Statements Style

I write about I?

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 03:49:56 PDT

It's been way to long since I wrote a blog post and for that I apologize. I've been feeling very uninspired and have also been busier than usual; that is not an excuse, no one is ever to busy to do something that they actually want to do. There was just an adjustment needed on my part and some creativity to get the ball rolling again. So to that end I'm going to write about me in this post which I almost never do.

I'm now the managing editor of modaCycle.com. After some terrific conversations with the editor in chief we decide to recreate modaCycle as a website that focuses solely on designers and designs. We are a team of passionate explorers and sleuths. We are launching an internet designer interview program called Dream to Seam which I am hosting. Our focus on the fashion calendar will shift to which designers displayed inventiveness, boldness, and craftsmanship in their collections. We will be creating photo and video editorials which will feature the most amazing fashions we can find and will be used strictly based on merit not on advertising or popularity. We don't care about celebrities, front rows, or who's wearing who. We will be scouring the globe for emerging talent and will cover designers based on their merits rather than their status. We will also be taking a stand for designers and against the great number of accepted industry practices that actually damage fashion designers and fashion design as an art form.

I'm very excited to have been given an opportunity to help create modaCycle as a force for change and look forward to being able to do some good for all of the amazingly talented and passionate fashion designers that I know and those that I have yet to meet.

The importance of being professional from the very start

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 03:21:27 PDT

All of the brilliant designs in the world and all of the sharp and consistent marketing is instantly rendered meaningless if you are lazy and unprofessional in responding to industry and client communication. Excuses for not reading the communications well, answering all questions thoroughly, and not responding in a timely fashion are not acceptable. The early days in fact the early years of your business are far to critical for you to miss opportunities and create bad first impressions.

I have said before that emerging designers need to be creative, flexible, and disciplined. This issue would quite obviously fall under the category of discipline. Here's the standard that I try to adhere to in my own life. All business e-mails and voice mails must be answered within 24 hours if not sooner. All business e-mails must be slowly and thoroughly re-read prior to responding. If I ever attach a time to a promise, (e.g: I'll get back to you before 3pm.) Then I am willing to do anything I have to to keep my word.

No excuse is valid.

Seth F.

How do you know who to trust? Part 4 of how to become a successful designer

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Fri, 14 May 2010 05:18:31 PDT

It's now season three or four, and thanks to your precise client identification, your targeted marketing, and your disciplined and multi-armed D.I.Y retail strategy you are actually surviving as a designer. Now you may be just able to pay your rent and bills or you may actually have been able to save a few hundred or even a few thousand. In eiether case.... congratulations! Seriously take a few minutes to be happy! Now I want you to look back over the past few months and notice something. The longer you've survived the more people have been offering to help you. People come up to you at your pop up shops or your presentations and say, "I'm a stylist/editor/pr/person and I can do X,Y, and Z for you. Now the truth is that very few of these people can or will actually help you, so how do you know who to work with?

The most important thing to do in those early moments in a conversation is to let the other person talk while you pay strict attention. People will often unwittingly reveal a great deal about themselves when they want to make a good impression. Be on the look out for these clues:

Do they talk about all of the people that they know and name drop constantly?

Do they explode in an endless litany of promises?

Is it all about them, them, them?

Obviously the type of person described above is to be avoided, they don't actually care about you or your art; you are a means to an end.

A less obvious person to be avoided is the type who is sincere but lacks the wherewithal to actually accomplish what they set out to do. Here's some ways that you may be able to spot them.

Do they gush with enthusiasm endlessly about how great you are but not actually offer much in the way of plans of action?

Do they not have or offer proof of past performances or references?

In general do they seem to lack specificity about what it is that they want to do for you?

The above person is a fan and possibly an ally but not a business partner. Keep them on file and when you need help in less skilled areas reach out to them, they get to be supportive of someone they care for and you don't waste time and money.

