Yesterday I spent most of the day at the Fashion140 conference, which is one of a series of conferences spearheaded by Jeff Pulver (look him up) and Lilly Berelovitch of Fashion Snoops.
It is a conference about using social media in marketing fashion- and the ways social media has changed the whole ballgame.
I missed a few of the earlier panels, but was there for most of the day and found most of it to be very interesting. Myself, I am a very inconsistent, low level user of SM to get my work out there. And like a lot of people; I am not sure my clientele uses Twitter, Facebook and the like to make their choices about purchasing. I don’t know what I could possibly talk about and I don’t believe that many people would be that interested in what I have to say. I am hardly a great writer and I am a very private person so all the “sharing” does not come naturally to me. Not by a long shot.
I am uncomfortable on twitter, though yesterday I learned the app I use maybe making things much harder and much more confusing. (Can anybody tell me who actually can sit at their computer and get anything done with the constantly beeping updates in the corner that Tweetdeck overrides your screen with? It’s insanely crazy making and took me forever to figure out how to shut it up!)
Anyhow the conference was over all very good for me, if in places lacking focus; Robert Verdi rambled - is that the way he is? Amanda Greene, who I expect was very, very nervous, got way too caught up in all the swag she’s scored as a result of her “Brand Ambassadorship” when her ultimate message was so much more important; How she has successfully used that platform to promote awareness of Lupus, which she is very, very passionate about, having lived with it for 28 years. She brought a tear to many eyes once she got to the point.
The Miss USA Panel I think was an excuse for an early lunch break. Kudos to the moderator on this panel- it was a tricky one.
Much more on point were Joe Zee, excellent! The Beekman Boys, who I was pretty much unaware of before this. Carol Brodie was amazing as was Yuli Ziv (again- no awareness of her before this) Andy Dunn- co founder of Bonobos. Seeing Marc Ecko’s master showmanship. The menswear Investment and Luxury Panels were all very good.
Especially eye opening- (or eye-popping) was the gaming and tweens panels! There was an audible gasp from the when the two 14 year olds said they had their own credit cards! (When I was 14, I had a $10.00 a week “clothing” allowance & a close to full-time after school/weekend job at a local fabric store! )
There were tons of other great speakers - the dial was set to 11 for speed. I do hope the next Fashion140 will allow a little more time for the panels & it got rushed especially towards the end.
It was a lot - I had nightmares last night about maxing out credit-cards I do not own!
The woman sitting next to me was very encouraging about getting into the whole social network thing but said did not feel she learned much new from the panels. When I got home and looked at her website - it was Gorgeous!! Obviously she has a real flair for marketing- social and otherwise. She is promoting herself as a complete personality, styling, selling closet makeovers and a small assortment of vintage on Esty.
I really admire this ability to market & I am completely in awe of it. There is a real brilliance in it. I really wish I had that talent, but my talent lies in another direction completely. And I hope that my body-of-work speaks for itself until such time comes…
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Fashion Marketing 101- for me at least...
Thursday, January 28, 2010
What is Good Design?
This subject has come up repeatedly over the past few months as I have been informally helping a friend navigate their way thought the complex and confusing morass of getting a website designed & made.
Having lived through (an ongoing process btw) a ton of trial and error scenarios, massive amounts of research and even taking a basic (pretty darn hardcore, to me!) html class, since my site first went up. A dear friend, asked me what to look for in a designer & what was important in a site, and what to look out for.
I hoped to help him avoid some of the pitfalls.
He went through the seeking a designer process - nightmarish in itself, especially when you are a creative person talking a different language to an often purely technical person who thinks they are a "designer". This was very difficult as my friend is a highly creative person, but seriously clueless when it comes to anything, and I mean anything technical. Basic explanation of SEO, html, code, analytics, etc - he sorta gets it but....
However, one thing that he got, and got immediately was the fact that the site had to be searchable and indexed on Google. It is his business after all.
He falls in love with an incredibly visual designers work. It's Flash of course, I tell him no flash, or only a little. The designer explains it's fairly a new "searchable" Flash. And sends along tons of documentation and very detailed explanations of how it works. I look into it, my friend looks into it and lo! sure enough it is a searchable form of flash. We check out other sites using this and they do come up in search. Tons of questions to designer (and more research on our end) mostly regarding HOW searchable. Repeatedly the answer is it's searchable AND deep linkable. WOW!
He goes with this designer, it's an information heavy site, He's writing his text with key words, search text etc, etc. Everytime he's on the phone with the designer search and accessibility comes up at least 3 times, every e-mail it's re-iterated. OVER AND OVER & OVER AGAIN.
