Stay ConnectedThe Fashion Your Seatbelt podcast gives its listeners the rare opportunity to hear from some of the leading voices working in the fashion industry today. Each podcast is an exclusive one-to-one conversation with a creative who is crafting the future of fashion. Hosted by the renowned and award-winning fashion journalist Jessica Michault, this podcast is designed to take its audience directly to the heart of fashion and discover what makes it tick.
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The world is starting to get back to work which means many women are turning to shapewear brands to help counteract the last few months of comfort food consumption. So I thought this would be a perfect time to chat with Jens Grede. Jens is the partner and board director of Kim Kardashian West’s shapewear brand SKIMS. And this Sweden native is a savvy fashion executive whose eclectic career path has given him quite a unique and clear-eyed perspective on the industry. After a stint working at the interior design magazine Wallpaper* at the start of his career, at the tender age of 25, Jens decided to start Saturday, a London-based creative agency. He launched it in 2003 with his business partner Eric Torstensson. The organization quickly grew to include a stable of companies focused on everything from brand management, public relations, and art direction to talent brokering, e-commerce, and publishing - in the form of the highly respected Industrie magazine. Later renamed Saturday Group, with offices in the four fashion capitals, the business eventually also dove into the apparel side of fashion when, in 2012, it debuted the well regarded California lifestyle brand FRAME.Today, along with his duties as co-executive chairmen and co-executive creative director of FRAME, Jens also has taken up the task of scaling the shapewear phenomenon that is SKIMS. The brainchild of Kim Kardashian West, the company has seen exponential growth since its launch in September of 2019. Its inclusive approach to shapewear with its broad size range and extensive skin tone color options has seen the company sell out of most of its stock within the 24 hours of a drop and has garnered an enviable loyal client base with 38% of first-time shoppers becoming returning customers.During our Zoom video call, Jens and I talked about the difficulties of trying to break into a market that is dominated by a single player. How hands-on Kim is with the creative direction of the company, the clear advantages of e-commerce focused business built on transparency, and how Jens plans to expand the growing SKIMS empire into new categories.Just on a technical side note, I did want to let all you listeners know that because Jens and I did our interview over Zoom video you might pick up on a couple of very minor audio issues. And if you happen to be more of a visual learner, feel free to head over to my signature YouTube channel to watch the video version of this podcast in action.Ok, now it's time to discover just how Jens sees the future of both fashion and SKIMS.
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I have been following the career of Belgian fashion designer Olivier Theyskens pretty much from the beginning. I have seen him grow from a wunderkind, whose dark goth-like gowns were being worn by the likes of Madonna to the Oscars when he was just 21 years old, into the established and well-respected artist he is today. A designer who has come up with a signature style of dark romantic ensembles that are formed from rigorous attention to construction, precise tailoring, and meticulous fabric choices. Olivier has never been one to bend to the ebb and flow of fashion. Instead, his work stands like beautiful sartorial rocks, which the world of fashion crashes up against but never erodes away. His singular vision could be felt in each professional chapter of his career. During his years as the artistic director at Rochas, he single-handedly came up with intriguing new silhouettes for the house. Shapes that instantly put the brand back on the fashion map and garnered him the title of Best International Designer by the CFDA in 2006. Then as the artistic director of Nina Ricci, he developed even further his feminine yet sensual aesthetic creating sculptural dresses and statement suiting. Next up was a stint in America where the designer’s couture talents were put to great use in the world of contemporary fashion as Olivier teamed up with the brand Theory to become its artistic director. Elevating the label’s global profile and also injecting its offering with sartorial sophistication. But the call of his inner voice to relaunch his own label eventually became too strong for Olivier to ignore any longer, and in 2016 he returned to Paris to relaunch his fashion house. Over the past four years, Olivier has methodically and systematically grown his company. Taking his time to be strategic about his choices and focusing on once again giving voice to his unique and uncompromising vision. A vision that is so singular that he is one of the youngest designers in the industry to have already had not one- but two- retrospectives of his work put on display.With all of the groundwork laid out for his own brand’s success, this past February Olivier also took on the role of artistic director at Azzaro. A fashion house with over 50 years of archives for the designer to wade through before presenting his first collection of couture and ready-to-wear pieces during the Paris haute couture presentations in June. I spoke with Olivier via Zoom video about his impressive career, how he will balance the workload between the two brands he now oversees, and how he plans on presenting his debut work for Azzaro now that the haute couture shows had been canceled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. What is clear is that this is one designer who is looking to the future with a cool head and an open heart.
