Rag Trade 101: Its all in the details

With the economy in its current state, the retail trade has been riding a roller coaster that has resulted in cut backs, store closures, and a general sense of uneasiness all around. In these times, massive chain stores are grasping at straws to find magical cures as to why their customers are turning to lower price points or higher quality goods. They've brought in efficiency experts to stream line production and delivery, experts in retail planning to maximize square footage, and financial planners to cut costs, however they have completely ignored developing their first line of defense in the fight for your hard earned money, the sales associate.

Step into any store in your local mall and ask a sales associate at random questions about a garment's fabrication, construction, or styling and more importantly WHY these things matter in their products and see what they say. Speaking from several years of experience in the trenches, ie working in retail, I can  consistently say that sales associates at the moderate-to-better price points (read the average stores in your local malls) are not schooled on product knowledge unless they have been in retail for YEARS or have a background/love of fashion. In a healthy economy this lack of product knowledge at this price point doesn't matter, I mean $150 for a dress when times are booming isn't that big of a deal, however the second times get tough, the sales associate selling a $150 dress to a cash strapped middle-class soccer mom might as well be selling her a luxury item which requires an entirely different approach. Sellers at the bridge to designer price points (Bloomies to Neimans and beyond) can tell you that selling a pair of $500 slacks takes knowing what they are made of, where they came from, how they travel, how they fit into the customer's life and wardrobe, and where to get them altered. the difference between the approach at say Banana Republic, BCBG and Louis Vuitton has more to do with these details, and how each associate is armed with them, than anything that corporate is doing on the back end.

With retailers being at the mercy of their shoppers, arming the people who spend the most time with customers with the best possible tools is akin to making sure that every solider has ammunition. Arming your associates goes far beyond making sure that they greet each customer, take them to a fitting room, flatter them unnecessarily about each potential purchase, and thank them for shopping. Equipping sales associates means you teach them how to read the care symbols on a garment-many only have symbols these days-and most importantly how to communicate the value placed on every garment by those guys at corporate to every interested customer-not literally of course. Doing so may not make each and every customer buy but it will make for more return customers and help ensure that today's "Nothing worked" turns into tomorrow's big purchase.

You Gotta Love Yukimi Nagano!

This is another MissOmniMedia.com piece, and therefore all images and such are property of that publication. To view the piece in its orginal format go to Fashion Meest Music: Yukimi Nagano

For a country that is about the size of California with 15% of its area sitting pretty inside the Arctic Circle, Sweden definitely proves the adage that size doesn’t matter when it comes to producing a culture of cool. The country that gave us the Nobel Peace Prize, Ingmar Bergman, Ikea, H&M, and True Blood’s Alexander Skarsgard, is also the home of Little Dragon and their amazing front woman, Yukimi Nagano.


If you haven’t heard of Little Dragon, I suggest you scroll down to the bottom of this post and check out a few of their videos or even better, Google them. Both the band’s first and second releases, Little Dragon and Machine Dreams, are filled with the typical experimental electronic beats that our generation is so fond of layered with elements of jazz, soul, and 80’s pop with Yukimi’s angelic voice serving as the band’s center piece.

The 28 year old half Japanese half Swedish-American vocalist, who started out as a jazz singer, was born and raised in Gothenburg, Sweden listening to the wide range of music her mother played, and eventually developed a love for R&B. With influences that range from Prince and Chaka Khan to John Coltrane and Kraftwerk, it is easy to see how Yukimi is quickly becoming the muse of quirky indie loving fashionistas. Her style is as soulful, energetic, and innovative as her voice, and is far removed from the mass produced fast fashion brought to us by her fellow Swedes Hennes & Maurtiz. With her adorable short hair and ability to look at both times quirky and polished, like those cool art/design/music school girls you see on the train and immediately want to style jack, reveals the accessibility of her style that refreshing when compared the sea of stylist-on-speed-dial pop stars on MTV. This accessibility is perhaps the most endearing quality of Yukimi’s style for me; girls love seeing their favorite singers dressed in things they can put together themselves without the need of a glam squad.