However...let's say that you make a contact who doesn't do any of the above things. They seem to know what they are talking about and cite specific examples of what they've been able to accomplish for designers in the past. Intrigued? Ask for a business card, go home and study them thoroughly. Go to their website, Google them, read their blog, send e-mails to their references. Do your homework, then do more. If they still pass muster than send them an e-mail asking for a meeting.

Once at the meaning create an atmosphere for a serious conversation, ask the person to submit a proposal of what duties and responsibilities they will take on for you, what they are promising to accomplish in those areas, and a price. Propose short term contracts , (contracts, contracts, contracts!!!!) at first that have designated review dates built in. Ask a ton of questions regarding what specific mechanisms they will use and actions they will take to achieve their promises. Putting them through the wringer accomplishes two things; firstly you need the info you are asking for to make your decision and secondly if you do decide to hire them you've established an excellent tone for your working relationship.

The last component to making the decision to hire someone is to check in with your instincts. Find a quiet space and time and ask yourself how do you feel about this person, then sit with your answer for a while.

The people you choose to be your early working partners are critical to your growth and success as a designer. You can not be successful and happy trying to do everything yourself, life simply doesn't work that way. But there's a great deal riding on the first two or three people you decide to work with, be sure to give the decision everything you have.

Seth F.

Fall Winter Favs

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:43:20 PDT

If you look to the right of this text you will see that my favorite fashions from the Fall Winter 2010-11 collections have started to appear. I'm working on a city by city breakdown and I have started with New York. Up next London, then Milan, and finally Paris. So as I work on those articles for Modacycle I will share with you the designs I liked the best from each city. Some of the labels are not household names and some are very new so if you have any questions please let me know.

Seth F.

The lesson of Maria Pinto

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Mon, 03 May 2010 08:05:22 PDT

What lesson is to be taken from yesterday's announcement of the closing of Maria Pinto's entire business operation? To my mind it is a stark and simple example of something that I say to designers all the time. For RTW, press and celebrities mean nothing compared to buyers. Buyers are the fashion industry. You should never spend a penny on promotion until the buyers have purchased your pieces. If you have one goal in promoting a new collection it is to get buyers to come see it. You or your business partner should exhaust yourself approaching and attracting buyers. After being true to your art and finding clients, building relationships with buyers is the most important thing in your life as a fashion designer/label. If this were not true there would be no such thing as a critically acclaimed failure. Buyers, Buyers, Buyers, Buyers, Buyers, Buyers, Buyers, Buyers, Buyers, Buyers. Am I understood?

Seth F.

My Interview with Mona Kowalska of A Detacher

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Mon, 03 May 2010 11:11:33 PDT

I had an opportunity to spend a morning chatting with the wonderful Mona Kowalska of the spirited label A Detacher. You can read the results on Modacycle http://www.modacycle.com/2010/04/a-detacher-designer-dossier/

Alternative retail strategies for emerging designers

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 08:45:09 PDT

An emerging designer can not be fooled into the trap of using the current economy as an excuse for the struggles that they face. The truth is you would most likely be broke or poor when you started no matter what. That is simply a consequence of deciding to make a living as an artist. As an emerging designer you must be creative, flexible, and disciplined in your approach to generating sales. Building a brand is a long term goal and while sizable wholesale orders are the ultimate goal they are unattainable for the emerging designer because they simply can not afford large scale production. The mere decision to become a designer creates a cash shortage. You need money to buy and create your collections and it is entirely possible that for your first two or three seasons you may not generate any wholesale orders. So where might that steady but small stream of income come from?

D.I.Y retail is a great way to bring in early income and because by its nature it generates a low volume of sales it will not generally require you to spend any money on production. You are either selling garments or items you have already produced or filling one off orders from material and a pattern that you already have. There are more ways to do D.I.Y retail today then ever before. D.I.Y has two added advantages, firstly it is exposure in your local market. It's always important to have a strong presence in your own backyard, and all of the non "e" D.I.Y strategies will do this for you. The other critical result of D.I.Y is it gives you a sales track record to strengthen your sales pitch to retailers. Trust me if while a buyer is looking at your collection you can hand them a sales tracking document and have some nice anecdotes about your sales it will make a huge difference in generating orders.

