The Conversations

A Conversation With Mory Fontanez: A Fashion Solution - Revolution or Reform?

As companies are starting to seriously examine the damaging issues of racial inequality, micro-aggression, toxic work culture and unjust systems, a more sustainable, compassionate approach to conducting business is demanded of our C-suite leaders.  

And while the revolution in the streets is the agency for much needed social changes taking place across industries, how are companies to go about transforming from a shareholder interested, profits-led business to one of connectedness, compassion and diversity? And are the steps to change one of gradual reform or should business leaders bring the radical energy from the streets to the corporate suites? 

In this episode, we’re joined by values-based strategist, transformation consultant and founder, CEO of 822 Group, Mory Fontanez to discuss her methodology that involves quieting the “chaos” that consume work environments, while rooting out systemic issues and working with businesses leaders on a “cellular” level “to create purpose-driven brands that connect with customers”.

As always, we hope you get involved and let us know your thoughts, comment, subscribe, rate this podcast (*****) and follow us on Instagram @TheConversations.Podcast for more.

A Conversation With Dr. Alisha Moreland-Capuia: Can We Talk More About Black Trauma in Fashion?⠀

In our third week of civil unrest, in parallel, the racial fallout continues in fashion. As audiences, the Black fashion community and allies grow more suspicious and frustrated with brands, their missteps, formulaic messaging and a general lack of tangible action. Additionally, a number of executive exits due to claims of racism and toxic work environments (including the founders of Reformation, Man Repeller, Refinery29 and The Wing this week alone), expose in greater detail how problematic the fashion system is. Within all of that and more, many Black fashion professionals are also unpacking the trauma induced by the continued systemic racism in the workplace, fashion generally and beyond. ⠀
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In this episode, we talk to psychiatrist (who will be joining faculty at McLean-Harvard) and author, Dr. Alisha Moreland-Capuia, about Black trauma in fashion, it’s impact, implications, strategies to foster understanding, tools for healing and advice for protection. This is one of the most powerful conversations we’ve had thus far, we implore you to listen and continue the conversations in your homes, work spaces and communities. Please also keep in touch with us via Instagram @TheConversations.Podcast, subscribe and rate this podcast (***** :)⠀
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Lastly, make sure you pick up a copy of Dr. Alisha Moreland-Capuia’s book, Training for Change: Transforming Systems to be Trauma-Informed, Culturally Responsive, and Neuroscientifically Focused, which you can find via the link here. You can also follow her on Twitter (@DralishaMD) for regular goodness!! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

A Week in Review - Is This a Moment of True Change in Fashion?

This week has been a mess for fashion.

In the second week after the murder of George Floyd and subsequent civil unrest, brands, companies, influencers, corporations and fashion personalities came out en masse to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement. With that, in too many cases, the veil of inclusion, diversity, representation, empathy and transparency that has been carefully curated over the past few years, has been removed to expose fashion's deepest rooted problems: systemic racism, toxic work environments, a general culture of silencing and complicity and co-opting.⠀
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On the flip side, the most positive and progressive moves have been made towards the fight for racial equity thus far. More Black people and people of all races are speaking up and speaking out. People are owning their part in this and taking real, meaningful steps to reconcile. People are connecting, mobilizing and strategizing to dismantle the parts of our industry that do not serve all of us. More conversations are being had and connections made, than ever before, between people, brands and organizations who want to put their resources to work. ⠀
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We recognized that this is a watershed movement. In this conversation we recap the past week, review our hopes for the future and also discuss the feedback from our trending Business of Fashion Op-Ed: 'Fashion Is Part of The Race Problem'. ⠀
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As always, we hope you get involved in this very important conversation and let us know your thoughts, comment, subscribe, rate this episode (*****) and follow us on Instagram @TheConversations.Podcast.⠀
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Article reference: ⠀
In this episode Jason reference's Vikram Alexei Kansara's BoF article: 'Luxury's Inequality Problem' 

A Conversation With Imran Amed: About Race & Fashion

Over the past few days, again, the world has been reckoning with the unconscionable police brutality after yet another unarmed black man, George Floyd, was murdered in the US. With consequential civil and racial unrest, and an overwhelming rallying cry for allyship and systemic change, social media has been policing the fashion industry tracking who in fashion is being vocal and who is remaining silent, what valuable action is being taken, as well as who is getting it wrong, what can we do more of, how can we do better, what this all means in the context of fashion.