Check out the videos and performances below to familiarize yourself not only with Yukimi Nagano’s almost spiritual voice but with her fresh sense of style as well. With a current spot on Gorillaz’s latest, Plastic Beach and internet rumors that Little Dragon is working on their third album, it’s safe to say that Yukimi isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

Creatives Wanted!

So Tricie, from that other blog I used to run, and I have decided to forgo the usual path to employment and are currently in the process of building a super hot brand new site for you to feast your eyes on. Currently, we are seeking fellow creative types who, due to the recession, are unable to find rel work and are looking to express themselves and build thier portfoilios at the same time. As of today we are in need of writers, graphics folks, and photograhers to help us fulfill our vision of a high quality online fashion/lifestyle publication that covers things we actually want to read. If you are interested shoot an email with a brief bio and links to your blog and/or work samples to contributors.online@gmail.com.

FYI: I'm not getting paid just yet from this therefore this is all about protfolio building. Also we will be accepting pitches, story ideas and submissions from writers asap and will be getting that email address to you later this week.

That is all...Good day!
xo
anab

Vogue Africa Denied by Conde Nast

This post was orginally written for MissOmniMedia.com and the images and copy shown here are property of that publication. To view this post in its original format got to Vogue Africa Denied by Conde Nast.


For a continent that is often grossly misrepresented in the mainstream media, fashion publications included, a chance to change the way that the rest of the world view’s their shared culture and contributions would have been mind altering to say the least. However, with Condé Nast denying Cameroonian photographer Mario Epanya’s proposal to develop an African edition of Vogue, the culturally diverse continent once again is relegated to safari spreads and pleas for aid.



Condé Nast has yet to comment on why, with 18 editions of the magazine published and distributed from India to Australia, Vogue Africa did not fit their criteria for licensing the Vogue name and likeness. Speculators have alleged everything from the more pressing issues plaguing the people of Africa to the logistics of distributing a publication to 1 billion people in over 2,00 different languages. The most disturbing reason being cited has to do with the lack of diversity in the mainstream fashion media.



After Vogue Italia’s Black issue way back in 2008 and the recent calls for more realistic models, Condé Nast had no problem with Vogue Italia launching Vogue Black and Vogue Curvy sections of their website-all in perfect English by the way-to satisfy the masses calling for diversity. The problem with both of these sites is that, as we Americans learned over 50 years ago, separate is not always equal. By segregating these populations into their own online editions, we are in fact placing a band-aid on an issue that need to be remedied not covered. Instead of focusing on featuring more girls who look like Sessilee Lopez and Crystal Renn on the pages of Vogue-did you notice its always Vogue Italia attempting to display more diversity-we push these girls into their own site on away from the mainstream. I didn’t know Vogue Black existed until recently, and as an African-American woman I was appalled to find a site where Tyra Banks interviews people and stories on stereotypical Black issues are featured-FYI there is already a Vogue Black in print, it’s called Essence. Again, the issue with this is not the clichéd images of women sporting natural hair and Black models smiling backstage, the problem is that there needs to be equal representation on the pages of mainstream outlets to remedy the diversity issue.

Getting back to Vogue Africa, without a definite statement from Condé Nast all we can do is speculate as to why they passed on the opportunity to showcase such a culturally rich continent in a positive light. All too often Africa is still portrayed as a war-torn land of savages ravaged with infectious epidemics, the fact that there are areas of affluence, a rich tradition in textiles and the arts dating back centuries before the founding of America, a diverse array of cultures and traditions, is often left out when mainstream media attempts to define the entire continent with brief snippets from a few countries. Hopefully with this story burning up the blogs, Condé Nast will at least look into expanding the Vogue brand to Africa not only in an effort to inject more diversity into the fashion periodical section at Barnes and Nobles but to also show more of the world the truth about Africa, which is not a country despite that popular misconception.