Tuesday 23 November 2010

Awwwww

Just a quick update to confirm what the lack of posts on this blog has signified: after opening many, many accounts, all over the world, I have now left Baby Issa to go back to school and complete my MA in International Business Management.

Baby Issa will be available in a shop near you - even and of course, the Childrens' Department at Harrods - as well as the Baby Issa website!

It is an exciting time for Issa - Kate Middleton's regal and feminine blue dress, which she wore to the announcement of her engagement is Issa - and I wish them all the best (by this I mean Issa, though of course I hope Catherine and William will be happy, too!)

I have no doubt I shall be returning - this wasn't my first and probably won't be my last stint at this wonderful brand.

One last thing: How incredibly cute - not to mention well dressed - is this young man?!


Much Love,

Mamma Pia

Sunday 8 August 2010

Both Sides Of The Brain


I've been reading about dominant brain halves and localisation of brain functions and decided to take some quizzes online.
At first I thought it was a mistake, but I have done most tests that cames up on Google: every single one had the same result! T
he numbers added up to be equal for both sides. Which means that I rely on my right and left brain halves equally in every day life.
The reason this is in any way relevant to this blog shall be revealed at a later time... Yep, I'm gonna leave you hanging and be all mysterious and annoying about it.
Anywho, I don't know why this test decided that I am left-brainer, despite having equal results for both. I guess they didn't consider that possibility... It's interesting nonetheless and I recommend reading about it and doing the tests - they're fun, if nothing else!

I have posted my results below - as well as links for you to follow and do your own.

Which side do you use?

You responded as a right brained person to 9 questions, and you responded as a left brained person to 9 questions. According to the Hemispheric Dominance test, you use your left brain the most. The summary briefly describes your dominance type. Remember, this only represents half of the picture.

Some of the traits associated with the left side of the brain are listed in the table. Not all of the traits will apply to you. Remember, we use both side of our brain, but your left sides gets the most exercise.

Type of Cognitive Processing

Brief Description

LinearProcessing information from part to whole; in a straight forward logical progression.
Sequential Processing information in order from first to last.
Symbolic Processes symbols an pictures; likes to use letters, words and mathematical symbols.
LogicalProcesses information piece by piece using logic to solve a problem.
VerbalProcesses thoughts and ideas with words.
Reality-Based Processes information based on reality; focuses on rules and regulations



Click here for the test http://tinyurl.com/lv3n9l or just look it up on the internet. There are literally dozens.. There is also a visual exercise to help balance out dominance http://tinyurl.com/37vtdpu
I do not take any responsibility for headaches incurred from trying this too many times!!

It's actually a fascinating topic and hilarious, too. As a taster some famous faces, where the left and right sides were mirrored!!!





Middle Brain xx

Wednesday 4 August 2010

The Intangible Value of the Brand and the Importance of Investing in Product in the Luxury Industry

Just ordered a whole bunch of books on Amazon and am super excited to get stuck in - esp into DELUXE. How Luxury Lost Its Lustre, by Dana Thomas.
Obvs, I will let you know what I think. Feel free to read it, too, then we can start an online book club!!

Ok, back to business.

Risky business. Risky business is leaving one industry to enter another one. I am in no way saying its a bad risk, just saying it is a risk. So is staying in a job you're unhappy with - you run the risk of finding yourself on your death bed bitterly regretting the 2/3 or whatever time of your life you spent working on tasks that were not meaningful or satisfying enough to you. (More on that here http://tinyurl.com/2abbsby)

However, it is, in my humble opinion, a bad risk to enter a new field, job, industry, scenario, relationship with your mind made up about what the problem is and what you will do to fix it, holding the perfect, ideal, obvious solution ready in your head. Kind of like those consultants who'll come to you with the solution before they've identified the problem...