 

In this episode, we have a candid conversation on race and fashion with Imran Amed, Editor in Chief and CEO of The Business of Fashion (BoF). We discuss the role of fashion at a time like this, the varied responses from brands across the globe and his approach re: BoF to taking a position on these issues.

 

This is a tough issue and a challenging but much needed conversation to have! We will continue to have it. We ask that you keep in touch, let us know what you think as well as subscribe, rate this episode (*****) and follow us @TheConversations.Podcast for more!

 

**THIS EPISODE IS PART OF OUR SERIES RECORDED REMOTELY WHILE IN QUARANTINE, SO PLEASE EXCUSE ANY AUDIO DISRUPTIONS / AUDIO QUALITY, PARTICULARLY AS THIS WAS RECORED ACROSS A COUPLE OF CONTINENTS :) **

A Conversation With Ruba Abu-Nimah: If We’re to Accept "Warhol’s" Statement of "Art Is What You Can Get Away With," What Does This Say About Image-Making in the Digital Age?

Image-making has never been so democratic. A visual curation of our lives is the order of the day, with millions counting themselves as image-makers. But can brands still discern quality from attainable or the amateurs from the professionals and does it matter? And in the mist of the pandemic and beyond, where budgets are dwindling, teams are being downsized and digital platforms are key and met with very meaty KPIs, what is the place and value of strong, quality or high-end imagery? ”Art is what you can get away with,” is a disputed quote attributed to Andy Warhol and the starting point of this week’s conversation, where we're joined by one of our industry's most distinguished creative directors - Ruba Abu-Nimah.

 

Ruba's impressive background as a graphic designer and image-maker, makes her a great voice to add to this conversation with us, having worked for over 30 years across global brands including Nike, Tiffany & Co, Marc Jacobs, Bobbi Brown, Pat McGrath and Shisheido. She was the first ever female creative director of American Elle Magazine, a founding designer at French Glamour and works with the iconic culture publication iD. She’s worked with the biggest names in image-making and currently leads creative as SVP Creative Director at Revlon. ⠀
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We have an insightful conversation with Ruba about art, the shifts re: image-making in a digital age, the ongoing power and relevance of strong brand imagery, her expectations for image-making in a post Covid landscape, her thoughts on process and non-creatives making creative decisions. 

 

As always, we hope you enjoy this conversation, that you keep in touch, subscribe, rate this episode (*****) and follow us @TheConversations.Podcast for more!

 

What Can We Expect From a Fashion Reset? Pt. 1

In the last week, a cross-section of globally placed designers got together to mandate a reset of the fashion system. Most agree on a post-Covid shift to in-season retail—essentially syncing deliveries and the global fashion weeks to natural weather patterns—to better reflect modern consumers‘ shopping habits. Change to the rampant mid-season, deep discounting is the other top priority for designers including Dries Van Noten, Alyx, Tory Burch and Altuzarra who agree is an industry killing culture. Other operating model changes from de-gendering fashion weeks, lessening the demand for travel and other belt tightening reforms also emerged from these resetting conversations. But for an industry that speaks to coalition and collaboration more than it actually acts on it, is this yet another one of fashion’s smokes and mirrors, hollow talk of a community? Or now that its clear the system is truly broken, is it now that we need “our community” to fix it? In this episode we discuss what a fashion reset may actually look like. 

 

As always, we hope you enjoy this conversation and that you keep in touch, subscribe, rate this episode (*****) and follow us @TheConversations.Podcast for more!

Is André Leon Talley’s Fashion Journey a Cautionary Tale?