One note of caution before we move on to the specific methods of D.I.Y retail. In order to be effective any selling strategy must be part of an accurate and comprehensive brand concept. If you are unsure if you have that then I recommend that you go back and read the first two posts in this series. http://statementstyle.blogspot.com/2010/03/steps-one-two-on-becoming-designer.html & http://statementstyle.blogspot.com/2010/03/step-two-on-becoming-successful-fashion.html

1. Etsy- Etsy is a very simple to use and very easy way to get your creations seen by millions of people. It costs 20 cents to list an item for four months. When your item sells, you’ll pay a 3.5% transaction fee. I do recommend opening up a Fed Ex or U.P.S account and don't forget to calculate taxes, Etsy's charges, and shipping in to your list price. For more info check out this link, http://www.etsy.com/how_selling_works.php

2. E-Commerce off of your own site- There are many reasonably priced "turn key" options for adding e-commerce to your website. There's a nice list of options here http://www.entrepreneur.com/ebusiness/article201424.html. Again be sure that you have your shipping squared away and have your costs factored into your price.

3. Pop up shops- This is one of my favorites, a well promoted pop up shop with a reasonable rent can be an exceptional income producer for a designer. Using your website, social media, and your mailing list to promote it can make for nice traffic. Partnering with accessories designers with a similar aesthetic and even a musician or artist can increase traffic and create shared mailing lists that benefit all. This option is to be seriously considered.

4. Fairs, flea markets and markets- Everywhere in the world has some variation of these weekend events. Table space/rack space is generally very cheap and it is a great way to get your feet wet in basic retail. I do advise that you go to the event you may rent at and price the marketplace first. People who go to these events are looking for bargains and you must price accordingly. Have enough confidence in your brand to not worry about being $10 or $15 dollars higher than others, but don't be $20 to $50 higher.

5. Trunk Shows- The classic staple of fashion, a trunk show often involves simply you, your collection, and a hotel room. Well publicized this type of event can be very effective. There are countless variations sometimes involving pre-existing retail locations but I'm sure you are nimble minded enough to get the idea. Renting or purchasing a credit card scanner is essential for you to gain maximum effectiveness from this strategy.

6. Consignment shops- Not my personal favorite because of a dicey history of getting paid, however with the right store this approach can do well. As in all business dealings it is critical for you to protect yourself contractually from the outset.

7. Renting space in an existing retail store- This method requires some flexible thinking on the designers part. If your client identification matches up with another retail category you can use this to pitch the idea of renting rack space in a non fashion location. For example, if you are an eco-friendly designer, you might want to approach your local health food store etc... In the current economy everyone would like help with their rent and that fact combined with like minded priorities can make an effective pitch.

8. Group events- A solid variation on the pop up shop idea can be a group show. These can be as simple as a rented space and a few racks or more elaborate events including models, food, music, etc...

So there you have it, eight effective methods for beginning to make money from your art the instant that your collection is finished. Do it right away, don't wait. Just swallow hard and be bold, heck if you're really feeling strong do more than one, dare I say even plan an entire calendar of events each season? Remember,
Fortes fortuna adiuvat!

New low in fashion

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 05:48:47 PDT

While reviewing all of the F/W fashions for my up coming "best of" blog I noticed a new tab on style.com's coverage of some of the major shows. It is called "Front Row" and I had a pretty good idea what that meant but feeling foolishly hopeful I pushed the button anyway. Nope, they are now actually wasting effort, time, and space on photographing and posting of the celebrities in the front rows of shows. WHO CARES! What does it have to do with fashion, design, designers, art? If they all stopped coming tomorrow nothing that matters would change. In fact "celebrity" is such an increasingly meaningless conferred and created status that the front rows look like flip books from season to season.

Dear designers, unless a celebrity is handing you their credit card to buy your work, pay them no attention what so ever. Maybe then the fashion media will follow suit.

Very important advice to emerging designers!

