The Big Hits And Glaring Misses From Paris Fashion Week Spring Summer 2019

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#fashionstartup, couture designer, Elie Saab, fashion biz, fashion blog, fashion blogger, fashion brand, Fashion Business, fashion designers, fashion entrepreneur, fashion label, fashion trends, Fashion Week, fashion world, Givenchy, Hermes, Issey Miyake, Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, Paris Fashion Week, Valentino

We’re finally winding up the whirlwind of fashion events that seem to have occupied our collective attention over the last two months. As the last show of the season, expectations ran high from Paris Fashion Week. Some of our favorite designers didn’t disappoint, while others did just that, and glaringly so.

In today’s article, we discuss the seven designer collections we absolutely loved- both for their vision and easy adaptability. We also present a few misses.

1. Elie Saab: Summer is coming in nice and bright, and Elie Saab at Paris Fashion Week is proof of that. We love the lace details that make summer dresses that much more elegant. Take special note of the use of several different fabrics and accents- a sign of the demanding times to come in fashion. Are you ready to design both workwear and off-time casuals?

2. Givenchy: Givenchy has set new standards for how formal wear must look. Those suits are the very definition of power dressing. We particularly love the use of the silhouette itself to design clothes- it has been a long time since every piece of clothing has not been designed for a mannequin. High waist, big belts, ruffles, full sleeves- all, check.

3. Hermes: The famous fashion house’s Paris collection has received mixed reviews, to say the least. We, however, think the collection has a huge adaptability factor. The jackets and overcoats are almost ubiquitous in nature, and we love ourselves a leather pair of shorts. Whether you like the collection or you don’t, you have to admit that a niche choice of fabric has never been this stylish and universal.

4. Issey Miyake: Miyake is not known for being shy about self-expression. From the villages of Japan (if they still exist) to the modern cities, this year’s collection draws inspiration from every corner of the small yet influential country. The clever choice of colors and fabric lend themselves well to the theme- you know that green coat is meant for the cities. We’re also glad to see flowy pants making a reappearance. God knows we need more of them.

5. Louis Vuitton: Shockingly, LV has received negative to mixed reviews for their Paris Fashion Week show. While we’re disappointed with the general lack of novelty and the brand playing it too safe, we do love some of the dresses. The blue one, for example, starts off as street-style and ends with a clean hemline. Surely an inspiration for designers to try something a tad bit different with their collection.

6. Miu Miu: Formal wear is all set to look different, and Miu Miu is leading the revolution. There’s no denying the fact that this collection is not meant for the faint of heart. But then again, the average Parisienne is not known for being that! Miu Miu has experimented quite elaborately with animal prints, sheer and denim, and we love their use of fabric in so many different ways.

7. Valentino: Most of Valentino’s dresses look like the inspiration for next year’s Met Gala, and that isn’t such a bad thing. For retailers, the key takeaway would be the use of pleats to create form without making them overtly obvious. For everyone else, there is the sheer gorgeousness of the dresses to look at. We can envision some of them as separates- they’d fly off the shelves for sure!

Unfortunately for Paris, it wasn’t all roses. Chanel’s collection came under severe criticism for sheer lack of originality, and we can’t help but agree. Balmain, taking inspiration from a theme they probably didn’t quite understand, tried to go Egyptian and instead ended up all over the place. Perhaps the most disappointing of all was Stella McCartney. After receiving huge media attention post the royal wedding, she couldn’t find a way to make the spotlight work for her and try something new.

But with all misses, we are grateful for these too, because they teach us even more about the consumer’s expectations and how we can stand out.

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Supriya Ghurye is the founder and owner of Fuel4Fashion. She is a Freelance Fashion Designer and Brand Consultant helping fashion brands to create great products from idea to launch. Fuel4Fashion social links: Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram

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How to select the perfect fashion brand name in 7 easy steps.

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fashion blog, fashion brand, fashion design, fashion designers, fashion illustrations, fashion label, fashion world, fashionbrands, freelance fashion designer, logo, prints, proto, target audience

As you prepare to launch your own fashion label, you face the challenge of deciding on a brand name. While the fashion world is full of names that are easily recognizable, finding one that fits you and the particular segment of customers you are targeting can be a challenge that many first time fashion entrepreneurs feel overwhelmed with.

Coming up with a name for a fashion brand involves a lengthy process, and is not something that can be accomplished overnight. Here are a few steps that will help you structure that process and hopefully make it easier.

Selecting the perfect brand name and logo for your fashion start-up

Focus on your target audience

A brand should appeal to its target audience. What segment are you looking to appeal to – youthful, sophisticated, urban, and edgy? Your brand name needs to be a reflection of this key trait. This is why sports brands are usually short – Nike, Reebok, Fila, Puma – and so on. Torrid, a brand that focuses on large sizes for teenage girls and younger women, appeals to the romantic predispositions of this audience.

Determine your brand personality

Fashion brands tend to represent the personality of the designer, and it’s not surprising that many brands are the names of their owners themselves – Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan – but if your name is not as easy to roll off the tongue, you’re better off creating one that is a reflection of the personality – like Forever21 appealing to young women. A combination can also work if paired well, either individually or as a mash-up of the two words.

