Tag / fashion
Comparative Research Done Right
Kate Rutter Leads a Comparator Research Discussion
or, Competitive Research the Creative Founder Way For a long time, I’ve been disappointed by competitive research approaches. Most strike me as a bunch of bumbling around and seeing what you see… sometimes you write it down in a spreadsheet. Designers fixate on widgets, product managers take screenshot of pricing pages — without a diagnostics framework, it‘s haphazard and sub-optimal. I knew important things were being missed.
Over the years, I’d developed my own tricks for understanding the competitive landscape, but I wasn’t doing much better. It took co-teaching with Kate Rutter to show me the grand picture.
Kate uses The Molecule as a framing model for startup success. This was developed at LUXr, the first Lean UX firm, founded with janice fraser.
Learn more here https://www.slideshare.net/intelleto/luxralnlean
The molecule acts as a guide to answer three questions for your startup: who are your customers, what problem are they ..
Paris Fashion Week Women’s S/S 2019 Editor’s Picks
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Introducing Maiyet Collective, London’s sustainable fashion pop-up
Since launching in 2011, Maiyet has ushered in a new type of luxury by working directly with global artisans. This week, the label is set to open its first concept store in the heart of a seven-floor, 40,000 square foot building in Mayfair. In the last seven years, ethical business and responsible investing have moved from the fringe to the mainstream. Co-founder Paul van Zyl says, ‘The majority of consumers now care about the provenance of the product and its impact on the world.’ Yet we live in complex times. ‘Extraordinary wealth continues to be created, while inequality and social dislocation deepen; a hateful populism now poses a real threat to the idea of equality and to global peace and security. Those factors make it more urgent than ever to use the skills and resources we have to make a meaningful impact on the world,’ he adds...
Louis Vuitton S/S 2019 Paris Fashion Week Women’s
Scene Setting: For the very last show of this fashion month, Nicolas Ghesquière took us back to the future. To his future. The Louis Vuitton designer (fresh off renewing his contract with the Parisian house) delved in the roots of his long-lived sci-fi obsession, and he did it through a striking mix between history and a dystopian narrative. The show, as usual, took place in the Musée du Louvre. But this time, the carved stone façades of the iconic building were only visible through the transparent plexiglas or a series of tunnels illuminated by neon bulbs, like breathable space capsules separating us from a toxic environment. But there was much more than that to the collection. Best in show: There was no one clear narrative to the show. Rather, Ghesquière chose to drop hints and references here and there. The silhouette was wide-shouldered, with XL puffy sleeves, tiny waistbands and...
Miu Miu S/S 2019 Paris Fashion Week Women’s
Mood Board: Any historian worth his salt will tell you that the two key decades of widespread female liberation in the 20th century are the Roaring Twenties and the Swinging Sixties. It is no coincidence then that, sartorially, both eras had a lot in common, chief among them a boyish A-silhouette and cropped hair. Only time will tell whether the #MeToo era will be a revolution leading to more financial, personal and sexual freedom for womanhood... But Miuccia Prada seems to think it will. At the very least, she has been heavily reflecting on those concepts and translating them into pure Miu Miu sparkle. Best in show: And so flapperish dresses in draped and ruched satin with details on the hips and shoulders made their appearance on the runway along with a selection of Carnaby Street-worthy double breasted leather coats and mini skirts in a palette of blue-grey, black, red, sherbet lemon...
Chanel S/S 2019 Paris Fashion Week Women’s
Scene setting: It’s the last day of fashion month and showgoers are so depleted of energy that they are already dreaming of next year’s summer holidays, even if October has barely started. And Karl Lagerfeld was there to indulge all their fantasies of fun in the sun. For the occasion, Paris’s Grand Palais was transformed into a beach, complete with white sand, tiki huts, life guards, seagull sounds and yes, even waves. One would be forgiven for feeling the incontrollable urge to go barefoot and dip one’s toes into the "ocean". Which is exactly what the models proceeded to do, while Michel Gaubert mixed a selection of French Eighties pop anthems. Best in show: Karl’s favourite girls – there was Kaia Gerber of course, but also Adwoa Aboah, Edie Campbell, Marjan Jonkman and Adesuwa – strutted along the coast holding their little flat sandals in their hands (they only briefly slipped them on for...
Chanel to Louis Vuitton: backstage at Paris Fashion Week Women’s S/S 2019
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Alexander McQueen S/S 2019 Paris Fashion Week Women’s
Scene setting: After a couple of seasons trying her hand at showing in different venues (last season’s show took place in the Carreau du Temple at the heart of the Marais), Sarah Burton was back this time to her beloved Orangerie in the Jardin du Luxembourg. Turns out the tall-ceilinged greenhouse building, surrounded by the park’s greenery, was the perfect setting for the designer’s latest outing. Inside, guests discovered a monolith reproduction of the Neolithic Avebury henge. Less known – and less touristy – than Stonehenge, the Wiltshire circle, with its shorter, rounder stones, is widely thought by archaeologists to reference femininity. It is also considered a place of religious importance by contemporary pagans. It was there that Sarah Burton’s inspiration for her latest collection began. Soundbite: ‘I was thinking about sisterhood, about traditional women’s milestones and rituals: births, christenings, weddings, funerals. It’s about being strong and emotional, but also saying i..
Stella McCartney S/S 2019 Paris Fashion Week Women’s
Mood board: The last few months have been a frenzy of mergers and acquisitions drama for the fashion industry. More than ever in a competitive and commercial landscape, independent brands are looking to selling part of their stock in order to gain long-term stability and financial security. But Stella McCartney has always gone against the grain, and that goes for her business acumen too. The designer has freshly regained independent status after buying back her business from Kering. And although that puts her in a much freer creative position, it also comes with new responsibilities. For S/S 2019, this was no time for shock and surprise, but one for reasserting the brand’s easy, relaxed and versatile philosophy. Best in show: It was all about classic McCartney here, the kind of easy, super wearable pieces we can all do with: tie dye mini dresses and t-shirts, utilitarian bleached denim, unstructured dresses and silk-and-lace slips...
How Community Can Drive Commerce: A Lesson from China’s Little Redbook
Summary: China’s popular social-ecommerce app succeeds in building a mutually beneficial user community and bringing in a smooth shopping experience for users.
Xiaohongshu (小红书 — Little Redbook in English, but not related to the U.S. Redbook magazine) is a popular Chinese social-ecommerce mobile application which was launched in 2013 and, according to China Daily, is now valued at more than $3 billion. It targets 18–35-year-old women interested in luxury fashion and beauty products. Redbook allows users to browse, buy, and review products, share shopping experiences, as well as discover and purchase products shared by the community from overseas.
Users of the app can contribute to the community by posting detailed product reviews or product-based lifestyle and fashion tips using photos, video, and text. Posts about a particular item often contain tags with information about price, brand, and the location of purchase (even down to the exact store). Product posts are integrated with R..