What is Fashion?
Are you Fashionable – or maybe you like classics – does that say more about your age than your personality?
Burberry Knight 'Prorsum'
Did you catch the media frenzy around Christopher Bailey’s latest collection for Burberry – I mean, hell, in my opinion it was horrendous – mounds of fabric wound round and round in swathes to indicate a skirt or dress – everything rouched like rag rolls and yet it has been the hit of the season. Why?
Burberry is on the ascendancy again.
I was part of the Burberry team when Rose Marie Bravo came over from Saks to turn a Chav wearing English icon into a catwalk phenomenon in the 90’s– and here we go again, how is that?
I mean right now you can buy a satin asymmetrical coat covered in rouches for £1,595.00 on the Burberry website and I’m not balking at the price (that’s the going rate for Burberry) – but it’s satin! – A coat in satin… that’ll be fashion then.
How have they done it; what’s their secret sauce – I’ll tell you how – for one they’ve put Bailey on a pedestal – you look him up in Google, there are 190,000 listings for ‘Burberry Christopher Bailey’, 108,000 images and 232 videos. Burberry have given themselves a voice, a personality, a person, an individual that has worked his (arse off) right the way up through the company, who everyone seems to love. He stands there quietly yet passionately interacting with his adoring public and you know what – he comes across as a lovely guy.
What else have Burberry done – they are using Emma Watson and her baby brother in their ad campaign to keep the collection distinctly young and English but that’s not all – they made a point of making the finale to London Fashion Week – a must have ticket by anyone remotely interested in fashion. Not only were they the final collection, they streamed the collection online – live, as it was happening – I understand that their Facebook fans increased by almost 200,000 in that week alone, it now has 737,000 fans. Additionally they have been giving behind the scenes look at their processes, the build up of their shows… you get the picture – ultimately they are allowing a conversation to take place between themselves and their avid followers of fashion.
Oh and of course the other thing they have done – make amazing products, worn and adored around the world – even if yours truly didn’t like the latest collection I recognise the talent, passion and creativity required to produce this years Fashion. I wish them and Bailey continued success.
Has social media played a part – only so much if you consider word of mouth, thousands watching a live video feed, the integration of Facebook, The Art of the Trench, the Twitter feed, YouTube Channel… just a little.