This series Alexa Chung has made it her plan to look into the business side of fashion. And this is exactly what New York expertise in comparison to the industry of Paris which is all about couture and London which is all about the art.
Similarly to the words of Christophe Kane in the previous series, Chung found whilst interviewing Lindsay Butler, creative director and CEO of the SOHO based brand Veda, that a strong partnership is key and can help build the foundations for enterprise when entering the business side of fashion. Other brands such as Altuzarra are prime examples of this work ethic as Joseph Altuzarra joined up with CEO Karis Durmer to launch his clothing line in 2008. Both their skills work harmoniously together to make the best ideas rise to the top and success in the industry.
During the series, Chung also met up with the creative director and CEO's behind one of my favourite American New York based brands, Opening Ceremony. Not to mention but Carol Lim, part of the Opening Ceremony duo, is also a CEO for the Asian high end luxury brand Kenzo. Although Lim works alongside Humberto Leon she is just one example of a female CEO which is found to be something the industry is extremely short of due to the dominance that males have in this powerful role. Especially considering, stereotypically, fashion has always been an interest which has been associated with women, yet it seems men are the driving force behind the business of fashion and creatively directing it.
Chung also briefly talks to the minds behind the concept of Normcore which has arguably replaced the social identification terms of hipsters and indies in the past couple of years. Normcore was even found to have been the most googled fashion trend of 2014 at a time when this movement of styles was occurring and people were starting to opt for a more average minimalistic look but one which was still hardcore and revolutionary in it's own unique way. Normcore clothes include everyday items of casual wear such as t-shirts, hoodies, short-sleeved shirts and jeans which are normally sold by brands such as GAP who value a laidback chilled out look. The creative minds and trend forecasting brand behind this term, K-Hole imply that Normcore is a unisex trend but one that can also refer to a persons attitude and not just their dress code.
In the third episode Chung visits Susan Scafidi. who founded the Fashion Law Institute at the Fordham Law School in New York. Back in 2006 this was a subject that never existed at all however, fast forward ten years later and this course has become so successful that Scafidi found herself having to extend her class sizes. Another interesting fact about Scadifi's job is that she helped create the Model Alliance which protects females or males in the industry who are treated badly by a model agency and they focus on giving these individuals protection in New York in regards to the hours they worked and how much they were paid.
In the last episode of Alexa Chung's four part series she actually interviews one of my favourite role models in the fashion industry ever. Leandra Medine. Although I will not go into great deal as I have a full blog post about the blogger which you can read by following this blog (http://katefergvson.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/man-repeller-leandra-medine-book-review.html) Medine speaks about what influenced her to start her successful fashion blog, Man Repeller and why she is so different to everyone else. Medine's blog Man Repeller is so different because unlike many fashion bloggers in the industry she adds her own hilarious touch to the most current news and trends in the industry. Therefore, she certainly doesn't take herself too serious and manages to communicate to her audience that you can be determined, hard working and still have a sense of humour whilst working in the industry.
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