The reason i am thinking about this, is because I bumped into an acquaintance today who happens to be leaving his job as a management consultant and plans to enter the fashion industry.
In his opinion, the problems many businesses at the luxury end of the fashion industry face, are due to the fact that a lot of creatives have no brain for business (agreed) and that it would be so easy to make fashion houses more profitable by cutting costs on extravagant materials and brand building.
An example he gave was that that he would have used materials that were 50% cheaper than those used in the construction of a certain luxury house's architectural retail temple, or that he would have just changed the spelling of a certain label's name, which used a multi-million dollar cash injection to buy out someone who was using their name and register the trademark instead of expanding their operations.

He used phrases like "the fashion industry is all about illusion" and seemed to think that building a brand equals creating hype and that the obsession with the product is just a result of the hype.

And YES! Everyone who works in fashion will agree, there is a lot of hype. A lot of "illusion".

However, the consumer is no idiot. People work hard to earn their money, and if they choose to spend it on luxury products they will have a reason.

The designer is no idiot. If Alexander McQueen chose to change half his collection on the day of the show, then he usually had a reason.

Fashion, Art, Design, they are about Zeitgeist, about feeling, mood, expression - intangible, inexplicable results of artistic and craft-based processes, they are monuments to humanity, memorials to time and there is a reason people will pay hundreds, thousands, millions for certain pieces of art, furniture, couture.

As a certain Coco Chanel is said to have stated “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.

Since the beginning of time, men and women have adorned themselves and looked for means of expressing their moods, values, as well as more worldly motivations like signifying their social status.
Look at any old cave, any roman archeological site, any tribal dresses and you will find evidence for this statement. As such a fundamental need, surely this quest for expression must not be disqualified!

Creating a brand is one thing, and creating innovative, well-made products from quality materials is another.

Both, are fundamentally imperative to this industry, and, as I hope to have explained above, to the consumer.

Without the brand, the consumer does not have an emotional connection with a company and will not come back to it, over and over, to discover new products.

Without innovative products, brands don't stay exciting and on peoples' minds, i.e. they start to lose interest in it and will not seek out their new products.

Not only is it not very humble to assume that the problems our industry faces are easily solved without having taken a proper look - if it were so easy, surely somebody would have implemented the solution already - and more importantly, if there is one thing I have learnt in this industry, it is that there is no one-step solution, no rules you can apply to different scenarios. Yes, you can have processes of working and problem-solving, of enabling improved performance and product through feedback, but this is an industry that relies on so many different ingredients, sourced from so many different parts of the world, all of which must at the pivotal time of presentation come together to move the audience to spend their hard-earned $ on the latest luxury product.

I don't know if this post makes sense, but this was really on my mind and I wanted to articulate and hold on to it.

I'm all for planning, for product-ranges, for close ties between commercial and design, for strategy, for cost-cutting, for stream-lining and for making this industry less hysterical, less superficial, less based on hype, celebrity, status. Yet it needs to be acknowledged that fashion fulfills a fundamental need in us, it is foolish to dismiss it is as mere vanity or superficiality, to label the search for an emotional reassurance of a product's heritage, its production processes and materials as falling for the "hype".

After all, this is not finance, we are not talking about derivatives. The aim is to be financially profitable while creating functional pieces of beauty, the best of which will hopefully be preserved in closets, handed down from generation to generation. Some even displayed in museums in years to come, as aesthetic mirrors of the contemporary social and psychological state and milestones in designers' oeuvres.


Fashion Victim?
Xx




*UPDATE*

Turns out, WIRED has just published a story on this topic: "Why We care About Luxury Brands" http://tinyurl.com/235j9u6

Monday 2 August 2010

The Girl That Never Sleeps

New York City.

I lived in the Lower East Side (LES, innit) for a year in 2007 and being back feels akin to what I imagine getting back with your high school flame would be like - remembering all the highs, but ultimately finding that all the reasons that broke you up then, are still valid now. Perhaps more so.

I also miss my daughter in a way that is disconcerting: I am constantly struggling to not pick up random toddlers and hug them, or console strangers' children, because their cry moves me as much as my own child's... Parenthood is weird.

