Succeeding in Fashion
Fame. Fortune. Celebrity. Every fashion magazine covering your collection. Success in today’s fashion world can be defined by many things; from media coverage to the retail outlets where your collection is being sold. And there are many ways to get to the gold.
Vera Wang President Susan Sokol suggested to Harvard Business School paper The Harbus that to succeed in fashion one must have “the diplomatic skills of an ambassador, thick skin, the courage to approach anyone at any time and the ability to re-create yourself upon demand.”
“Then,” she said, “work really, really hard.”
While there may be many definitions of success there are standard practices of successful people in any industry that we can all incorporate into our own lives.
- Think positive. Don’t get caught up in a tornado of negativity. Negativity breeds more negativity. Try to remain focused on the positive of any situation.
- Think small. When working toward a huge goal, you have to break it down into small steps so that you are not overwhelmed by the giant leap from bottom to top.
- Open your mind. Be open to learning more about what it is you want to do. Whether it is design, public relations, or journalism, accept the possibility of education from any source.
- Embrace the new. Don’t get stuck doing things in one specific way. Exploration can lead to greater success if you let it.
- Be fueled by your failure. Let your mistakes ignite your ambition and push you harder toward your goals. Acknowledge your missteps, learn from them, and move forward.
- Don’t get comfortable. Always challenge yourself, look for ways to improve, and work harder.
- Write it down. We’re more cognizant of our goals when we commit them to paper. Put them somewhere that you will see them everyday.
- Run toward your fears. If something scares you, face it head on. Fears will only hold us back from achieving greatness.
Success in fashion is about balancing your creative genius with your business mastermind. You not only have to be creative, you must have a strategic savvy. You not only have to have vision, you must know how to communicate that vision. You not only have to know how to design a cohesive collection, you have to know how to sell it. In today’s world of multi-tasking, you have to be both the Creative Director and CEO.
The most successful people in fashion had other incarnations before thriving in their current careers. Vera Wang was a fashion editor at Vogue for 16 years before leaving to design accessories for Ralph Lauren. Kenneth Cole worked with his father in the family shoe business. Ralph Lauren was a salesman. Giorgio Armani attended medical school for two years before leaving to pursue a career as a window dresser in a prestigious department store in Italy. One thing all the designers mentioned here have in common is that they all remained passionate about fashion regardless of their “day jobs”. While they may have had other jobs in the industry, they used the experience to attain connections and build a more well-rounded foundation on which their empires were built.
You might be selling shoes for Manolo today. But who knows where your stilettos might take you tomorrow.
