladies got down to business, sharing with FBC the challenges and obstacles of moving fashion retail business from bricks and mortar boutique to the online world.

“Powder was my first boutique,” said Curran, “but the biggest challenge to moving that online was finding a price point for everyone…I didn’t want customers to feel excluded while at the same time making it a great experience…creating a community and a friendly environment.”

Easier said than done, no?  Curran ran FBC through all the logistical planning that takes place when designing a online retail boutique - from the editorial to photography, the models to product packaging; Each little detail of my-wardrobe.com has been thought over, processed, analyzed by the CEO herself.  “Maintaining a consistency of style is especially important online,” she said, but the biggest challenge, Curran laughs: “It’s finding a name, and then making sure it’s available!”

France Card & Sarah Curren from my-wardrobe.com

Card and many other loyal customers who have overseen the magnetic power that the site has will not disbelieve that the site, within six months, was outselling Powder.  But once you’re at the top, where does one go? “What is next for my-wardrobe.com’s global journey?,” asked Card, posing the question that many others in the audience wondered.

“Online retailing is so young,” said Curran, “We can change the way we browse things,  and being the most critical of the site, I am always wanting to make improvements.” And improvements they are! my-wardrobe.com is currently implementing catwalks and videos, allowing customers to browse items as a whole or individually, tagged and categorized to convenience and tastes.  “This is something not being done currently,” said Curran, “and it’s so different from what other sites offer.”

But for a woman, with a supportive team backing her up - including father and husband -,  my-wardrobe.com with all its success has been no easy feat.  “There are lots of risks,” Curran said, “But you have to have massive confidence.  And if you’re that dedicated, with each sacrifice, you will get there… If you want it, you have to believe and you have to invest [in online].  It’s by no means the cheaper alternative…You have to go in 100 per cent.”

And 100 per cent she did! With an amazing website, a dedicated family, and lavish styling account for her own fashion duds, Curran is surely a name that the fashion industry will have on its lips a lot more of in the future.  In the meantime, raise a glass of bubbly and toast to the wise words of the beautiful entrepreneur and FBC’s 4th birthday!

FBC members mixing & mingling at FBC's 4th birthday

Thursday night saw FBC members turn out for the launch of Daisy Lowe for Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED™jewellery collaboration, held in the newly opened store in central London. The Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED™ lounge in Great Marlborugh Street is also the new home of the FBC and where the first meeting of the year (and 4th birthday) will kick off on January 28.  FBC’ers at the event included  FBC Co-Founder & Co-Chairman Courtney Blackman,  Marketing Operations Manager of Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED™ Stine Brogaard and Frances Card, Managing Director of Frances Card Consultancy. The collection focuses on Daisy’s love of the earth, fire, water, wind and spirit, featuring a specially created five pointed star to represent these elements. I caught up with Daisy and got her personal thoughts on the collection.

“This is something that’s very special to me, to be here tonight and to have had the chance to create a range. I hope that you, and others like it. It’s nice for people to see me as a creative and not only as a model. I’m really proud of this collaboration”.

*With Daisy’s love of nature and the preservation of the environment, Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED™ will be donating 20% of the proceeds from the sale of EVERY piece of the collection to Climate Concern, a UK based charity that educates and empowers individuals about climate change.

FBC blog chats with 1/2 of Felder Felder, FBC member Annette Felder about celebrities and their upcoming LFW show!

Felder Felder has always been a rock’n'roll label. How has the relationship with music artists come about?
Annette Felder - Mutually, we’ve been approached by quite a few stylists who thought FF would work really well for the artists they work with, which has resulted in some exciting collaborations and relationships.

How important are celebrities to your brand?
Annette Felder - It’s more about the celebrity’s personality or work, which attracts us and makes a celebrity interesting for Felder Felder.

Will you be showing at London Fashion Week?
Annette Felder - Yes, we will be showing on schedule at London Fashion Week, Friday 19th February.

What can we expect next from Felder Felder?
Annette Felder - Timeless and cool designs with a signature shot of rock’n'roll.

-Rebekah Roy Fashion Stylist & FBC Editor

Alison Whelan (when not running FBC with Courtney Blackman) is MD and founder of AWL, a specialist fashion and beauty copywriting agency. Some of her clients include Cocosa.com, Swarovski, Paul & Joe Beauty, Tank Magazine/ Tank Forum, Levi’s, & Lee Jeans.

Tell us about Love AWL.
AW - Love AWL blog launched New Year 2010 - As a fashion copywriter and creative I wanted to start my own dialogue and communicate how I see the world / what colours my style of writing / people I love / all the reasons you might want to employ me really.

Do you Twitter?
AW- We successfully started a loveAWL twitter page last year and loved it so much - I just had to expand to more than 140 characters.

You’ve wanted to blog for sometime, why now?
AW - In all honesty it was whilst overhauling the FBC website blog that my attention turned to what I could do for AWL. FBC really is an inspiration to my own business. I’m a method copywriter - I absolutely have to get into the character of the brand I am working with in order to pin down the correct tone of voice. That often means sitting at the computer wearing shoes I can’t walk in, full-make-up and calling everyone Sweetie! I’m in character! In a world where everyone is shouting BUY BUY BUY its important for any and all brands to connect with their customer.

When copywriting is done well - it’s completely natural and you don’t even know you are being sold to. I love the language of Pret, Twitter, my-wardrobe.com, Top Shop and a many others. Some brands have a huge disconnect between their websites / their stores and their twitter pages. It’s such an easy problem to fix and sales are effected by language!

What are the goals of Love AWL?
AW - SHARE stories and ideas, entertain and inform people. I love film and if I’m bombarded by 150 emails a day - then probably so are many of my peer group. Sometimes I just want to kick back and watch a music video - I’d like to be the email people look forward to reading.

SO - Lets be ENTERTAINED - SIGN UP to LoveAWL and click the twitter icon!

FBC member and fashion stylist Anne Look and FBC photographer Dave Wise shoot the cover story for the December Issue of  Every Model Magazine!

“The image story is a about being glamorous at night. Thus image pairs are repressed blacks and then colour for later.” Dave Wise

“Anne is good fun to work with she clearly has an eye for what she does! Anne is good fun on set and helped tremendously to keep the energy up. ” Dave Wise

-Rebekah Roy Fashion Stylist & FBC Editor

Check out Rihanna’s “Hard Video”  as she’s wearing FBC member and designer Bryce D’Anicé Aime SS 2010 look!

-Rebekah Roy Fashion Stylist & FBC Editor