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 09:10:52 PDT

Do not have your fashion show or presentation in a club!!! In the past two weeks I have been invited to three fashion shows in "dance clubs". All three of them have been a disaster, all three of them could have been avoided if the designers has asked themselves the following question

Who do I want to view my collection?

The answer is, buyers and press.

Now ask yourself the following naturally occurring questions:

Will buyers and press wait around for hours till between 11pm and midnight to watch my show?

No.

Will buyers and press pay to see my collection?

Oh absolutely no.

Do buyers and press feel like being patted down?

No.

Do buyers and press feel like being told that they have to pay for a coat or bag check and being told that they have to buy two drinks or that they can't sit down unless they buy a bottle?

No.

Are any of you ever going to do that again????

Please let the answer be no.

Step two on becoming a successful fashion designer.

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:03:15 PDT

You have your collection. You have your clients. You have your vision and your language. What's next?

STOP!

Seriously, bring the entire process to a complete halt. Breathe deeply, clear your mind...ask yourself the following question;

Am I financially, emotionally, and mentally ready to do this?

It's been my experience that 60% of the designers reading this will answer yes without doing a serious soul search. Don't decide based on fears, it's okay if you are not 100% ready, that just changes what comes next, it doesn't stop you from pursuing your dream. There are also gradations of being ready that will tell you precisely what your next step is. If you answer in the affirmative 100% then your next step is an oddly challenging one. You have to create a little bit of writing that requires a great deal of serious thought and reflection. It is a defining moment but the best approach that you can have towards it is to define it rather than to let it define you. It is...

A hang tag.

This little vexing detail of being a designer is critically important for a few reasons. Every aspect of it you decide on decides your career path. To illuminate, is it a wholesale hang tag or a retail hang tag? How do you create your prices? If it's a wholesale tag what is the delivery date? What is your margin formula? What do you charge for your skills and time? Are you manufacturing in house or trying to find a small run factory?

All of these decisions lead to seperate paths of how you will create, market and sell your designs.

Steps One to becoming a designer

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:56:22 PDT

Here you are, an emerging designer fresh out of school or off of your internship or perhaps even just pure street D.I.Y. You've created a great first capsule collection, eight to twelve pieces that are pure you and so good you can't answer the, "which is your favorite?" question. What now?

The absolute first thing you must do and do with pinpoint accuracy and detail is answer the question, "who is my client?". Who will wear your creations? How much money do they have to spend? What matters to them when selecting clothes? Where do they live, work, eat, shop? Once those questions are answered it will help you narrow your focus.

Once you have a concrete vision of your client you can then create your foundational documents. These often include but are not restricted to; your label's name, a mission statement, marketing language, a description of your client, and your budget, even if it's just $50.00 still put it down. You now have a framework to work from inside of, you have learned how to talk to clients, buyers, and press about your brand.

Step two later this week, a tiny bit of writing that means everything in the world to a designer...

Why the death of Alexander McQueen is personal.

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:32:56 PST

I've been struggling with my reaction to the suicide of Alexander McQueen. For me there exists the danger of becoming maudlin and cloying. That would mean being more concerned with how people react to how I react than really expressing how I feel. It would be an enormous disrespect to use the death of someone to look good, but human beings always want to look good and so it's been in the back of my mind. And yet, this death of a stranger, the passing of someone who I never met is affecting me deeply. I now understand why.

There are less than a dozen fashion designers in the world who can give me that moment where my whole being reacts. The sharp intake of breath, the wide eyes, the warmth that comes over my body and the excited smile that grows on my face. The first time I ever had that reaction was when I was 9 years old standing in front of this sculpture http://farm1.static.flickr.com/58/217527930_511129f605.jpg It's by Auguste Rodin and is called The Sirens. I was transfixed by it and felt torrents of expression and emotion pouring from this work of art. It's art and that's what great art does for humans. That's why McQueen's suicide is personal for everyone on earth. We didn't lose a celebrity we lost an artist. Art matters much, much more than our currently insipid cash and convenience worshiping culture wants us to believe.

