Fashion Business Club

FBC gets the inside scoop on FBC member Sasha Wilkins and her renowned blog Liberty London Girl.

This is the second season that you have collaborated with Mercedes-Benz UK at Canon London Fashion Week. Congratulations! What does your role entail?

Mercedes-Benz UK are one of the major sponsors at London Fashion Week, providing the official transport for international and UK fashion editors and journalists. Last season I worked with MB-UK to run their Twitter feed at LFW, migrating my followers @libertylndngirl to @MercedesLFW where I was tweeting from the fashion shows and presentations. This season we’ve revved up the coverage: I officially started tweeting from @MercedesLFW on the 30th of August and will be blogging on MB-UK’s Fashion Week site: ‘Voices of Fashion’.
I will also be filming a London Fashion Week diary, which is equally exciting: each day I will be carrying a camera to record front stage and backstage footage which will run as a daily edited film on VoicesofFashion. Mercedes Benz is once again providing me with a car and a driver that will make this all much easier. After all, I can’t think of a better way to travel around LFW than in the back of a Mercedes!

Obviously you are active on the social media front. What do you consider to be the role of tools such as Twitter in the fashion world and specifically at events such as LFW?

I use Twitter as a news-aggregator: it keeps me updated with breaking news across the industry that, even in the blogging age, I might have to wait 24hrs to read about. Twitter is incredibly useful at Fashion Week for taking what is essentially a closed industry event and making it interesting and accessible to the general public. It’s also a great way to connect directly with people who love fashion, both insiders and enthusiasts. (I also use it to find out which shows are running late!)
Although I think a Twitter presence is vital for fashion brands, it’s very easy to get it horrible wrong. I have recently launched a social media consultancy, LLG Consults, through which I advise publicists and PRs how to deal with social media and guide them through the on-line maze of Twitter, Tumblr, blogging, Foursquare, Facebook and the rest.

Fashion Week in London is going from strength to strength. What do you consider to be LFW’s strong points and how does it differ from the other FWs?

Watching LFW grow has been enormously exciting. Each year LFW gets larger with enormous & exciting talents showing and exhibiting, and the British Council does a great job making it all happen. LFW is, rightly, considered the fashion world’s laboratory of ideas, allowing fashion designers to experiment and providing them with an effective platform, unlike in Paris, where the structure is far more rigid.
After years when we travelled from one end of London to another to find shows in out of the way venues, I find LFW has become the most accessible fashion week – unlike Milan which is very difficult to get around without a driver, and New York which has a plethora of venues in public transport-free zones.

Finally, we haven’t seen you at an FBC meeting for a while. When are you coming back to visit us?

I travel constantly, so it’s been tricky to coincide my visits to London with meetings, and I have been away for all the recent meetings. However, I am hoping to be the next one at the end of September.

FBC member and editor of Style News, Charlene Cambell will be covering all the shows at London Fashion Week and supplying articles to publishers. It’s a great way to keep on top of the shows and get content about next seasons trends. FBC members that subscribe to the Style News article wire will receive a ‘first month free’ exclusive deal.

For more information contact Charlene Campbell at charlene@stylenews.co.uk

An interview with FBC member and Founder/Director of Lily and Lionel, Alice Stone.

What is your fashion background?

After graduating, I spent 3 years working in fashion/lifestyle PR before moving on to more of a design focused environment where I had experience at Topshop and Matthew Williamson. It was after my placement at Matthew that I realised my passion for one day setting up a brand of my own.

How important has having an e-commerce site been to your business?

Having a website has certainly leveraged Lily and Lionel; especially from a PR point of view as it allows us to reach out to consumers via editorial content. The site also provides a springboard for new stockists to initially look at our range and company ethos, to get an idea of where we stand in the market. It was important to sell direct to the public as we have always been keen to build the brand from a direct to consumer perspective.

What’s your bestseller?

It is difficult to pinpoint one particular item as several styles come to mind. Our ‘ Oversized Carnival‘ and ‘Italian Job‘ scarves continue to be winners for us- plus in the last two seasons we’ve seen a massive surge in our Leopard printed styles. The newest release of City scarves are proving to be the top sellers in Europe.

You’ve been quite successful gaining stockist – what’s your secret?

There is no big secret! I guess it’s a mixture of my years working in PR combined with the fact that I am a people person. Perseverance and contacts have been a great help. The product also hugely speaks for itself and since we are purely accessory based, the collections appeal to an array of stores and demographics alike so in that sense we have been lucky enough to secure some diverse stockists.