Fashion is buzzing about former Vogue Magazine creative director and writer Andre Leon Talley’s soon to be released memoir, 'Chiffon Trenches'.  Leaked excerpts from the book details key events (some salacious, racist, and hurtful) from this bon vivant’s 50 years working at the top echelon of fashion. He writes of being exiled and left emotional scarred by the industry in recent years, most notable by his former champion and employer Anna Wintour who he claims has come to find him too fat, old and uncool. No doubt fashion is a brutal business but those who operate at the very top where Talley satellite'd, tend to protect each other with plum employment and professional homage to the very end. Talley's distinction, however, is as the lone black professional who’s worked at this level in the industry.

 

In this episode, we discuss Talley’s career. Was he building community or pre-occupied with his own profile? Does he represent a cautionary tale especially for blacks in the business. And why it's important that he has claimed his legacy. 

 

We hope you enjoy this conversation and as always we ask that you keep in touch, subscribe, rate this episode and follow us @TheConversations.Podcast for more!

A Conversation With: Edward Buchanan & Gloria María Cappelletti: What of Independent Design in the Age of COVID-19?

Independent designers, unlike the cash-flushed, fast fashion, DTC and multi-national luxury sectors, are most under threat of insolvency in this pandemic shutdown. Short on resources, independents are facing serious challenges including unpaid vendor invoices, stalled production runs (and the outstanding bills), compounded by near zero consumer demand, to name only some of the difficulties. Yet if there are to be future businesses, independents will have to imagine beyond the immediate obstacles and current structures and envision how things may look and operate differently. 

In this episode we are joined by Milan-based independent fashion designer Edward Buchanan of Sansovino 6 and ID Magazine and VICE MEDIA Editor-At-Large Gloria María Cappelletti to discuss what it means to be a true independent working in fashion, how COVID-19 has complicated an already thorny landscape for independents, and their thoughts on collaboration and Amazon...

We hope you enjoy this conversation and as always we ask that you keep in touch, subscribe, rate this episode and follow us @TheConversations.Podcast for more!

 

A Conversation With Kimberly M. Jenkins: How Deep is the Illusion of Inclusion in Fashion?

In this episode, we are joined by fashion educator and independent researcher, Kimberly M. Jenkins. Here we dive into many topics framed around the illusion of inclusion in the fashion industry; why the current fashion structures look the way they do, the issues faced by people of color (POC) in pre and post Covid-19 landscape and how POC can build systems for greater equity moving forward. 

 

Kimberly is uniquely positioned to engage this much needed dialogue around the intersection of race and fashion. In 2016, she introduced the 'Fashion and Race' course at Parsons School of Design, in 2018 received the award for ‘Outstanding Achievements in Diversity and Social Justice Teaching’ from The New School. She has spent her career developing a suite of pedagogy that explores the intersection of fashion and race through three platforms: classroom lectures, a website and an exhibition. She is also the founder of the digital humanities project: The Fashion and Race Database, the goal of which is to provide a dedicated platform with open-source tools that address the intersection of power, privilege, representation and aesthetics within the fashion system. She also worked with Gucci as an educator in the wake of their public racial gaff in 2018.

 

We hope you find this conversation as illuminating as we did! Please continue to support, subscribe and rate this podcast and remember you can now follow us on Instagram @TheConversations.Podcast and also check out Kimberly @KimberlyMJenkins. Thank you for listening - we appreciate you!

 

** Please excuse any sound disruptions, patchy service or background noise - because quarantine.

A Conversation With Ronan Mckenzie & Gabriella Karefa-Johnson: What is the Role of Strong Image Making in a Post Pandemic Fashion Landscape?

In this episode we have a compelling cultural conversation with our great guests - photographer and film maker Ronan Mckenzie and stylist and Garage Magazine Fashion Director Gabriella Karefa-Johnson. 

 

During this global lock down, where furloughs, layoffs, cut budgets, low sales and potential bankruptcies loom, in fashion, there is little to no focus on anything other than business survival. With that we wanted to get together to discuss the role of strong image making in a post pandemic fashion landscape and how that impacts themes of inclusion and representation along the way. 