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Now more than ever start-up fashion labels are in need of a guiding hand when it comes to best practices for the new normal corona economy the world is entering. That is why it made perfect sense to speak with one of the industry’s leading experts in the field, Alison Lowe. For close to two decades Alison has traveled the world consulting emerging fashion labels about how to make it in an industry saturated with competition. Most of it with bigger budgets, wider reach, and international awareness. Her calm, plan talking guidance and overall positive attitude has helped countless labels carve-out practical and sensible approaches to running a business. One that is able to find that sweet spot balance between creativity and commerce. Alison isn’t afraid to roll up her sleeves and do the heavy lifting if it means helping someone fulfill their life long goal of becoming a designer and running their own business. It's something she can relate to on a personal level as well, seeing as she currently owns and runs not one, but two fashion support agencies she started from scratch.Her commitment to lifting up budding fashion labels earned Alison a meeting with HRH Queen Elizabeth, who awarded her an MBE for Service to the Fashion Industry in 2017. After years of public speaking, lecturing at fashion universities, and consulting clients Alison finally decided to publish a book last year that pulls together all of her institutional knowledge in one handy tome. Aptly titled “How to Start Your Own Fashion Label”, the book is a step by step guide for those wanting to follow their fashion dreams. Already a best-seller, the book has quickly become a bible for designers wanting to wade into the volatile world of fashion while holding onto a level headed lifeline.Just on a technical side note, I did want to let all you listeners know that Alison and I did our interview over Zoom Video. So don’t be surprised by a couple of very minor audio issues. And if you happen to be more of a visual learner, feel free to head over to my signature YouTube channel to watch the video version of this podcast in action.Now let’s listen to Alison’s advice for young brands trying to break into the business in 2020. I think you will be encouraged by her vision.
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Burak Cakmak, the Dean of Fashion at Parsons School of Design in New York is a man with a mission. His entire career has been in the pursuit of making the fashion world more streamlined, socially responsible, and sustainable. Born in Turkey during a time when the country was a closed market and under a single-party rule, Burak saw first hand what it was like to live and survive with minimal options in front of him. As the country opened up, so did Burak’s eyes to what the outside world had to offer, and through education, he grabbed it with both hands. Studying political science and getting an MBA. His thirst for knowledge pulled him towards California and the tech world. But the impact of his formative years led him down a different path, one headed towards the field of sustainability. During his career, he has helped to shape the social responsibility strategy for Gap, Kering, and the Swarovski Group. Each job bringing forth new challenges and opportunities to educate and enlighten some of the fashion industry’s biggest movers and shakers. Then in 2016 Burak decided that instead of trying to change the current state of sustainability at established brands, he wanted to go to the true source of the fashion supply chain and became the Dean of Fashion at Parsons. This is his first role in the world of academia and over the last 4 years, he has reworked the school’s fashion focus, giving it a broader and more inclusive vision. And he challenged traditional customs with innovative thinking to help ignite a fire of social responsibility in his students. Students who will, of course, be the fashion leaders of the future.I particularly wanted to talk with Burak now, as the world is facing a pandemic paradigm shift. To hear from him how he sees the future of fashion taking shape. And it was a relief to me to hear someone who is such a realist being so optimistic about where we go from here. Just on a technical side note, I did want to let all you listeners know that - as is the new normal these days - Burak and I did our interview over Zoom Video. So don’t be surprised by a couple of very minor audio issues. And if you happen to be more of a visual learner, feel free to head over to my signature YouTube channel to watch the video version of this podcast in action.Ok, now let’s listen to Burak let us in on what the future holds for us.
