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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You know that classic line…about looking up a word in the dictionary and you would find a photo of a particular person there, as an embodiment of said word? Well, in the case of Ines de la Fressange if you looked up the words Parisian chic in the dictionary you might actually find a photo of her there. She is so linked to this idea that she even wrote a worldwide best selling book on the subject, which of course was called Parisian Chic. It has already produced a few equally clever and easy to read offspring.But calling Ines an author is to limit her. She is so very many things. A global brand ambassador for the French luxury accessories company Roger Vivier. She has a store in Paris that bears her name that is filled with all of her favorite things, which she has hunted out on her travels around the world. But also pieces that are oh so French that they make for some great keepsakes and gifts for tourists looking to capture the je ne sais quoi French Style for themselves. She also is behind highly successful clothing collaborations with Uniqlo and Aigle. And she even has a capsule line of Citroen DS3 cars named after her that featured a few of her favorite things and colors.Ines, who is a slender 5 foot 11 and 60 years old, is also a world class model. A muse for many years of Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel as well as Jean Paul Gaultier, she just recently walked in both their shows. She is also the mother to two amazing girls, runs her own eponymous company and has a fantastic blog called Lalettredines where she writes about all of her latest discovers that span the whole chic lifestyle spectrum.Basically Ines is one of those women you end up having a girl crush on…while you endlessly wonder…how does she do it all. In our chat she lets me in on a few of her tricks to having it all..and doing it in style.
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Eugenia de la Torriente is the incredibly articulate and fashion savvy editor in chief of Vogue Spain and is considered to be one of the most respected fashion voices in Spain. Before she got her current gig at Vogue last year, she was editor-in-chief of the Spanish edition of Harper’s Bazaar, as well as fashion editor of El Pais, and editor of El Pais Semanal. Eugenia has also worked as a professor, regular speaking at leading luxury and fashion conferences and has published several books on fashion.She arrives at Vogue Spain at a pretty important time in the history of the magazine. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Spain edition of the internationally respected publication. It is also a time when Spanish designers, like Johnny Coca, Palomo Spain and Ana Locking, are generating some serious international buzz.In this podcast she talks about how Vogue Spain is supporting these budding designers, the challenges they face and what advice she would give any young brand starting out that is looking to make a name for itself in the saturated fashion market. Her answers are insightful and informative and the takeaways she offers up in this podcast can be applied to designers around the globe.In the world of fashion editor in chiefs….Eugenia is one to watch.
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IKEA is a brand that is no stranger to collaborations. It’s a company that loves to elevate everyday item to artwork, while still making those designer home designs something accessible even for the first time home owner, young adult or student setting out on their own. Spearheading the company’s latest collaboration is Henrik Most, who is the Creative Lead at Ikea. Most is the one who is working hand-in-hand with white hot designer Virgil Abloh, who just presented his first collection as the menswear designer of Louis Vuitton, on a line of cobranded Ikea items.I interviewed Most at the Fashion Tech Forum conference in Los Angeles right after he finished a round table talk with Abloh. At the conference they discussed what the home items they are creating together, which will drop early next year, would look like. Called The Markerad collection, the designs are all about elevating the anonymous, everyday pieces that we use without noticing and giving them a subtle pop-art inspired twist. Iconic staple and functional items have been injected with a modern designer polish that makes the familiar feel fresh and new.The perfect example of this thinking is the standard white Ikea rug that Abloh re-envisioned. In a very meta move the designer transformed the white rug into an oh-so-familiar white Ikea receipt (bar code et all) that actually showed printed on the rug the price of the rug itself.But instead of me trying to explain what it is like to work with Abloh on a creative collaboration, I am going to turn it over to Most to tell you more about this exciting adventure in interior designs.
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Marcelo Burlon a fashion designer somehow seems so limiting. This is a man who doesn’t shy away from a challenge and, more importantly, whatever project he is working on he comes at it with such a sense of positivity, playfulness and joy that it’s no surprise that he has been so successful.Today Marcelo is perhaps most famous for being the mastermind behind the Marcelo Burlon: County of Milan brand. A company that he started in 2012 as just a cool t-shirts label inspired by his native Patagonia, that garnered a cult following for its 180 euro a pop designs, has now grown into a global business. A brand that today counts a 40 million euros per year turn over and is sold in more that 400 stores worldwide. It’s a company powered by bold streetwear culture and Marcelo’s keen ability to spot what’s hot before the rest of the industry has even begun to feel the heat.It’s a skill that this autodidact designer has put to good use in other areas as well. For example, organizing events for top brands like Gucci, McQueen or Raf Simons, shaping the mood at parties with his renowned DJing skills or use his talent for embracing innovative avenues of communication when working the PR angle for brands like Nike, Coca Cola, Prada or Versace.A practicing Buddhist, and moved with his family to Italy when he was a teenager to work in a shoe factory and cleaned hotels with his mother to help make ends meet, Marcelo does not take his success for granted and is keen to support others to reach their dreams. He has invested in Virgil Abloh’s brand Off White, Palm Angel and Ben Taverniti Unravel Project via The New Guard Group that he co-founded in 2015 and now counts over 170 employees. Together these brands are creating a sartorial paradigm shift in the industry.There is no doubt that Marcelo’s impact on fashion is reaching far beyond clothing.