What matters this morning? McQueen's trendiness, his sales figures, his "over the top style"? No, what matters is his art. The sad, sad fact is it's precisely what mattered on Wednesday morning but we were all too stupefied to prioritize it properly. On this anniversary of the morning of Dior's "New Look" let us remember that going forward when we view fashion we need to view designers as artists first and foremost and that we have the blessing of being able to transform our bodies into moving, breathing canvases. To me that is what Alexander McQueen did and what we should do to honor the gift that was his art.

Seth F.

Best of Paris couture

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:40:38 PST

My favs
Jean Paul Gaultier
Jean Paul Gaultier
Jean Paul Gaultier
Jean Paul Gaultier
Jean Paul Gaultier
Jean Paul Gaultier
Jean Paul Gaultier
Givenchy
Givenchy
Givenchy
Christian Dior
Christian Dior
Armani Prive
Armani Prive

Taking care of yourself as Fashion Weeks approach.

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:26:36 PST

As a designer you are the heart of your business. You must conceive of yourself as a physical power plant, the energy, presentations and productions that you create are the life or death of your brand. Some of you get fooled by your youth. You think that just because you completed the work before a deadline that means that you are doing okay. But, how much more focused, creative or present could you have been to your creativity and to the possibilities that exist in what you were trying to express?

Resting as much as possible and eating properly are not trivial details. It is precisely what determines how much energy you have on any given day. Stay away from excessive coffee or energy drinks, you will end up setting up the spike and crash cycle that will wreck your focus in the long term. Step up the fresh fruits and veggies and have healthy snacks and plenty of water around your work space. You are at your best when you treat yourself best.

Did ya really think that through?

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 04:57:37 PST

Every week I run across some facet of accepted thinking in the fashion industry that stuns me like a snowball in July. The latest example is this small trend that I see among fashion companies regarding access to their current collections on their websites. Some companies restrict access to their look books to press and buyers through password control. Yet on the same site, they have runway videos of that collection, they also have links to articles and photo shoots where you can see the clothes. It's also now January and less then a month from now we will have roll outs of that collection. Some stores already have pre-sales. So if I can see the clothes a half dozen ways what is the point of restricting my access? It's worth noting that none, zero of the major fashion houses do this. It's strictly a mid and lower level label practice.

The whole concept seems flawed at its core...don't you want me to see the clothes. Don't you in fact want as many people as possible to see the clothes? Can somebody please tell me what the purported point of this practice is?

Life changes equal blog changes

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 05:14:33 PST

My fashion focus has shifted dramatically this past month. I have accepted a position as the brand manager for Pamela Ptak. I've known and admired Pam in her work as a couturier for the past 15 years and am honored and passionately excited to not only promote Pamela Ptak's ready to wear line but more so to advocate on her behalf. Pam is an inspirational and remarkable woman who has overcome many hardships and severe difficulties to develop an aesthetic which is unique, fresh and accomplishes the hardest of all things in fashion; to be distinctive and memorable without being loud.

So what does this mean for my blog? Well it means that my blog now will focus on my experiences and observations as we pursue goals for the label. For my many emerging designer readers this will actually benefit you greatly as I am now doing for Pamela Ptak what you are trying to do for yourself. I am going to create within this blog an open source for brand development, I don't believe in secrets or competition. So I will fully disclose and share with you every single thing that I attempt and the results that occur. I will also share with you my interactions with all of the myriad components that make up our industry. This should be fun and interesting...and if I do it correctly it should irritate quite a few people as well :)

Seth F.

Some Pre Fall loveliness

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:59:23 PST

Versace

Reem Acra

Pringle of Scotland

Do Ri Chung

Chanel

Carolina Herrera

Do you really work in the fashion industry?

