You don’t need to be an expert to succeed in fashion
Designers, models, retailers, and professionals of all stripes in our
industry might soon be questioning the value of their expensive educations,
hard-won promotions, and patient ladder-climbing as career paths are not as
straightforward as they once were.
Take now-household name, Virgil Abloh. This week he was announced as new
Creative Advisor for Sustainable Innovation Design, not of a hip streetwear
label but of natural spring water producer, Evian. Alongside this, Abloh
has had an immensely popular collaboration with Nike, but also one with
Ikea, Kith, Equinox, Sunglass Hut, Jimmy Choo, and Japanese fine artist
Takashi Murakami, among others. With no formal fashion training but a
degree in civil engineering and a Masters in architecture, he landed the
high-profile artistic directorship of Louis Vuitton menswear, is CEO of his
own streetwear label, Off-White, and is listed as one of Time magazine’s
2018 100 most influential people in the world. He DJs and produces music
too.
Unmodel-like behavior
Models with agents find themselves at castings next to individuals who
don’t even have a head shot but are confident of booking the job all the
same. CFDA prizewinner, Rio Uribe, the brains behind Gypsy Sport has become
known for inclusivity on his runways as a result of his street casting. His
shows are a triumph of anarchic freedom, celebrating the irreverence and
energy of the street culture which is the prime source of his inspiration.
For Spring 18 he held a casting party in a Brooklyn gallery attended by 500
unknowns who hoped they possessed the right look after his website provided
the minimal direction of “all different tribes, only good vibes.” Hopefuls
were advised to bring their “style and skills,” whether that be in music,
dance or poetry, and they will be given 15 seconds with a professional
photographer, after which they are welcome to chill in the communal
atmosphere.
Don’t stay in your lane is a modern maverick’s mantra. Open-mindedness
and opportunism go hand in hand and worlds are colliding. Take basketball
and fashion: The Jordan x Vogue collaboration involved Vogue’s perennially
kitten-heeled Anna Wintour leaving her editor’s desk to put her stamp of
approval on two styles of Air Jordans. A cultural shift for some, a natural
progression of the streetwear/runway love affair for others.
Crystals and wellness have a long history together but add fashion and
you have fledgling brand Advisory Board Crystals. Purveyors of casual
pieces which bear their popular crystal-infused dyeing technique, the brand
has already participated in sold-out collaborations with Grailed, Colette,
Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys New York. But struck by the privilege of
enjoying information-sharing to promote wellbeing, the brand recently
designed a t-shirt in collaboration with Wikipedia under the label abc x
Wikipedia with all profits going to the non-profit online encyclopedia.
Dare to be normal
No one is advising that we forget everything we know. But the key to
staying fresh in today’s marketplace, according to the Stylus team who
hosted their Decoded Futures summit recently in NYC is to “adopt vibrant
open source thinking and to embrace normal as the new face of brand cool.”
Size inclusivity, ethnic diversity, the growth of modest fashion,
functional fashion for the differently abled, these are all different
stages along in being considered norms. So how brands dare to be different
might involve how they authentically approach these distinct consumers.
To graduate after four intense years of studying fashion at Parsons only
to find that an untrained upstart is taking over your turf is tough. But
the fashion industry is changing so rapidly that only those who build
versatility into their brand’s operations will stay the course. One way to
do this is to understand the younger demographic’s entrepreneurial spirit.
As traditional retailers and heritage brands are wiped out or left
floundering, members of the younger generation are making a killing
striking out on their own. Take 22-year-old Bella McFadden who goes by the
name Internet Girl and, despite being a college dropout, for five years she
has been selling clothes on the e-commerce resale app Depop to her hundreds
of thousands of followers who can’t get enough of her uniquely styled
thrifted gems from the 90s and 00s. Or Benjamin Kickz who started a sneaker
resale business at the age of 16 while dealing with the day-to-day
realities of high school, and who now counts rappers as friends and whose
net worth is 1 million dollars.
Expertise is no longer a guarantee in this business and bachelors
degrees and awards don’t always take you to the top. Sometimes boundless
energy, street smarts, a killer idea and an iPhone are what it takes.
Fashion editor Jackie Mallon is also an educator and author of Silk for
the Feed Dogs, a novel set in the international fashion industry.
Photos FashionUnited