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Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele has always been a woman who follows the beat of her own drum. She speaks her mind. Follows her gut. And has an unparalleled eye when it comes to making unexpected sartorial combinations work. The godmother of the high/low fashion mix, she famously and fearlessly combined the most basic pair of stonewashed denim jeans with a Christian Lacroix haute couture top that featured a beaded and bejeweled cross for Anna Wintour’s very first American Vogue cover as the magazine’s editor-in-chief, back in 1988. It was a watershed fashion moment that people point to as the harbinger of modern fashion. Where wearing off the rack garments with custom pieces is not just permitted, it is expected and encouraged as a way of expressing one’s true character through their clothing. Carlyne made the street not only chic but cool.Born in Saint-Tropez in the south of France, as soon as she could, Carlyne got herself to Paris, the heart of the fashion action. There she let her innate sense of style speak for itself, first at Marie Claire then at Elle, before she left for the United States to work at American Vogue.She is an instinctive layerer - I know that isn’t a real word but Carlyne is famous for making up her own so I am sure she would approve. She loves to pile on the accessories and clothing until a look is just right. Even if that means very little layering at all. Her career is also multilayered. She is a stylist, fashion director, and creative consultant all rolled into one slender powerhouse. She has worked with the best photographers and designers in the business. From Irving Penn and Richard Avedon to Patrick Demarchelier and Steven Meisel. Helmut Newton even captured her on film at her most dramatic. And she shaped the iconic visual identity of both Versace and Chanel during the 1990s, and today gives Jeremy Scott’s Moschino collections her unique polish. Carlyne and I caught up over tea in the heart of Paris, just off the rue saint honoré in a busy little cafe. And while there are lots of things I admire about her, perhaps what I admire most is that even after so many years as an insider at the top of the fashion pyramid she still sees herself as an outsider. She calls it like she sees it. And what an eye she has.
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Michelle Elie is a fashion aficionado who has elevated the concept of a collector to dizzying new heights. The American-Haitian born jewelry designer and former fashion model literally walks the walk and talks the talk when it comes to her profound love of the work created byone of fashion’s most avant-garde designers, Rei Kawakubo. For decades Michelle has not only collected, but regularly wears, some of the most envelope-pushing pieces Kawakubo has ever created for her Comme des Garçons brand. Not surprisingly she is an evergreen favorite of street style photographers outside the shows during Paris Fashion Week. While inside the show venues guests who are seated next to Michelle are often in for quite an experience as they try to co-exist with her often voluminous, three-dimensional Kawakubo designs. Let me just say that the smart fashion PRs know to always seat Michelle at the end of a row.However, for Michelle, wearing Comme des Garçons isn’t about attracting the attention of others, rather for her, wearing the clothing is a very personal statement. In particular, she connects on a fundamental level with the pieces that exaggerate or deform her body when she wears them. They speak to her own body image issues and have helped her to become more accepting of her own natural curves, a subject she struggled with during her years as a model. Die-hard Comme des Garçons fans are in luck because Michelle has finally decided to fling open her closet doors. On April 3rd, the opening of the “Life doesn’t frighten me, Michelle Elie wears Comme des Garçons” exhibition will take place at the Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt, Germany. There 50 pieces from the over 70 Comme des Garçons garments Michelle has collected over the past twenty-five years will be on display for the fashion-loving world to enjoy up close. And the always inventive Michelle is not letting the global quarantine stop her from sharing her exhibition. She will be doing a virtual tour of the exhibit so people around the globe can see it in all its digital glory. Thankfully the exhibition is open until August 30th, which should give fans of Michelle and Rei’s work plenty of time to make the trek to Germany. I had the pleasure of speaking with Michelle during the most recent Paris Fashion Week and was enchanted by her story and also blown away by her pure dedication to fashion and her passion for Comme des Garçons.https://www.museumangewandtekunst.de/en/visit/exhibitions/michelle-elie-wears-comme-des-garcons/
