Fashion Business Club

FBC is very pleased to have been an official partner of the inaugural WGSN Global Fashion Awards. The awards were conceptualised by FBC member Lauretta Roberts, WGSN’s digital development director, and executed to perfection by a WGSN team from around the globe.

The awards ceremony took place on the 18th floor at the Waldorf Astoria in New York on the 10th of November. Hosted by Nigel Barker, one of our proudest moments was when FBC member Harold Tillman CBE was recognised for his 40 plus years in the industry with the John Rocha designed, Waterford crystal trophy marked with Outstanding Contribution to Fashion. The award was much deserved as Harold is chairman of the British Fashion Council and owns two of Britain’s most iconic heritage labels: Jaeger and Aquascutum.

Nigel Barker, Harold Tillman and Barney’s Simon Doonan

FBC blog editor and celebrity fashion stylist, Rebekah Roy was responsible for nominating her longtime client, London-based fashion designer, William Tempest in the category of best Emerging Brand or Retailer. With a shortlist that included strong brands from around the world, William came out on top and won the award. William also was charged with dressing FBC co-founder Courtney Blackman, who wore a one-of-a-kind William Tempest dress to the awards ceremony, then changed into a piece from his SS11 collection for the after party. Courtney was representing the Global Fashion Awards through her PR agency, Forward PR and was there in the capacity of official FBC envoy.

Sarah Curran (2nd from right) with her team: Luisa de Paula, Fiona McIntosh, Jean-Marc Bouhelier and Lauren Stevenson

The winners of the Global Fashion Awards were selected by an expert panel of judges, made up the most influential people in fashion and style, including FBC board member and editor of VOGUE.COM, Dolly Jones, who was present at the ceremony in New York along with FBC members Sarah Curran, founder & CEO of my-wardrobe.com and executive headhunter, Orlando Martins of Oresa Limted.

Congratulations to Lauretta Roberts for creating a truly amazing event. We’ll look forward to the 2011 Global Fashion Awards!

Visit the GFA website for full details and results from the evening: WGSN Global Fashion Awards.

See Lauretta on the 25th of November at Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED™ for the next FBC meeting, where she will interview the legendary Yasmin Sewell. For details contact: membership@fashionbusinessclub.net or press@fashionbusinessclub.net

FBC’s media partner VOGUE.COM is hosting Fashion’s Night In, where shoppers will be the first to shop exclusive collections created especially for the event.

FBC board member and VOGUE.COM editor Dolly Jones says that VOGUE.COM is, “delighted to be in a position to undertake this enterprise and to bring the world of online fashion into the hands of dedicated shoppers for this unique and exciting occasion. It’s a first for the online community and we’re incredibly proud to be its host.”

Among the participating leading e-tailers will be my-wardrobe.com. On the night, shoppers will be able to see inside the wardrobes of some of the industry’s most stylish women and they will be able to click-to-buy looks straight from a live catwak show streaming on the site. Shoppers can also look forward to gifts with purchase and fabulous competition prizes.

FBC member and my-wardrobe.com founder and CEO, Sarah Curran comments, “We are thrilled to be working with VOGUE.COM to pioneer the launch of the first ever Fashion’s Night In. Following the success of the global Fashion’s Night Out, Fashion’s Night In is going to be a unique event in the fashion calendar, which brings together leading e-tailers on a global platform for one night only, celebrating the phenomenal growth of fashion e-tail.

Our focus has always been centred around the customer experience and for Fashion’s Night In, we are creating an exceptionally unique and unforgettable online shopping experience for the my-wardrobe.com shopper.”

Also participating, FBC blog editor and fashion & celebrity stylist Rebekah Roy will be a special guest in my-wardrobe’s Style Surgery, giving advice to my-wardrobe customers and FBC board member Daisy de Villeneuve will be filmed for MY-TV, showing her favourite wardrobe itmes, her must-haves for the season and choosing an item from my-wardrobe for the AW10 season that shoppers can win during Fashion’s Night In.

Matches, where FBC member Frances Card is the merchandise director, will launch Lulu Kennedy’s debut Lulu & Co collection exclusively online during the event and ten per cent of the night’s sales will go to KidsCo.

FBC members can look forward to the big night on November 1^st and for more information on Fashion’s Night In visit www.vogue.co.uk

Seven FBC members made the final list of Leon Bailey-Green’s Online Fashion 100 – a guide devised to take people behind the scenes of online fashion world. “…buyers, bloggers, directors, entrepreneurs, editors, investors, politicians and even celebrities” form the list of people that influence the business of the online fashion sphere.