The reason I'm here is the childrenswear trade show "Children's Club" organised by ENK.

Our stand as usual is beyond cute and due to our wallpaper technique, it really stands out from the others and communicates instantly, visually drawing you in to the "printed world of Baby Issa"...




New York Loves You.
Xx

Friday 30 July 2010

Imagine


Natalie Massenet (Founder and Chairman of luxury etail site Net-A-Porter, recently sold at a total valuation of £350million to Swiss luxury group Richemont) says this book helped her come up with and realise her dreams. Certainly can't hurt... http://tinyurl.com/32qxhvr

Thursday 22 July 2010

More than words


Daniella "Issa" Helayel and Liberty Ross in Baby Issa S/S11 and Issa Resort 2011 respectively

Yesterday's launch party at Liberty Ross' house was a real success. There were several moments when I looked around and felt everything just click into place. The kids had so much fun trying on the clothes, jumping into the pool in printed Baby Issa bikinis & swimming trunks, parents looked pleased and at ease, the music was great, cupcakes were delicious.


The tell-tale sign was that people came... and stayed.

Nobody popped in and out, everyone really relaxed, lay on the grass, watched their kids jumping, singing, dancing, swimming...

Mothers and daughters got non-toxic manicures, daddies and kids got matching temptu's (yeah I got one, too...), kids rode the glitter-hoofed pony into the sunset - everyone let their hair down.

All in all, we are very pleased with the result. After all, Baby Issa is all about kids having fun!

To see photos, just click on any of the following links:

Patrick McMullen http://www.patrickmcmullen.com/site/event_detail.aspx?eid=33705&home=1&page=1&pgSize=16&sortdir=DESC

Getty Images (search for "Baby Issa launch") http://www.gettyimages.com

Wireimage http://www.wireimage.com/ItemListings.aspx?igi=443408&nbc1=1

And of course, I will be posting all the pictures of glorious mayhem I took on my phone as well... Am taking the day off to rest and relax after some seriously hectic weeks, before my appointments with LA showrooms tomorrow and Friday to find a suitable one to represent our collection at the LA Kidsmarket tradeshow.


Winnie is Pooped xx




(copyright all pictures Pia Stanchina)

Wednesday 21 July 2010

Welcome to the Chateau!

Yesss! I'm in LA, CA, USofA.
This is where I'm staying:


It would be an understatement to say I'm excited.
Daniella has started referring to me exclusively as "the Puppy".


Today afternoon is our launch party - Liberty and her daughter are coming back from their family holiday in Malibu just to host it and the "attending" list is made up of beautiful, intelligent and lovely mummies, daughters and sons (Minnie Driver and her son are confirmed :) as well as high-calibre stylists and national, international and online press. I think it's gonna rock!

I will blog all about our event here, but I really want to post some updates on what I have been doing, since it has been eye-opening and stress-relieving to me and I think to anyone thinking of starting their own business, esp in fashion and esp anyone without a business degree, it would be very helpful as a guideline.

However, I have several things I promised in previous posts and more things now, so maybe we could have a vote? (AKA give your preference in the comments section below...)

Would you prefer to read about

A. Accounts of a strategy meeting
B. How buyers buy and how to confirm an order
C. A fill-in-the-dots outline for a business plan
D. A list of steps in the process of producing your own collection from idea to shipping
E. How to know when what needs to be done in the production process aka The Critical Path (an excel file that allows you to just change the delivery date and automatically updates all other dates)

Okay, hope to hear some feedback, so we can build consensus and achieve our targets.

Mama McKinsey



- Yes, I have been brainwashed into business school lingo... Currently reading "What they teach you at Harvard Business School" (HBS for insiders) by the former Head of The Telegraph's Paris Bureau, Philip Delves Broughton. As such, it is wittily written, from a non-business perspective. Refreshing and insightful, recommended reading for anyone who went to a business school that wasn't HBS and important for anyone thinking about Business School http://tinyurl.com/3afb9fj