Hello Hags! What’s new with you?
Welcome to Episode 28, want to hear about it? We are talking about Designers and branding – these two things are so very intertwined. Shall we?
LISTEN HERE: EPISODE 28
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First, Evan went to the new Harry Potter-esque film, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them at a fancy 19+ theatre, sipping cocktails like an adult:
Abby is hugely pregnant and got a straight up reality check about this baby of hers being cooked and potentially ready to go. Shit! Guess it’s time to find that laundry basket bassinet. And probably the car seat? Clothes maybe? Whatever.
This week’s update from Abby’s pregnancy app is NO JOKE. This kid is practically kid sized!
Katie’s sweet sweet bike was stolen by some piece of shit asshole. It has really bummed her out. If she wasn’t so sad about this one getting stolen, she’d be way more excited about her new one.
On to the topic at hand: Designers as Brands.
The fashion industry is a bit different from other industries in terms of the ‘cool’ factor that tends to get associated with it. Compared to movies for example, people will buy a dumb shirt because of the branding associated with it before they will see a dumb movie that other people don’t like. The budgets for both can be the same and a bad movie will not make money but a bad collection still can.
Kanye West put out a bad collection of bad clothes and it gets talked about in fashion circles fairly often. Why? We are not completely sure, but it has a lot to do with the fact this it is Kanye.
John Galliano is a great example of the Designer as their own brand. He put on the most exciting and artistic shows that were always more Galliano than Dior.
Do yourself a favour and just google “John Galliano Runway” and go into a fashion rabbit hole for the next two hours.
Alternatively, this is a screen shot of a google image search of one of the most inventive, non-stop creative guys in the biz, Karl Lagerfeld:
He is always the same. And certainly devoted to his image as his own brand. No more perfectly exemplified by the Fendi Keychain in his image.
Onkel Karl is only one example of designers using their own image as an extension of the brand (a uniform is so much easier! Ask Evan!)
Michael Kors, for example:
Anna Wintour is another example of a strong character in the industry who carefully curates her own “uniform”:
We all know Anna takes not prisoners and perhaps her power comes in part from her commitment to her image and looking like a boss 100% of the time.
Marc Jacobs is on the other side of the coin. He changes pretty fluidly with each new endeavour:
One thing that stays pretty consistent are his ad campaigns, that while they do shift around, are usually pretty easy to spot. He works with Juergen Teller on the reg and it seems to work for both of them:
The Ikea Monkey fake Marc Jacobs ad does a good job of highlighting his successful branding:
Mad respect for his Halloween costume:
The Alexander McQueen Made To Measure documentary can be found here.
This one is also good.
Tom Ford has a pretty slick look and brand:
As Diane Von Furstenberg is feminine and put-together:
Valentino, Alber, and a wealth of other designers are more subtle in their personal branding because they represent a more classy or down to earth brand, lifestyle, and thus customer. You don’t see Valentino in a Moschino hoodie because it just don’t make no sense.
Obsessions!
Katie is obsessed with Gavin De Becker’s 1997 book The Gift of Fear after learning about it on the My Favourite Murder podcast. Oprah had the author on her show back in the day and it is all about learning to trust your instincts and being empowered:
If you are interested in reading a digital copy, comment below and I’ll send you a dropbox link!
Abby is obsessed with her new weaving kit after taking a super hipster class on the subject. She is joining the handmade revolution one weaving at a time!
Evan is obsessed with a new anime series called Yuri On Ice about a Japanese figure skater whose idol becomes his coach. Plus it’s pretty homoerotic so there’s that.
Thanks for listening!
We are planning on a Facebook Live event and would love to hear if you Hags are interested in watching/listening. We will get back to you about the when and the where so please like our Facebook Page to stay tuned and hang out with us!
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Find Abby on Instagram @abbyshumka
Find Katie on Instagram @redbirdsuite, also check out her blog, redbirdsuite.wordpress.com
Find Evan on Instagram @evanducharmestudio & @evndchrm, also check out his website at http://www.evanducharme.com
Remember: keep your pants on, it’s only fashion.
The Fashion Hags Podcast 