Be Innovative and edgy, but don’t go over the top

Many fashion entrepreneurs are disposed towards creating a brand name that a reflection of current trends or fads by being sharp and memorable, but this can backfire over time if the trends change. Being too edgy can also hurt, as the name loses its shock value over time – FCUK being a prime example, says Steve Manning of branding and naming consultancy Igor.

Watch out for Copyrights

While many find it tempting to use permutations and misspellings of common names, it might misfire if your audience doesn’t know how to spell your name correctly. If people can’t read, pronounce or remember a name it’s definitely the wrong one, so avoid names like Wynd, Phyre, etc. even though they might be tempting. And do check copyright and trademark registries to avoid taking one that already owned by someone else. Using a foreign word might be an interesting way to project your brand, but be sure there’s no one using that brand in the markets you are looking to target.

Simple Tests to Determine the Success of Your Brand Name

Alexandra Watkins, CIO of Eat My Words, a brand creation agency advocates two tests to determine if the brand name will be likely to succeed, which she calls the SMILE and SCRATCH tests. The test to check what qualities your brand name should have is the SMILE Test. Essentially it stands for

Simple – easy to understand

Meaningful – one which your customers easily relate

Imagery – creates a strong visual association

Legs – it should have the ability to stay relevant for a long time

Emotional – builds a bond, entertains, evoke a strong feeling.

The SCRATCH test is one to determine the qualities a brand name should not have. It stands for

Spelling – it should not be complicated to write or remember

Copycat – should not sound like or remind one of a similar brand

Random – one which has no association with the product

Annoying – evoking negativity

Tame – has very feeble associations

Curse of Knowledge – is understood only by insiders

Hard to Pronounce – If they can’t say it, they can’t remember it.

A good brand should be able to pass each of these tests, for it to be memorable.

Make Stakeholders part of the process

Once you’ve drawn up a short list of the brand names you’d like, share them with a small circle of influential people. These include investors, suppliers, your designer, employees and consider their opinion, although you should be the one to make the final decision. This helps you get an outside feel for the brand as well, and makes decision making easier.

Build a suitable image or logo to go with the brand name

The name is one part of the branding process. The logo and color palette that make up the logo are also part of the branding process. A suitable color palette and image will support and enhance the name, make it more memorable and easy to recall.

When we launched our business, the name came out of a simple understanding that we were here to help a fashion brand achieve its goals – hence the fuel that drives fashion brands, or simply put, Fuel4Fashion. The alliteration also helps us in building recall, and it simplifies what we do for our target audience, namely fashion entrepreneurs and growing fashion labels.

Building a brand takes time, and fashion brands require more due to the crowded nature of the market. But with a good brand name that represents the style of the clothes themselves, you are likely to build a stronger brand following and better recall as the years go by.

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Supriya Ghurye is the founder and owner of Fuel4Fashion, the freelance fashion design studio for multiple product designing in apparels that caters to start-up fashion labels and growing fashion brands with a diverse portfolio of design services. She is a member of the Cherie Blair Foundation’s Women Entrepreneurship Program and has over a decade of fashion industry experience with international labels and start-ups.

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Indian fashion Industry: Part 3

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apparels, blog, colors, creative, fabric, fashion, fashion blog, fashion illustrations, fashion world, freelance fashion designer, handloom fabric, Indian designers, Indian fashion, Indian Fashion Industry, pattern, prints, surface embroideries, tech pack, traditional prints, trends

In the previous posts, Part 1 & Part 2,  we talked about the development of Indian fashion world, in this last and final post of the series we will let you all know how the fashion industry of India evolved internationally. The ethnic appeal of the Indian traditional prints are alluring customers from all over the globe. To include the wider audiences designers are putting in a lot of effort.

Grace at its best!
Image courtesy:http://goo.gl/WkCtNv

The use of style and embroidery is very smart in the above charming attire.  To join two globally separated audiences, designers have to look for inspiration. The traditional prints are added to create pleasing effects on variety of dresses.

Old prints used modernly
Image Courtesy:http://goo.gl/IkV1Gf

The traditional work of laces and zari can do wonders. The different types of embroideries in India also change the face of any sober costume.  India practically is a warehouse of patterns and design which give immense opportunity to its designers to experiment.

Beautiful embroiders to revolutionize fashion
Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/mbjex7

With the increasing trend of use of brighter colors in designs, Indian designers are trying to be more functional and bring in more folk and native embroideries together. The fabrics have also diversified giving more way to the Indian hand loom industry to grow. Handmade fabrics like wool and silk have a very charming appeal on the dresses. The unique thing about Indian fashion industry is that we don’t have to limit our self to use light shades of colors.  The traditional prints in India are usually bright-colored as they prefer to create a bold statement, boldly. For that reason designers have their palate full of colors.

Beautiful zarodozi work on the border
Image courtesy:http://goo.gl/DhgQjA

Indian fashion industry has come a long way from being a demand manufacturing unit. New designers are setting the ramp on fire with their dazzling works. The audiences also love to experiment with the creative collections.  From my previous blogs, Part 1 &  Part 2, one can say that the Indian fashion world  have changed totally upside down but at its core it remains the same as earlier, being bold boldly.

Do you admire any famous Indian personalities for their sense of fashion? Let me know in the comments section.