What fashion designers need to know today

Get the most relevant industry news and insights for fashion designers, updated monthly with job interviews, speaking engagements or promotions to improve your market awareness and emulate market leaders.

BoF Careers draws from our breadth of content – ​​editorial briefs, newsletters, case studies, podcasts and events – to deliver keynote talks and lectures tailored to your career, along with a selection of the most exciting live jobs announced by BoF. Professional partners.

Today’s key articles and must-know insights for design professionals:

1. How does a brand like Louis Vuitton choose a new designer?

The most important thing is that candidates are able to establish a clear attitude. If they have their own brand, they need to convince employers that they have the ability to produce two different visions at once, even if they are tied to the underlying approach.

Increasingly, a candidate’s personal brand is also a factor. If they have their own following and carry that following they can be seen as a huge plus for the trip. [Virgil] Abol does this exceptionally well. Gabriella Hearst has also brought the eco-consciousness at the core of her personal brand to her Chloe work with some success (her best-selling Nama sneakers made from low-impact materials).

Related Jobs:

Head of Design, Sahara – London, United Kingdom

Concept Design and Style Director, Ralph Lauren – New York, United States

Design Manager, Aje – Sydney, Australia

2. Why Elaine Fisher’s approach to sustainable fashion works

Eileen Fisher’s first and most important innovation is taking a concept that resonates in luxury circles – minimalist capsule wardrobes – and making it accessible to the masses. Today, brands at every price point define their tightly curated, upscale basics, but Fisher was down to earth.

Fisherman [also] Before there was a clear payoff with consumers and during a climate of declining sales, she had the luxury of spending a lot of time organizing — mainly because she didn’t take outside investment (the brand, if not all of it profitable, has been employee-owned since its inception). That’s why there are about 60 Elaine Fisher stores instead of 600, and its sales have increased by $500 million instead of $5 billion.

Related Jobs:

Product Manager, Completed – London, United Kingdom

Sustainable Packaging Junior Manager Zalando – Berlin, Germany

Director of Sustainable Design, Coach – New York, United States

3. Why Hermès’ case of Metabirkins has high stakes for brands and creators.

of [MetaBirkins] Case is already shaping how the industry thinks about NFTs from a legal perspective. In his order, the judge made it clear that NFTs, even though they’re code that points to an image, can qualify as artistic expression, meaning — crucially — they can be protected as free speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Felicia Boyd said. , US Head of IP Brands at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright. Products such as mass-produced works of art do not receive that protection.

The court [also] He admits there is a difference between MetaBirkins and a digital wearable. It’s still unclear whether the law will treat them differently in any eventual ruling, but the point is hardly lost on digital creators making and selling new blockchain-based worlds in online spaces from Roblox to The Sandbox.

Related Jobs:

CAD Assistant, A-Cold Wall – London, United Kingdom

Digital Art Director, Acne Studios – Stockholm, Sweden

3D Design Assistant, Calvin Klein – New York, United States

4. Eco-fashion’s next big idea: turn pollution into products

Efforts to produce materials from captured emissions are still ongoing, in many cases still under development in the laboratory. Products currently on the market typically contain only small amounts of recycled carbon and face significant financial and structural barriers to scale.

A landmark climate bill signed into law in the US this month could help change that. […] The Inflation Reduction Act is a sweeping package of legislation that represents the most aggressive action on climate action ever taken by the US government. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been earmarked to invest in technologies that will help the country meet international climate goals, including carbon capture.

Related Jobs:

Children’s clothing designer, Zara – La Coruña, Spain

Design Internet, by Malin Birger – Bredgade, Denmark

Ready-to-Wear Design Consultant, Lingua Franca – New York, United States

5. Big fashion show boom

This year, luxury’s biggest brands have come swinging from the lockers, with Dior staging an impressive eight runway shows since January 2022. More than seven times in the same season in 2019. High spenders go out and sit in the front row hoping to drop six figures on a piece of stock, those very important customers and other audience members that make content read more authentically than content conceived just for the internet.

However, spectacular fashion shows typically cost millions of euros to produce, so the big brands have an advantage. It’s no surprise that Dior, which generated nearly $7 billion in sales in 2021 and is considered to be the fastest-growing megalabel of the past 12 months, will have more shows in 2021 than any other similar season.

Related Jobs:

Design Assistant, Prada Group – Milan, Italy

Designer, Vetement – Zurich, Switzerland

Showroom Designer, PVH – Amsterdam, The Netherlands

6. What designers can learn from Issey Miyake

[One Issey] Miyake Lesson: Ditch Nostalgia. After establishing Miyake Design Studio in Tokyo in 1970, [the designer] It is constantly moving forward, making innumerable advances in construction and manufacturing. Resolutely rising in the present, he continued to look forward rather than backward, still cultivating a keen awareness of the traditions of the past.

Creating clothes that move rather than look good in a static image – the main curse of contemporary fashion – was another of Miyake’s achievements. The flowing shapes and sizes were conceived to float around the body; His images are never static because movement has always been part of the creative process. So was the space between his clothes and his body. Miyake’s brilliant collaboration with Irving Penn was a case in point.

Related Jobs:

Senior Fashion Designer, Anest Collective – Milan, Italy

Fashion Design Intern, Deity New York – New York, United States

Associate Designer, White House Black Market – Fort Myers, United States

7. Explainer – Why the menswear market is on fire

The rise of menswear is largely driven by fashion resets. The removal of men’s clothing began before the epidemic, but in The new home-from-home lifestyle in 2020 has reinforced new images that prioritize comfort.

Low barriers to entry and the proliferation of social media have created opportunities for new brands to launch. New luxury cult brands such as Aimé Leon Dore captured the popularity of contemporary menswear by playing a major role in trends such as “blokecore” – a viral subculture that celebrates the style of middle-aged men, such as wide-leg jeans, padded cardigans, polo shirts and bucket hats. Blockcore’s hashtag has over 27 million views on TikTok.

Related Jobs:

Head of Menswear, Hugo Boss – Stuttgart, Germany

Additional Designer, Peter Millar – Los Angeles, United States

Men’s Associate Designer, Fig – Santa Monica, United States

8. How to let consumers know that your brand is value for money

Despite all the bad economic headlines, consumer spending remains strong in the US and some other major markets. But retailers worry that customers will soon start watching their wallets, especially with unnecessary fashion and beauty purchases.

To make a case for it, brands need to do more than introduce some new buzzwords into their ads. They need to strengthen their brand narrative, ensure they sell around truly timeless pieces rather than chasing trends, and stay true to their market.

Related Jobs:

Print designer, Stella McCartney – London, United Kingdom

Atelier Design Intern, Gauge81 – Amsterdam, Netherlands

Ready-to-wear designer, Veronica Beard – New York, United States