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:53:58 PST

A concerning trend has recently become apparent to me, though I suspect it's not new and I'm just noticing it. Through my recent attendance at a number of "fashion" events, I have become aware that there are a large number of people who claim to be "in" the fashion industry but have precious little understanding of either the artistic side of fashion, the business side, or both. I suppose that these people are the very definition of "hangers on". The reason that it bothers me is that very often these people do damage to the career efforts of those that desire to be serious professionals, be they aspiring designers, photographers, journalists, stylists, P.R people, or what have you. In the first year or two that these young women and men are trying to make their way in the fashion industry they often lack the savvy and discernment that comes with experience. Because of this they involve themselves with people who at the very least are a complete waste of time and resources. And in the cash starved days of an early career, those types of missteps can prove devastating.

It would behoove people getting into the fashion world to create hard and fast standards by which they judge the relative value of seeming opportunities that come their way. I think the simpler the equation that makes up those standards, the better it is. I suggest this; Of what "value" is this event/activity to me? Having a robust understanding of value is a very, very key element to making good choices of where to invest your time, effort, and money. Now relative value is something that only you can define so I won't break it down here. I have my own ideas and if you want to know what they are please feel free to contact me. In closing I would simply stress that you need to create and then religiously abide by your standards of value. You can't be impulsive in building a career. As I observed recently in an interview with a successful and fast rising designer, you must both think and feel your way forward.

Top shoes by fashion houses for F/W 2009-10

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:16:35 PST

Below you will find my favorite shoes by the major maisons, enjoy:

John Galliano

Valentino

Roberto Cavalli

Proenza Schouler

Marc Jacobs

Louis Vuitton

Chanel

Top ten shoes for F/W 09-10

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:26:26 PST

So I thought, I'll make a top ten list of my favorite shoes for F/W 09/10, how hard can it be? Frazzle, overload...too many gorgeous, breathtaking, heart stopping, stunning shoes. I must show them all:

Raphael Young

Pierre Hardy

Omelle

LouLoux

LouLou

Juan Antonio Lopez

Johnathan Kelsey

Jean-Michel Cazabat

J.B Martin

Gracienne

Gian Marco Lorenzi

Diego Dolcini

Chrissie Morris

Charlotte Olympia

Cesare Paciotti

Camilla Skovgaard

Beatrix Ong

That doesn't even include the major house's shoes! I'll get to those later this week.

Top Ten for S/S 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:01:23 PDT

Zac Posen
Valentino
Givenchy
Duro Olowu
Dennis Basso
Chado Ralph Rucci
Carolina Herrera
Trussardi 1911
Mary Katrantzou
Marchesa
Hussein Chalayan

"But Seth", you say, "that's 11?" Hmmm, well the 1st Sin always was my favorite.

A dangerously disrespectful fashion choice

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:48:44 PDT

On three seperate occasions in the past few months I have seen young civilian women wearing United States Marine Corps dress "blues" jackets . When I was a kid I used to think it was cool to wear military surplus, so I do understand what the thought process is and why they do choose to don those and other military garments. But as the wise saying goes, "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

Ladies and gentleman we are at war. Every hour of every day young men and women are being maimed and killed, because they are wearing the uniforms of the U.S military. Every piece of fashion is a symbol. Clothing has the power of representation; representation of ideals, beliefs, cultures. Some choices are light on meaning, some are laden with power. Wearing the uniform of a military in a time of war when you are not a member, have not made the commitments, the sacrifices, and shared the risks is disrespectful and ignorant.

My newest designer interview- Carla Braccialini

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:26:15 PDT

My latest fashion designer interview with legendary handbag designer Carla Braccialini has been published here; http://whatshaute.com/?p=3734

Seth F.

Do young designers know who it is they are designing for?

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:56:34 PDT

You're a fashion designer, quick what is your job? Not the title but the meat of it, your primary objective, the thing that ultimately legitimately determines if you are a success or failure? The answer is; do your clothes sell. I realize that answer my surprise some of my regular readers who know how much bitter disdain I hurl at the commercial side of what to me is an art form. The key fact to mark in your mind is that the pursuit of a razor honed artistic aesthetic and making a living from it are the furthest thing from mutually exclusive.

