The Season of Designer Comeback That Wasn’t

Fashion, Features/Op-Ed

This year as sales for many luxury fashion brands have dipped in key markets like China and the US, there has been much talk about fashion finally moving from product-driven, sellable but uninspiring fashion that has brought record profits for the fashion industry, but also made it into a lackluster, uninspiring discipline that by all accounts lacked creativity. To add to fashion’s tarnished image, we have seen appointments and subsequent quick exits of buzzy young designers like Rhuigi Villasenor at Bally and Ludovic de Saint Sernin at Ann Demeulemeester that has shown that hype does not equal talent and discipline required to run a major fashion brand. In such a time of reckoning the industry has two choices – to create excitement by taking creative risks or to seek refuge in bland commerciality. Much to the dismay of many fashion observers, it has chosen the latter.

StyleZeitgeist Podcast: The Fashion Law and More with Julie Zerbo

Culture, Fashion

On this episode we speak with Julie Zerbo, the founder of the Fashion Law, a fashion media outlet dedicated to fashion, law, business, and industry analysis. Her being a lawyer by education, we find Julie’s perspective on fashion both original and pertinent. We talk about Julie’s professional journey, the obstacles she faces running an independent publication, and her views on the current state of fashion.

Op-Ed: Is It Time to Separate Fashion and Luxury?

Culture, Features/Op-Ed

“Fashion brands are like toothpaste brands now,” the fashion journalist Lauren Sherman told me in a recent conversation on our podcast. I understood what she meant even before she launched into a car market analogy, that many brands today offer similar products, with the logo being the primary differentiator. What the luxury consumer has to decide today is not what garment to buy, but what brand to buy into, because their wares are increasingly interchangeable.

StyleZeitgeist Podcast: Is This the End of the Hype Era? with Philippe Pourhashemi

Culture, Fashion

On this hot-take episode with Philippe Pourhashemi we discuss the recent firings of Ludovic de Saint Sernin from Ann Demeulemeester and Rhuigi Villasenor from Bally and their implications. We speak about hype versus talent, what makes the right fit between a creative director and a brand, the relationship between management and creative, brand building and reputational risk, and much more.

StyleZeitgeist Podcast: All of Your Business with Lauren Sherman

Culture, Fashion

Our guest is Lauren Sherman, former senior correspondent at the Business of Fashion, a top-notch reporter whose no-nonsense writing cuts through much of the industry noise. We discuss why fashion journalism used to be a much richer field, why honest reporting is beneficial to fashion, why it’s imperative for a brand to develop a core audience, why LVMH excels at retaining talent, why brick and mortar retail matters, and talk about her new and exciting role at Puck News.

StyleZeitgeist Podcast: Why Speaking Up Matters with James Scully

Culture, Fashion

We speak with the casting director James Scully about his trajectory of working in fashion, from his days at the iconic New York boutique Charivari in the ‘80s to his days at Harper’s Bazaar and the changes he witnessed while being there, to becoming one of the best casting agents in the fashion industry; his whistle blowing on the rampant abuse of models and the changes it engendered. James’s is a brilliant story of working his way up in fashion through sheer love of it and his talent. It is also an important one because it provides a rare glimpse of what goes on under the hood of the fashion industry.