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Dana Thomas is a dyed in the wool, true blue journalist. She lives it, breaths it and consumes it every day. She is the Woodward and Bernstein or the Ronan Farrow, if you will, of the fashion industry. Her deep dive, investigative books into the inner workings of the fashion world have earned her the respect of her peers and I am sure, when she comes knocking, a few shivers of fear down the spine of at least a couple of CEOs during her career. In 2007 she published the New York Times bestseller, "Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster" which explored the dark side of the multi-billion-dollar business and exposed the hidden secrets that luxury brands didn’t want to have see the light of day. Then in 2015 she published “Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano”. In that book, Thomas explored how two of the most creative and influential designers of the past 30 years cracked under the pressure of the 24/7 incessant demands of a business built on always coming up with the next big thing, must-have accessory and the designer as superstar approach to creating a global fashion powerhouse. And now Thomas is back with another timely and on-point book called “Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes”. This time she examines the damage wrought by the global clothing industry and the role that sustainably, accountability, fair trade and transparency must take if the world of fashion wants to stay viable in the coming decades as the needs of the consumers and the climate both change. After a year in Paris working as a model, Thomas moved back to the United States to start her award-winning career by cutting her teeth in journalism writing for the Style section of The Washington Post. She then returned to Paris and was, for fifteen years, a cultural and fashion correspondent for Newsweek in the city of light. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, and Architectural Digest, just to name a few. And in 2016, the French Minister of Culture named her a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters. I met up with Thomas in her home in the 7th arrondissement in Paris. There, surrounded by her collection of rare and out of print fashion books, with her dog Daisy at her feet and her daughter Lucie studying in the next room, we talked about her new book, her life long love of fashion and her ability to spot a seminal story before anyone else.
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Casey Cadwallader is a man with a mission. As the artistic director of Mugler, he is building the brand for a new generation of women and showing the world how sexy, sensual and strong clothing can also be very inclusive. Already he has generated quite a buzz around his runway casting which has included models of all shapes, sizes, ages and colors. Having singer Cardi B sit front and center at his first show helped set the tone for this new era at the house. A house that has struggled, until now, to find a designer with a clear enough vision to take on the potent DNA of the brand and reinterpret it in a modern way for women living in the body-positive, female empowerment, post #Metoo age. Born in New Hampshire, Casey studied architecture at Cornell University before landing an internship at Marc Jacobs that sent him on a whole different career path. From there he progressed to become Narciso Rodriguez’s right-hand man, was the head of womenswear at Loewe and most recently was designing at Acne Studio before taking on the top spot at Mugler. Since he arrived at the house in 2017, Casey has presented collection after collection of body con ensembles, cut with a scalpel tailored suiting and second-skin dresses that hug the body in all the right ways. Casey says that he looks to both haute couture and strippers to guide his design aesthetic. I met up with Casey right before the latest Fall/Winter 2020 shows were about to take place in Paris. We spoke about a wide range of topics in his office at his headquarters, which is just steps away from the famed Opera Garnier. Everything from the origins of his name, the fashion dos and don’ts that his expansive career has taught him over the years and, perhaps most importantly, how he now intends to refocus the Mugler house into a brand where creativity and bold ideas lead the way.After our discussion, what I came away with from our time together is that Casey is that rare self-aware designer who has a head for business, an innovative heart and a soul that sings with creativity.