 

We'd absolutely love to hear all your thoughts on this one - please DM us at our newly formed Instagram account @TheConversations.Podcast and be sure to follow us there also. As usual we hugely appreciate your support in listening, please subscribe, comment and rate this podcast :)

What is the Best Approach to Marketing at a Time Like This?

Right now marketing is a creative minefield rife with sudden challenges — that if executed ineffectively — can render a brand tone-deaf and out of touch. Marketing in the age of Covid-19 demands razor sharp messaging that balance art and a pitch perfect proposition (if any) to buy. Still during this crisis, brands, especially those in fashion, must stand for something, now more than ever. But how are they to focus on brand message to sell product when demand is dead, bank accounts are evaporating and in some cases, bankruptcy looms?

In this episode we talk through the panic to identify marketing approaches to consider in the fight for survival during this unprecedented economic crisis. However, with this level of uncertainty, everything is still inconclusive, but well worth the conversation we think.

Thanks for joining the conversation, please continue to support by commenting, subscribing, rating this episode AND now you can follow us on Instagram @TheConversations.Podcast! We so much appreciate all your support :)

 

COVID-19 & Unemployment

The COVID-19 pandemic has mostly shut down the fashion industry, causing a shockwave of record unemployment in roles up and down the supply chain. From independent brands to mega-retailers, companies of all sizes have been forced to lay off, furlough, and fire staff in staggering numbers - and it's only the beginning.  So while the the economic impact grows more grave each day, out-of-workers are left to ponder the sudden disruption of their income, and the still-employed are wondering for how much longer. In this episode, we discuss the different approaches brands are taking to cutting staff and COVID-19's colossus impact on industry unemployment.

 

We appreciate you taking the time to listen - let us know what you think, rate and subscribe :)

COVID-19 & Fashion

The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic has shut down the fashion industry. Aprox. two hundred million of us worldwide are confined to our homes. Over 30,000 retail store fronts are closed, and all fashion events scheduled through May are canceled. Meanwhile, still in the early stages of this unprecedented world event - with no clears signs of when the quarantine will let up - the negative economic impact on the industry is forecasted to reverberate for years to come. With the whole supply chain at a standstill, companies have started layoffs and home confinement and ban on group gatherings has largely rendered fashion a non-essential on the demand side. So to start to wrap our heads around the unimaginable but potentially very real repercussions, a world event of this magnitude can have on our livelihood, mental state and an entire industry; in this episode, we start the conversation on, what the Coronavirus will mean to the future of The fashion industry? 

 

We're recording this from our respective homes, on a new app, so please excuse any sound interruptions, we promise we'll get a handle on it and it'll improve. 

 

Please let us know what you think about what's currently happening and also what you'd like to hear from us, any topics that are most relevant for you and we'll discuss! 

A Conversation With Vanessa Hong: Is Our Changing Relationship With Fashion Changing Fashion?

In this episode we chat with Vanessa Hong, influencer and fellow podcaster, about if our changing relationships with fashion has the power to really change the larger industry. We asked Vanessa to join this conversation specifically after she posted a very candid and honest account of how her relationship with fashion has become increasingly challenged, during what she describes as her breakdown and existential crisis during this recent Paris Fashion Week. This conversation perfectly dovetails from our previous episode about the state of influencer culture, with many key takeaways that offer both inspiration and a lot food for thought.  

This is the beginning of what we hope will be a series of meaningful discussions, dissecting where we go from here as the industry and the people who make it work continues to evolve.

We hope you enjoy the conversation and let us know your thoughts. If you could rate, comment and subscribe, that would be a gift we'd very much appreciate :)

 

Is Prada Too Big to Fail?