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Stephanie Phair, the chief strategy officer at luxury online marketplace Farfetch, has been in the news lately because she was just appointed as the new Chair of the British Fashion Council, succeeding Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet, who stepped down in December 2017 after five years in the role. Stephanie will basically be overseeing core events that the BFC puts on, most notably London Fashion Week and The Fashion Awards, while at the same time still doing her day job as CSO at Farfetch. The Chairmanship of the BFC is a seriously big side hustle, but I have no double that Stephanie is up to the task. Bacially because when we spoke at the Fashion Tech Forum in Los Angeles Stephanie was so fired up about all the new projects she was working on for Farfetch and jazzed about the future of online and offline shopping in the luxury sector. I mean just to give you some perspective, Farfetch has raised over $700 million in funding and has partnered with JD.com in China and Chalhoub in the Middle East. Two major deals that are part of a global expansion ahead of an expected initial public offering later this year that could value the company at greater than $5 billion, according to some reports.Stephanie is in the fashion pole position right now and is clearly going full throttle into the future.
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I was lucky enough to be a moderator of a panel that Adam Pritzker, the Chairman and CEO, Assembled Brands, was on at the famed Fashion Tech Forum conference that took place in Los Angeles. The event was hosted by the renowned Karen Harvey, who founded the Karen Harvey Consulting Group and is known for her ability to make high level connections between fashion and tech companies around the globe.It made sense that Pritzker would be speaking at Karen’s conference. He co-founded and raised millions for his tech-education platform General Assembly, which – among other things became known for its great coding bootcamps and got him on Forbes 30 Under 30 list when he was 28. Then in 2013 he launched Assembled Brands, which is a next generation holding company of niche fashion and lifestyle brands like The Line, Khaite, Pop & Suki, Protagonist and Margaux.Pritzker, who it is worth pointing out is the scion of the Hyatt Hotels family, dove into the world of fashion because he saw an opening that needed filling in the circle of life of modern day fashion brands. He wants Assembled Brands to be the place where this growing number of targeted smaller fashion labels can come and build their business thanks to the infrastructure and support his company will be able to provide them. Thus leaving the creative entrepreneurs who start these labels room to focus their energy on building their unique product. When we spoke about it at the conference he compared the concept behind Assembled Brands to Y Combinator, a respected accelerator for nascent tech startups.We spoke about all of this in the somewhat noisy backstage green room right after we had finished our Fashion Tech Forum’s round table talk in a quick and precise interview that proves Pritzker has a clear vision of the future of fashion, where creativity is supported and elevated by lifting the burden of the business side of the industry off the shoulders of talented designers.Once you have finished this podcast you might just want to get in touch with Pritzker about becoming part of the Assembled Brands family yourself.
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Let me tell you a bit about Ms. Paula Cademartori. The first thing you notice about Paula is her smile. It is always there...from ear to ear…honestly she is one of the most positive, up beat people you are likely to meet working in fashion. And her colorful headquarters in Milan, where we did this podcast interview, beautifully reflects her personality. As do her vibrant shoes and her eye catching bags, with their very distinctive clasp.Paula originally moved to Italy from Brazil (where she earned a degree in industrial design,) back in 2005 when she was just 21 years old. She wanted to both reconnect with her family’s native country and study Accessories Design at the Istituto Marangoni.By 2009 Paula was spotted by Italian Vogue and competed in the magazine’s Vogue Talents award. That recognition motivated Paula to launch her signature accessories brand in 2010, which right away stood out for its great design, colorful pattered leather combos and the instantly iconic metal buckle clasp she had designed after being inspired by the symbol for Pi. And I can tell you from first hand experience that once Paula’s bag line was launched…every fashion it-girl on the planet was clamoring to get there hands on one.But as the company grew, to include a line of shoes as well as small leather goods, Paula always made every client feel special. She was, and is, famous for sending hand written notes to her customers in the mail. And by 2016, it came as no surprise that the Fashion Group Only The Brave, which is run by the charismatic Renzo Rosso, would come knocking on Paula’s door and would end up acquiring a majority stake in her company. A move that has given her start up accessories company the support it needed to super charge its global expansion.Paula now finds herself in the pole position to become a world wide household name in the luxury accessories market. And who knows, maybe one day in the not too distance future, fashionable women will be able to wear Cademartori designs from head to toe.