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I think few people in the fashion industry would argue with me if I said that Sara Sozzani Maino is one of the hardest working women in fashion. Sara is the head of Vogue Talents and Italian Vogue’s deputy editor for special fashion projects. And pretty much no matter where I am in the world or what event I am attending, I invariably seem to spot Sara, with her lion’s mane of black hair, her monochrome - usually black - attire and her practical footwear, which is a must since she is in constant motion. I see her working the room, wherever she is, and make sure to say hello to everyone. She is always giving kind words of support and encouragement to the young designers who are endlessly seeking her out and she is forever crisscrossing the globe on the hunt to discover new talents to celebrate within the pages of Italian Vogue and Vogue Talents.Sara grew up surrounded by strong women passionate about fashion. Both her mother, Carla Sozzani, who is the founder of the famed fashion concept store 10 Corso Como in Milan and her aunt, Franca Sozzani, the iconic editor in chief of Italian Vogue, from 1988 until her death in 2016, showed her what a strong work ethic can achieve and how powerful and transformative fashion can be on a global scale. Initially, Sara didn’t have a particular interest in fashion. She worked a bit in the early 90s, when she was just out of school, at the newly opened 10 Corso Como before getting a job as an intern in 1994 at Italian Vogue. Over the years she worked her way up through the ranks of the magazine and found her own niche, that of spotting up and coming talents that she would bring to the attention of the rest of the editorial team. Not surprisingly, in 2009 Franca put Sara in charge of the newly created Vogue Talents project. It was her mission to unearth the future designer diamonds in the rough in the worlds of womenswear, menswear, accessories, and fashion photography.And she has quite an eye for spotting those that have what it takes to make it to the top of the fashion pyramid. Designers like J. W. Anderson, Simone Rocha, Marco de Vincenzo and Glenn Martens, just to name a very few, were clocked by Sara very early on in their careers. It’s no wonder that every young talent fashion jury on the planet is clamoring to get Sara on their committee. 2019 marked the 10 year anniversary of the launch of Vogue Talents and I caught up with Sara right after that momentous milestone. And to give you an idea of just how busy this woman is, we ended up recording our podcast in the back of her black town car in between two fashion shows. All you have to do is listen to this podcast to know that Sara is one of those amazing people who you know you can always count on. She wants everyone to be a success, and if she can help you get there, she will pull out all the stops to make it happen.
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Vikki Kavanagh is the Global Buying and Merchandising Director at THE OUTNET, the sister e-commerce website to Net-a-porter and Mr. Porter. And the reason she has held that venerable position at the company for almost three years now is because she is a true buyer’s buyer.What I mean by that is that she has the art of buying coursing through her veins. Since she was a teenager she has been fascinated by this aspect of the fashion industry. And it was right out of school, at her first job working in a House of Fraser department store, where she first laid eyes on the glamours women who were crisscrossing the world ordering up the stock that would line the shelves of the store in the season to come, that she knew that being a buyer was going to be her calling.She liked the idea of finding just the right products for the people who frequented the store she worked for, be that online or within the walls of a storefront. To find for them both the things she knew they would need, but also those they didn’t know they needed until she found it for them and those items that they didn’t need at all, but wanted, and couldn’t live without. Over the years, she has proven herself to be very skilled at being in tune with her customers. Be that buying for Fenwicks, House of Fraser, Harvey Nichols, the fashion e-tailer Very Exclusive or The Outnet. THE OUTNET, which just celebrated its 10 year anniversary, has become so much more than just a place where the end of season stock goes on sale. In fact, today 90% of the stock is sourced directly from the brands on buying trips Vikki makes with her team to the fashion capitals of the world. She has helped build deeper relationships with brands which has lead to exclusive partnerships like a recent one the company did with Mary Katrantzou as well as unexpected collaborations. Vikki helped put into place a collaboration between the brands in house line - Iris and Ink, which - by the way - consistently ranks in the company’s top 5 selling brands on its website, with the style icon, model and entrepreneur, Julia Restoin Roitfeld – A first for the company. Today, for Vikki, being a fashion buyer means being nimble, using data to help hone your choices but, making sure to still leaving room to follow your gut. In our conversation, Vikki talks about what it takes to be a great buyer, the evolution of the luxury consumer and the new landscape of seasonless shopping as well as THE OUTNET's role in a circular economy and why she will never understand the appeal of bicycle shorts.
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