fashion & luxury industry insight

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the Fashion & Luxury Inustry Insight conference hosted by the Fashion Society at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Not only was this experience incredibly rewarding professionally, but I also learned a lot about myself in the few hours I was there. I heard from two outstanding speakers: Ulric Jerome, the CEO of matchesfashion.com, and Zoe Souter, the Marketing Manager at Condé Nast College of Fashion & Design. While the speeches were entirely different, the importance and relevance of both of them cannot be underestimated.

Mr. Jerome, the first speaker, began his lecture by introducing us to his website and explaining the seriousness of understanding and serving your customers with grace, pose and efficiency at every point throughout the day. Below, are some interesting quotes I wrote down from his talk.

• "[At matchesfashion.com] We don't want to be everything to everybody, we want to be everything to somebody."
• "I hate the word omnichannel, it's a word of the past! Today, it's just commerce."
• "It's not just about clothes, it's about the lifestyle."
• "Budgets start from the consumer."
• "A designer never forgets..."
• "It's all inspirational. It's all about shoots."
• "[Starting Monday] We will offer a 90-minute delivery window, which beats Amazon by 30 minutes. It always feels good to beat Amazon!"

While also touching on the importance of delivering content that is congruent with both monobrand consumers and multibrand consumers and likewise explaining the relevance of a providing a successful cross-device experience for your customers, Mr. Jerome certainly asserted his experience and confidence within the industry.

The next speaker, Zoe Souter, was nothing less than a godsend. She graceously took us through the many positions available within the fashion industry, and gave us outstanding advice along the way. Futhermore, she listed off some of the things we, as students, can do to prepare ourselves for a career in fashion. They follow below.

1. "Constantly evaluate your strengths"
2. "Build on your strengths and showcase them in everything you do"
3. "Build up your connections"
4. "Focus on your personal branding"
5. "Make a list of your five favorite brands, pick up the phone and CALL them!"
6. "Get a job in retail"
7. "Volunteer at a fashion show... or better yet, organize one!"
8. "Make scrapbooks of ideas"
9. "Watch fashion films and documentaries"

Overall, to say I learned something would be a severe understatement, and I hope that by reading this, you are as inspired and as motivated as I am to prepare for the upcoming years. Thanks for reading, and as always, comment or share below!