Permit me to synthesize, as I've discussed before if a designer doesn't believe that there exist clients who will purchase and wear their clothing they should quit. No designer has ever been able to survive without having their clothes purchased and worn. However that stone fact in no way narrows the field of opportunity regardless of what your aesthetic is. That's a critical distinction so I'm going to repeat it; it doesn't matter what your aesthetic is if you believe that their are clients for it. You can be a successful designer selling to circuses. Nothing else matters, as long as people like your art form enough to buy it.

The discovery, cultivation, and continuation of relationships with your client base becomes the touchstone for your art. Once you've discovered exactly who your clients are you can begin to explore the dynamic between your artistic expression and why they buy your designs. This is rich and fertile ground and a creative person won't be able to exhaust all of the possibilities it contains before they retire from designing. So you have your art and you have your clients, throw in a little publicity and a great work ethic and you should be golden, yes? No, because at this time and place in the world of fashion there exists one hyper critical element in this discussion that I haven't spoken of yet, it can make or break a designer. It's a person, can you guess what type of person?

So you've been working as a struggling independent designer for about 6 seasons now, (that's three years for non-fashion people), you've proven to yourself that you can sell clothes. Your website produces revenue, you've been written up by some press. A few of your friends boutiques carry your clothing and they sell well enough. You're pretty happy right? What if I told you this was the end? That your life will stay exactly like that for the next 20 years, would you still be happy? Then what if I told you that the people who could change all that may have wandered through your racks at your friends boutiques? They don't leave their cards and they tend not to introduce themselves because when they do they get hounded. Who are they, have you guessed yet?

That's right, they are buyers for multiple stores and bigger retailers. In my opinion a serious buyer is the most important person in the fashion industry. It doesn't matter what level of retail you covet, unless you are a pure couturier they are the next step after you figure out who your clients are. How does one go about identifying and contacting these elusive queens & kings of the fashion forest?

Major buyers rarely have a way to contact them directly and to do so without previous permission would likely backfire. 95% of emerging designers don't have money for a showroom or to hire a P.R agent but they do likely have a small amount of money to spend on promotion. The three best avenues are to participate in trade shows, show at metro area runway events near you and work with stylists and art directors to get featured in editorial spreads in magazines. Those three things will get you the most bang for your buck.

Make sure you have your manufacturing, promotional materials, and website 100% together before you begin to go down those three avenues however. Otherwise you risk being denied for reasons other than the quality of you work and that would be truly tragic.

Here's a new one, "Dear fashion photographers..."

noreply@blogger.com (Seth F) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:04:50 PDT

I apologize to my non industry readers but I have to talk about this. Feel free to message me if this post leaves you unsure as to what I am talking about.

The question that I get asked by photographers more often than any other is, "Who can you pull?" If you ask a stylist that question you are revealing that you are an inexperienced fashion photographer. What designers I can get to work with me on a project is determined mostly by the photographer! If Steve Klein asked me to work with him on a shoot, there isn't a designer in the whole blessed world who is going to say no. Additionally if I contact Givenchy and I introduce myself as a stylist who has a letter of "spec" or commission from Purple, Numero or Vogue they will open their doors wide despite the fact that they have never heard of me before. Do you understand that? Is it really that difficult to grasp?

I have probably around four dozen designers in NYC and elsewhere who would work with me on my word alone. But I won't ask them to give me their work unless I'm convinced that I or we are going to have a shot to get them published. The health of my relationships with designers matters more than cash or a shoot. If I lose my relationships with designers, my career is over. The ones who I call friends, well that's priceless. I'd rather die penniless than friendless any day.

So please fashion photographers don't ask experienced stylists who they can pull. Certainly don't ask them who they can pull for tests, if they are any good at their jobs the answer should be "nobody". Why would they ask designers to loan them clothes when the designer is going to get nothing out of it? Do you have any idea how damaging the simple act of asking that can be to a stylist-designer relationship?

If you're testing for photographic technique, book or concepts you don't really need designer clothes anyway. Why test at all? Why not submit? If all you do is test then you and your team are playing at being in fashion like little kids play at being adults.