Industry heavyweights Nicola Finetti and Claudia Navone tackled global trends at a recent seminar in sydney. but they had more to say about dollars than designer duds, as assia benmedjdoub reveals.
Federal treasurer Wayne Swan was not the only one talking budgets last month. Albeit for David Jones womenswear executive David Bush, the spoils were of a more glamorous nature.
He and a team of 15 buyers were crunching numbers in preparation for the spring/summer 2010/11 installment of Rosemount Australian Fashion Week. While Bush admitted that seasonal purchases were often budgeted well in advance – up to 12 months before garments hit shop floors – coins were always set aside for those last minute fashion injections.
So would he make like Swan and opt for a conservative 2010/11 spend, or was he confident customers were still cash happy from those stimulus handouts?
“There is no doubt that the customer of the last period of time has become, I guess, a little more value-conscious, and I say value as distinct to price,” he said carefully. “Our customer will buy a $10,000 dress if they see the value and they won’t buy a $20 t-shirt if they don’t. It is less about price and more about making sure a garment is valuable to their lifestyle.”
It seems the same goes for Nicola Finetti, one of three panellists invited to speak at an autumn/winter 2010 trend seminar by Fashion Group International (Sydney) last week. Following an audiovisual presentation of the latest catwalk shows from Paris, Milan and New York, Finetti joined Harper’s Bazaar contributor Claudia Navone and Sheridan homewares creative Jacqueline Kayta for a panel discussion.
Finetti confessed that conditions had been “up and down, up and down” over the last year, and will likely continue into the next autumn/winter season. Was it a question of price?
“No, it’s not true that there’s is a ‘sweet spot’ of maybe $250 to $300. If you do something that the people like, they will buy it. The problem is to make it desirable. I sold some dresses, I didn’t know they would sell in my stores because they were $2000. I sold 60, and that was just one [example].”
Finetti claimed his entire business was more or less stable, regardless of which price category it was positioned at. This includes his full-priced accessory and ready-to-wear lines, as well as his diffusion offer with department store Myer. He was less optimistic about the uptake of fur for the winter season – “I tried it on my bags three years ago; it doesn’t sell in Australia” – and more interested in translating silhouettes.
“I think about lines when I look at international collections. What influences me is the new shape and what it does for the body. I think Prada [which emphasised the female body through classic curves] did this very well.”
Outside of fashion and form, Finetti’s business attention has been diverted south of the equator. As reported in previous editions of Ragtrader, many local designers are focusing on regional growth in the wake of the global financial crisis.
“But it’s not just the crisis,” Finetti added. “When you export to America [in particular] it’s very different because it really has to be 100 per cent. To have good relationships, you have to accept any returns and this is a big, big problem. They can return for any reason.”
Navone, who comes from a rich publishing history which includes key roles at Harper’s Bazaar and Elle UK, was equally dismissive of GFC hysteria.
“In America, they have always been completely supportive of their own market, which is huge. To be a foreign designer and crack that, it’s very difficult.”
For Navone, these commercial realities are becoming increasingly important as she pioneers her own consultancy firm. She is already contracted as a creative consultant for Australian womenswear giant Portmans for one year, and has recently added Jigsaw to her portfolio. She’s coy in revealing her entire client list – although prior to assuming her role at Harper’s Bazaar several years ago, she did work for design powerhouse Prada.
Do her contracts with Jigsaw and Portmans present a conflict of interest?
“I have to be very careful, they have to be very different,” she said. “Portmans is real High Street so obviously the turnover is much faster. It’s all about the latest trends, like when the Balmain shoulder came out, we jumped on that last year. Jigsaw is not pure High Street; what is good for them is much more particular and precise. There is a fashion injection in what they’re doing, but it has a DNA of its own. You make the trends work for your style.”