We’re delighted with our latest addition to our customer base, Fortnum and Mason and the Victoria & Albert museum’s store.

You’ve just taken on a European agent? Was it difficult to find an agent?

Coincidentally enough around the same time we began looking into establishing ourselves in Europe, we were actually approached by someone who is incredibly well connected with top European stores carrying a brilliant jeans brand who wanted to add accessories to her portfolio. We’re already delighted with the sales so far to many of the top boutiques throughout Europe.

How important is FBC to your business?

My PR background has taught me that networking is a hugely integral part to promoting and building a brand. The FBC meetings have allowed me to make some wonderful connections with fellow people in the fashion industry.

Are you exhibiting anywhere during September?

This year we have decided to show the collection in Paris where we will be taking a showroom.

For more information contact info@lilyandlionel.com.

An interview with FBC member Jennifer Aston and partner at Aston+Hayes Image Consultancy.

How did you come to run your own Image Consultancy & Image Training Centre?

I have been running Aston+Hayes Image Consultancy with my husband and business partner Glyn Hayes since 1990 and we have had an amazing ten years. Like most independent personal stylists, I started out with individual consultations and shopping trips for private clients, which I still do from time to time. Some years ago I discovered an all-consuming passion for two things: working with groups, and passing on new skills to others, so I’ve morphed into an expert trainer and presenter developing and running sessions on image-related subjects for all kinds of companies.  Aston+Hayes has also been instrumental in helping countless others launch their own businesses as Personal Stylists or Image Consultants with our training courses. This year we launched the new 10-day Fashion, Image and Styling Course for Women which brings together Fashion Styling approaches and Image Consultancy principals, a course that so far is unique in the UK. It is a new phase and it’s very exciting.

What did you do before?

Aston+Hayes was a fashion advertising agency before it changed direction to image consulting. Advertising clients included Next, Bally, Aquascutum, Harrods, Paul Costelloe and many others. My official role was Account Director, but I also managed to manoeuvre myself into a few call sheets as assistant stylist. Before Aston + Hayes I worked for the BBC as marketing manager.

What is a typical day like for you as managing director of an Image Consultancy?

There really isn’t a typical day, which is one of the things I love about my job. If it’s a ‘client day’, I could be consulting and teaching someone how to select the best clothes for their taste, figure, colouring, lifestyle, budget, and on how to express themselves. Alternatively, I could be with a group of executives giving a presentation or running an interactive workshop on personal branding and professional impact. (Whether they are men or women makes a big difference too.) If we’re running a training course for new Personal Stylists I could be teaching or helping everything run smoothly for the training team and students. If I have a day away from clients or students, then I’ll be in my office or business club doing everything and anything – meeting, planning, sourcing, writing, admin, phone calls etc etc and lots of cups of tea with my assistant Jocasta.

How does being part of FBC have a positive affect on your business?

The Personal Styling industry is growing rapidly, and the best Personal Stylists will have both image consultancy training and a great awareness of the business of fashion. Being part of FBC helps me build bridges between the world of image consulting and that of fashion.

Neely Reyes (centre) and Ian Warren (far right) with models and staff

FBC‘ers turned out in their fashion finery on Wednesday night as fellow members and managing partners of Sapphires Model Management hosted their London launch party in the Billiard Room of the Sanderson.

The event was packed thick with with the industry’s finest from Sapphires’ Neely Reyes and Ian Warren to models, fashion stylists and editors, film directors, designers and artists.

Daisy de Villeneve & Neely Reyes

Amongst the guests were FBC members: Rita Nazareno, FBC membership director & special projects manager of S.C. Vizcarra; Daisy de Villeneuve, FBC board member, illustrator, designer & writer; Courtney Blackman, FBC co-chair and MD of Forward PR; Giovanna Velasquez, founder & creative director of Magenta 8; Rebekah Roy, FBC blog edior, fashion stylist & creative director; Daniella Steadman, FBCtv’s new producer and executive producer of fashion & beauty at Love; Frances Card, merchandise manager at Matches & Drapers blogger; Sam Fearn, MD of Fearnhurst PR & founder of Fashion Press Week; Martyn Roberts & John Walford of Vauxhall Fashion Scout; myself, Anne Look, fashion stylist and blogger; and Rachael Sardelich, head of fashion & beauty at Morgans Hotels.