After 3-4 months, of a ton of work on the "designers" end (obviously,the guy worked hard) for my friend (hair pulling and something akin giving birth), as well some loss of respect on my part, because I do not like repeating myself, ad nauseam, because of a serious intransigence on the part of my friend against organization, writing things down, looking them up or even making the effort to try and think out and extrapolate from what he has already learned. So I feel a bit abused for my efforts on this count, but it's over now. Thank God.
So anyhow, Site goes up, site is gorgeous. Two months later, 2 hits on actual site. Friend wants to punch a wall (In lieu of designer) and so do I. Site is DEAD IN WATER and UNSEARCHABLE. Other Gaia Framework sites we see on web are infinitesimally searchable and indexed on google, JUST EXACTLY AS DESIGNER INSISTED THIS ONE WOULD BE. WHERE IN ALL THIS DID DESIGNER NOT HEAR, READ AND UNDERSTAND THE CLIENTS UTMOST NEED?
THIS IS NOT GOOD DESIGN it is a ART PROJECT. The "designer", from a highly regarded IT school (specializing in web "design") was not was taught even the basic premise of GOOD DESIGN! Neither of us feel it was a scam, or intentional on the "so called" designer's part, but a complete F*%k up on "designer's" part. But now my friend has to wait several months for it to be corrected????
Design, must also function. It is not divorced from whatever practicalities and needs brought it into existence. Design is also commerce. A house no one can live in is not a house.
Years ago I knew another fashion "designer", who was asked by a store to design them some special mannequins for display. She was super creative and the perfect flighty airy "designer" type that people get so enthralled with at times. She kept her project under complete wraps, designed and had custom-made several 10' tall, to-scale, articulated mannequins. Surprise! She actually got them to the shop and set up in the window, before it dawned on her...
Design is different from Art. ART is approached consciously as such and is not beholden to function. ART usually becomes becomes commerce after the fact. Art needs no function beyond it's existence. DESIGN serves a FUNCTION and is usually created in Pursuit of that function, whatever it may be. Design embraces and makes use of technology and craftsmanship with an understanding of both aesthetics and use. Design makes the ordinary extraordinary, it can makes the mundane a joy. Design brings ART into the everyday world and is accessible to everyone.
DESIGN bears a burden. Whether that be to make someone look fabulous & feel great through fashion. Or to create a beautiful AND FUNCTIONAL web page, that people will SEE.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
White vs Black vs Wordpress
Such a nice contrast! I don't work on white often, leather is such an attention getter and white makes it even that much more so! So it takes a certain, very strong and confident personality to own a piece like this!
Fun to work on project, hopefully my client will one day send a photo of it on! Shot like this definitely does not give full effect.
Here, another unique and very personalized piece. Soft lambskin leather sweat pants for kicking back in. With full details- zip pockets and lower leg and waistband detail.
And lastly, something I've just started to get requests for, a mens jean style in the same stretch leather featured in our womens leggings. This client opted for stretch throughout the waist, which appears as slight gathering at the waistline when shot flat like this, but smooths out completely on the body. First thing he remarked on was how comfortable these jeans are.
Also, I am in the process of putting together a blog where I hope to eventually give an
overview of the actual process involved in creating various custom-made pieces.
Right now, The-Process is (mainly) a foray into my own (little bit frustrating) learning curve with Wordpress, but I'll get there!
I could never have managed so far on WP without this class. So please bear with me on this one.
It is truly a work-in-progress.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Swamped Myself Good
Which in actuality has nothing to do with the computer, can't be done on it, can't be facilitated by it- I can sell on it, but, in the end... I really need to be at the drafting desk, on the phone...just elsewhere.
So, I am taking some online classes, I thought they would be something fairly easy where I might learn something- anything!
Boy, was I wrong, these are real, good and hardcore classes and I signed up for two of them. I had no idea. I am thrilled. I hope I can make it through.
Class is on week 5 and I've gotten up to week 3 on both, working on 4 now. So very behind. On top of it, I was expecting a somewhat slow period, as is usual this time of year for me.
I am not getting it. A friend of mine calls these "cadillac problems" which is a perfect name and I think, not "problems" so much as reminder. I love being busy, and a let up can throw you off your game. The trick is to keep a healthy balance and be, ultimately, in control.
I will probably take one or both of these classes again, but one at a time, and not when I am also taking Spanish! (and moving...) way, way too much..
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