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Fausto Puglisi is a designer who embraces life with both hands. Born in Sicily he is one of fashion’s big personalities. Everything he does he does with 100% passion and creative fire. From his visceral and vibrate fashion shows to his friendships- Fausto is a man who clams the center stage with an open heart and a desire to inspire the women he dresses and the fashion world at large. Fausto career started auspiciously…working with the famed stylist Patti Wilson in New York before he headed West and in LA he wooed big names like Jennifer Lopez and Whitney Houston with his sexy an ornate that had an Italian swagger that was undeniable. So it comes as no surprise that designers Dominico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana spotted him and added his creations in their concept store in Milan and Stylist Anna Dello Russo became one of his biggest ambassadors and muses wearing his creations often in front of the street style photographers who documented her every move. Fausto’s clothing often references his southern Italian heritage, and there are religious references as well as some biker bravado usually built in – pieces that Madonna proved to be a big fan of. But when we spoke in his Italian showroom, where you can almost hear his Italian hand gestures and you do hear him pound the table where the mic was sitting when he was making a point. He had just presented one of his most reserved and reflective shows in the history of his signature brand…inspired Carolyn Bessette Kennedy –an icon of minimalistic dressing. The collection was mostly in shades of white and black with lace being the embellishment of choice. It marked a new direction for the designer…that was well received by the press.I’ll be honest what I love most about Fausto is that he is such a creative raw nerve. He always speaks from the heart, feels things deeply. Sometimes that can get him into trouble but I think for Fausto…that might just be part of the fun of it all.
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Late last year I was honored to be asked by Karen Harvey, CEO of Karen Harvey Consulting Group and founder of Fashion Tech Forum to participate in the latest Fashion Tech Forum conference in Los Angeles. And besides speaking on the center stage of the forum I had the all access privilege to interview some of the key speakers at the event.So backstage, between presentations, round-table talks and motivational speeches I got to pick the brains of some of the leading minds in the fashion and tech industry. The first chat from this series of interviews that I want to share with you is with Jeff Carvalho. He is the managing editor of one of the coolest, street savvy and innovative fashion websites online today – Highsnobiety, which counts a global audience of 12.5 million monthly readers.Jeff is also a partner at Titelmedia, which owns Highsnobiety. He joined in 2007 when the company’s founder and CEO David Fischer brought him on board not only to oversee the website but also develop other print and online content and brand partnerships. The company has worked with some of the hottest brands of today- from Louis Vuitton and Nike to Mercedes-Benz and Levi’s.Jeff is considered to be an expert in the street wear culture and is often asked to comment by the New York Times and The Business of Fashion on this growing market and its influence on fashion and luxury on a broader scale. And I have to tell you I understand why those publications want to hear from Jeff.We spoke right after he had interviewed designer Virgil Abloh and Henrik Most, Creative Lead at Ikea about the Ikea and Off White collaboration that will soon debut.In rapid fire, well thought out answers to my questions Jeff proved himself to be a skilled speaker, who wasn’t distracted in the slightest by the background noise at the venue or the fact that Virgil, Will.i.am and Joe Zee were milling about. I basically just sat back and let him loose to explain the success of his site, explore the idea of jet stream influencers and discuss how the way we use and consumer products and news is continuing to evolve.So hold onto your seat and get ready for a ride into the future.
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If you are a woman working in fashion today might I suggest Ruth Chapman, the co-founder of Matchesfashion.com, as a role model. Not only did she build up her fashion empire with her husband Tom from scratch, with a single brick and mortar store in Wimbledon, in southwest London, 30 years ago, she turned it into one of the leading independent luxury e-commerce players in the industry.Under her guiding hand Matches Fashion.com became known for its nurturing and dedicated support of young designers, with a healthy dose of national pride in highlighting home grown British brands… as well as a highly curated and clever selection of some of the most influential international luxury labels from around the globe. A selection that directly reflected the desires of a clientele that is also very international and endlessly looking for new discoveries and high quality designs.All of which is very admirable indeed, but what is perhaps just as indicative of who Ruth is…. is the warm and family like working environment she fostered within the company over those three decades. Which saw more than a few staffers starting out as interns and moving up through the ranks of the company as it grew into a global player.In 2017, the company released its financial results for the first time, revealing a 61 percent year-on-year growth and full-year revenues for 2016 at an impressive £204 million pounds. Also last year Ruth and her husband decided it was time for new challenges and they sold their majority stake in the company to private equity firm Apax. Although the exact amount they sold the company has not been disclosed the rumor on the street is that it was in the region of 800 million pounds.I spoke with Ruth while she was in Paris attending a few fashion shows during the latest ready to wear collections. We talked about what it was like to leave a good job to follow a dream, how building a great team is the best way to be successful and what she wants to do with the next act of her life.After our chat I felt like Ruth was living proof that women really can have it all, and look absolutely amazing doing it.
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