Rebekah Roy & John Walford

The two-hour event, commemorating the opening of Sapphires’ Soho office, spilled over into nearly five hours as guests chatted to background music mixed by internationally renowned DJ, Jeffrey Louis-Reed and sipped cocktails made from Aussie Spirits’ Vodka O & Kinky Rum, and Jameson Irish Whiskey.

Guests countered the cocktails with Mojito, chocolate-banana and coconut-lime cupcakes from Sweetie Darling’s (the Mojito cupcake was possibly the best). The VIP gift bags were overflowing with beauty products, drinks, sumptuous vouchers, a lovely handwritten scroll from Neely and Ian, and even clothes!

DJ Jeffrey Louis-Reed with Anne Look & Rachael Sardelich

Neely and Ian were delighted at the overwhelming turnout. “We’re very grateful to have the support of so many leading industry figures,” says Neely, “Sapphires’ move to Soho is a big step for the company and we can’t wait to see where this new adventure takes us.”

Congratulations, Neely & Ian!

An interview with Ian Warren,  FBC member and managing partner of  Sapphires Model Management. Ian is also a prolific writer and will be the guest FBC Blog editor for the July 29 Edward Enninful/Michael Herz meeting.

How did you come to run your own modeling agency?

I come from an online retail background and my career moves have always been in the fashion industry. I knew Neely Reyes (the founder of Sapphires) from university and we spoke extensively about her idea to open an ethical boutique agency. Our skill sets seemed to uncannily mesh; the areas where Neely would need help were my strengths and vice versa. We decided to put our heads together and Sapphires Model Management was born! Five years on and we’re very proud of the agency. We’ve managed to work with Selfridges, House of Fraser, Umberto Giannini, Uniqlo with FBC board member Daisy de Villeneuve, the Drapers/WGSN Fashion Summit 2009 with FBC member Lauretta Roberts, and Harvey Nichols with FBC member Anne Look. We’ve just opened a London office, which we’ll be celebrating next week at the Sanderson, and we have some exciting projects up our sleeve, so stay tuned for more details.

What did you do before Sapphires?

I was the website manager for a big high street retailer that is no longer with us (although I maintain I had nothing to do with it’s downfall!). Although the work was enjoyable, the job was very restrictive. Saying that though, I learned a lot and at the very least I have a story about the spectacular collapse of a fashion brand that will make a great novel someday!

What is a typical day like for a partner of a modeling agency?

Most of the day is spent meeting clients and models, interpreting briefs and organising castings and bookings. We also spend time planning shoots for our models. We are still very hands on at the agency so we spend a lot of time thinking about PR projects with the lovely Courtney Blackman, Co-Founder & Co-Chairman of FBC who is actually our PR. Finally, we always take the time out to make the occasional tweet or status update!

How does being part of FBC have a positive affect on your business?

FBC is a great networking tool and really has helped to expand our business. An FBC membership is like having the best contact book at your fingertips. We’ve referred some really good work to our fellow members and it’s great to be part of something so highly regarded within the industry!

Say hello to Ian on the 29th of July at Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED™ when FBC member and creative director of Bally, Michael Herz interviews superstar stylist and creative director, Edward Enninful. For details: membership@fashionbusinessclub.net or press@fashionbusinessclub.net

FBC Editor and stylist Rebekah Roy

Viral, cross market, or affiliate campaigns; Online marketing; Social Media; In bound links and lets not forget SEO! All these have become part of our daily language but there is a difference in using the terms linguistically to excelling in them practically.

If you have simple idea of what this is all about but not too sure how to implement it then head on down to the Fashion and Textile Museum on the 14th of July where FBC’s editor and renowned stylist Rebekah Roy will be talking about why you should have an online presence. Alongside Rebekah, digital guru Leon Bailey Green will be presenting top e-commerce tips.

Rebekah Roy is FBC’s editor, Fashion Editor at Fashion.Music.Style magazine, and styles for a wide variety of clients from Nintendo, Harvey Nichols, John Lewis, Harrods and Virgin to celebrity clients including Kate Nash, Sarah Brightman, The Feeling, Little Boots and Billy Idol. Her dynamic online presence makes her a unique stylist that is able to communicate her ideas across diverse platforms.

Leon Bailey Green has experiences in digital media, marketing, fashion and retail under his belt. Leon has also been a consultant to numerous companies operating in the online fashion sector. He has assisted online fashion businesses with marketing, content, buying and recruitment strategies, as well as overall business analyses.