When it was reported a couple of weeks ago that the New York City Commission on Human Rights entered into a multi-year diversity resolution agreement with Prada outlined in clear goals to hire more people of color, it signaled a new age of accountability. But it also put a spotlight on companies like Prada, with a checkered history on race, desperately trying to reinvent itself without atoning for its legacy—and it's working. Prada has dragged along a new generation of black influencers, short on recent industry knowledge, to cheerlead their sudden anointment of black people. We welcome the evolving stance yet still we must ask, what was going on in those two decades when Prada largely ignored, if not suppressed the influence of black people? And, can Prada do no wrong, is it too big to fail?

Where is the Black Leadership in Fashion?

For this episode, we conclude 2019 discussing a big topic that has had Jason riled up for a while re: black leadership in fashion.

Black is in. The visibility of blacks in fashion as models, stylists and influencers is at a high. The influence of black culture from the dominant streetwear trend to the current curvy ruling body standard are setting the fashion trends. Loose organization surrounding the return to Ghana has well up among the black creative elite and an overall reverence for the Renaissance of the African motherland is afoot, but worryingly this black “uprising” lacks leadership. What looks like an opportunity to make some corrections and reparations as it relates to representation and recognition in fashion, is being Shanghai-ed by self-interested players plotting their own payday. Here, we talk about the advancements and the challenges, and address the question, where is the black leadership in fashion?

We're incredibly grateful for all the love and support in 2019 and since we started the podcast! We will be back in Feb 2020 with all new episodes. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy, engage and rate (*****) this Conversation and we'll be back soon!

 

 

What Happened to Fashion Journalism?

With the ever evolving landscape of fashion media - from people buying fewer newspapers and magazines, to the changing role of advertising and reviews, to editors becoming influencers and vice versa, we discuss the direction that fashion journalism is taking in the age of digital and social media.

In addition to writers Robin Givhan, Vanessa Friedman and Cathy Horyn mentioned in this episode, other personal favorites I (Henrietta) forgot to mention in the early morning moment is: Alexander Fury, Tim Blanks and Pam Boy - check them all out!

As always we hope you enjoy the episode, subscribe, comment, rate (*****) and continue to DM us, we always love hearing what you have to say and very much appreciate your support :)

Is Creativity Now Diametrically Opposed to Profitability (Greed)?

Increasingly over the last three seasons of our podcast, it seems evident that the solutions to many of fashion's problems are actionable creative solves, that are often not implemented. We've also seen that the fashion landscape for the most part, is merging into a more homogeneous marketplace with fairly little to separate one from the pack - from brand identities and content across platforms (think DTC brands sharing the same look and feel for performance purposes), to trends being applied almost identically across designer, contemporary and fast fashion brands, to the importance of profits by any means necessary - regardless of the human and / or environmental impact. Could this be because money is becoming the ultimate objective, over a founding principle of our industry - creativity? In this episode we discuss the merits and our opinions on this very topic.

We hope you enjoy and participate in this conversation - we'd love to hear what you think! DM us: @jasoncampbelstudioisback and @henriettagallina. Also, please subscribe, comment and rate (*****) our podcast - we greatly appreciate all the support!

A Conversation With Alok Vaid-Menon: Is Degendering Fashion One of the Biggest Issues in Our Industry?

Performance artist, poet, and speaker Alok Vaid-Menon is a tireless crusader, an unapologetic presenter, and a beacon in the fight for degendering fashion — while simultaneously decrying half measures, meaningless platitudes, and tokenism — in the battle to getting there. In this episode, this change agent joins us to discuss their not so radical roadmap to genderless fashion and why it's important to accelerate and elevate this topic as one of the most important issues in our industry today.

We highly recommend - if you're not already - to follow Alok's work on Instagram (@alokvmenon) and wherever they is performing, speaking, etc, for more game-changing ideas, conversation and solutions.

We'd love to know what you think also, so please comment, subscribe, rate, DM us via Instagram (@jasoncampbellstudioisback and @henriettagallina) and continue to join and elevate the conversation!

 

Why Was This BoF Voices Talk a Big Moment?

This week's episode follows on from Jason's experience at the BoF Voices conference in England, where we discuss one talk that was surprisingly one of the most talked about moments from the conference - the coverage of Garance Doré's take on why she 'Quit Fashion Week'.