Leon was joined by a panel of experts: Brent Hoberman, Hilary Alexander, Kate Russell and Denize Hewitt, and the following are the FBC members on the list, in alphabetical order, not ranking: Courtney Blackman, Frances Card, Sarah Curran, Malika Dalamal, Disneyrollergirl, Michaela Jedinak, Lauretta Roberts. Congratulations!

See the full list here: Online Fashion 100 2010/11 Edition

A year has passed since online expert Leon Bailey-Green published his hugely successful and much talked about Online Fashion 100. FBC has been given the exclusive on which FBC members are on the list this year and we make up 5%!

Congratulations to the following FBC members for making the cut: Sarah Curran, founder of my-wardrobe.com; Frances Card of the Frances Card Consultancy; Lauretta Roberts, creator of the Global Fashion Awards and digital development manager at WGSN; Disneyrollergirl (yes, she’s a member and we don’t know what her real name is); and Courtney Blackman, FBC’s co-founder & co-chair, MD of Forward PR and EFF board member.

The full list will be published on Monday, June 21st on both Leon Bailey-Green and The Online Fashion Agency.

Get top denim tips from FBC members Sarah Curran, CEO of my-wardrobe.com and Rebekah Roy, fashion stylist and FBC blog editor at my-wardrobe.com’s pop up Denim Bar.

Drapers Etail Awards 2010 – FBC member and fashion journalist Navaz Batliwalla (for The Fashshot Studio) interviews FBC members: Mark Bage from Coggles, Frances Card and Sarah Curran of My Wardrobe!

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 CRYSTALLIZEDâ„¢ 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

Bryce Aime by The Mofo

FBC member Bryce Aime has photographed previously unseen pieces from his SS2010 collection with cult photographer, The Mofo (yes, that’s what he calls himself), in his signature voyeuristic style.

Bryce mixes 50’s Parisian chic with classic and futuristic body con structure and it’s apparently a collection you’ll either love or hate.  I love.  What do you think?

Bryce Aime by The Mofo

Bryce will be showing his AW2010 collection during London Fashion Week at On|Off (directed by FBC member Lee Lapthorne) on Saturday the 20^th of February, and we’re hoping to see Bryce next Thursday for our first FBC meeting of 2010, a celebration of our 4^th birthday, and a revealing interview with my-wardrobe.com’s founder and CEO, Sarah Curran at London’s Swarovski CRYSTALLIZEDâ„¢ Concept Store and Café.

See you there!

Courtney Blackman Co-Founder & Co-Chairman

Suzy Menkes, Zandra Rhodes and the Fashion and Textile Museum hosted the launch of My Favourite Dress, a book dedicated to dresses and the very favourites of Alexander McQueen, Diane von Furstenberg, Amanda Wakeley, Matthew Williamson, Zac Posen, about 75 other people, and one of our board members!

The book, compiled by Gity Monsef, Samantha Erin Safer and Robert de Niet, echoes the exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum by the same name and our board member Daisy de Villeneuve tells the story of her favourite: a turquoise vintage dress from Rellik with a Chinese-inspired print.  “I took part in the book because Samantha and Gity asked me to be involved.  I’d worked with Gity before when I had my solo show at The Fashion and Textile Museum a few years ago.  I still have the dress. I bought it in 2000 and it has come in pretty handy,” says Daisy.

Daisy de Villeneuve & William Tempest

After the event, where we ran into Vogue.com’s fashion features editor, Jessica Bumpus and fashion designer, William Tempest, we snuck out for snacks and drinks with Samantha and Gity.  Not only did they create an amazing book, those gals know how to have fun.

See you on the 28^th, where my-wardrobe.com founder and CEO, Sarah Curran will be interviewed by FBC’s Frances Card at Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED^TM.  We’ll also be celebrating our 4^th birthday with cupcakes from Cakehole and chocolate from Godiva!

Will Daisy be wearing the turquoise dress?  You’ll have to attend to find out.

Courtney Blackman Co-Founder & Co-Chairman

FBC is celebrating its fourth successful year in business and gearing up for the first meeting of 2010 by welcoming guest speaker and FBC member, Sarah Curran, founder & CEO of my-wardrobe.com, interviewed by FBC member and fashion business expert, Frances Card of the Frances Card Consultancy.

The meeting will be held Thursday, January 28 at FBC’s new venue partner for 2010: the Swaravski CRYSTALLIZEDâ„¢ Concept Store and Café on Great Marlborough Street.