The talk will be held on Wednesday the 14th of July, from 18:30 to 20:30 at the Fashion Textile Museum. There are a limited amount of places available so to avoid disappointment book your seat in advance by emailing  info@ftmlondon.org.

I was happy to read last week that former Young Guns runner-up, my-wardrobe.com, a UK online retailer of designer fashion, was able to secure funding of $9m from Balderton Capital to enable overseas expansion. (As an aside, we are sponsoring Young Guns for the fourth time this year and I am very excited to be judging and selecting the finalists in a couple of weeks, with the winner being announced in September. Would be good to get another great achiever in the fashion sector…)

Another exciting piece of news from last week was hearing that a client of mine, who has recently launched her own label, has been asked to show at London Fashion Week in September. Needless to say I will be wearing the couple of pieces I ordered from her last collection with pride.

I was also pleasantly surprised to secure a meeting with a banker for a prospective client looking for Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) funding. I have heard many controversial views on this scheme from contacts, including the extensive information required and the risk averseness of the banks. In fact I have recently read that lending to small and medium-sized businesses under the government backed EFG scheme fell by 23% in the six months from £472m (April to September 2010) to £365m (September 2009 to March 2010).

The Chancellor announced that the current EFG scheme will be extended by £200m until March 2011, in his emergency Budget last month. However many are calling for the coalition government to revisit the terms of the scheme to provide greater incentives to lenders. My past experience of the scheme is that organised, complete and realistic business plans and forecasts are crucial to be able to even secure a first meeting with a bank. Fingers crossed for the introduction I have recently made.

FBC member and designer Jonathan Saunders has been recognized once again by the Fashion community for his excellence in Design when Saunders walked away with the award for Best Designer of the Year at the 2010 Scottish Fashion Awards.

The Awards ceremony, which is the fifth of its kind, was held at the Glasgow Science Center. The judging panel for the event included FBC board member and editor of Vogue.com, Dolly Jones.

This adds to Jonathan’s long list of awards including the Fashion Enterprise Awards by the British Fashion Council and the Elle style Awards designer of the year.

At the November FBC meeting, FBC members were treated to a Jonathan Saunders interview by Dolly Jones at the Swarovski Crystallized Lounge where he discussed his collections and success.

FBC Co-Founder Alison Whelan, Jonathan Saunders, FBC Board Member Dolly Jones

and FBC Co-Founder Courtney Blackman

Read more about the interview on the FBC Blog or watch it on Vogue TV.

Previous INNOVATION winner: Lalesso

On the 30^th of June at Fashion Business Club (FBC)’s venue partner, Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED™ (organised by FBC member, Stine Brogaard, CRYSTALLIZED™’s marketing operations manager), FBC board members Courtney Blackman, co-founder & co-chairman of FBC and Dolly Jones, editor of Vogue.com will be joined by FBC member and fashion director of Recognise Magazine, Shyla Hassan and other industry professionals including model Laura Bailey, ESTETHICA’s Orsola de Castro, Neil Hendy of M&S, Katie Davis of Pure and Anne Golden of St Martins Lane Hotel to make up the panel of judges for the INNOVATION Awards.

The winners will be selected from twelve finalists and on hosting the judging session, Nadja Swarovski, vice president of international communications says, “We are pleased to host the Ethical Fashion Forum’s INNOVATION Awards at our Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED Concept Store and Café. It is essential within the fashion world to support designers showcasing inspirational talent in fashion design while addressing environmental challenges. The INNOVATION Awards celebrate their creative work dedicated to making positive change in the industry which is benefiting people and the environment.”

Previous INNOVATION winner: Mia

Launched by The Ethical Fashion Forum (EFF) and the Fairtrade Foundation, the INNOVATION Awards officially recognise and aim to support emerging designers working within the ethical fashion sector.

Dolly Jones highlights the importance of the INNOVATION Awards, saying that it “supports and promotes designers who are set to make a difference for people and the environment.”

Previous INNOVATION winner: Mark Liu

Winners of the INNOVATION Award will have the opportunity to show their S/S 2011 collection at either PURE or London Fashion Week’s ESTETHICA in September 2010.

FBC’s own Courtney Blackman, also on the board of the EFF, says “Previous winners of the INNOVATION Awards have made great contributions to both environmental and social sustainability through fashion. I can’t wait to see what this year’s entrants have in store as far as design and technical advancements.”

For further details, visit: Ethical Fashion Forum