Some trends are emerging in our times

1. Nostalgia or Back to the Future
   Even if, as wisely Tim Harford on the FT Weekend wrote, “in the scramble to get what is new, we shouldn’t overlook the value of what is old”
2. Ideological Conformity
   In the respect of every position and with a peaceful attitude, freedom of speech is the sign of civilization and when it is put in danger by a monolithic unquestionable thought it gets toward a perilous direction.
   “We need to preserve the possibility of good-faith disagreement without the professional consequences” wrote 153 writers and intellectuals in a letter to Harper’s magazine and signed by the likes of Noam Chomsky, J.K. Rowling and Salman Rushdie.
3. Rebooting Suburbia
   The lockdown imposed new social rules. Remote working has been one of them ever since. Cities like Milan that relied, for the life of the central areas, on commuters and tourists are sort of ghost towns.
   People realized that a different way of working is possible and companies that expensive office buildings are not so necessary. Suburbia and far away places came back to life. Maybe forever?
4. Plan B
   “Life is all about how you handle you plan B”
   That’s it
5. Breathe
   Nature, fresh air, rural landscapes are so up lifting.
   Concrete is not good.

The Coronavirus outbreak shook the fashion and luxury industry in an unprecedented way.

It forced the whole system to think in a different way and find unusual solutions to standard processes.

In the past month two women arose as the leaders of a new chapter: Miuccia Bianchi Prada and Christian Dior Couture Mariagrazia Chiuri.

Prada Group confirmed its powerful brand vision and the strength of experimentation in the visual arts merged with a collection presentation.

The project “The show that never happened” is the perfect symbol of how a fashion brand established several decades ago is perfectly in tune with the times thanks to its creative mastermind unstoppable research.
Miuccia introduced 5 artistic views in a powerful digital show. She mastered the art of visual communication with a conceptual touch, very close to the Brand DNA.

Dior Mariagrazia Chiuri launched successfully the Dior maison in the “phygital” dimensions with a movie directed by Award winner Matteo Garrone “Le Myth Dior” and a stunning show in Lecce, Italy for the cruise presentation two days.

How exceptional is it that the most French of the luxury maison organize such an impressive event in Italy, collaborates with local artisans and pays a tribute to Italy right after the lockdown?

Dear Gucci,

Shall we say goodbye to Alessandro Michele?

What scares the most the fashion system today?

The economic crisis?
The retail shutdown?
The new customer attitude?

No, it is scared by change

And it wants to go back to “a new normal”…

But is it normal that fashion, the most hectic and supposedly creative industry is unwilling to drive change and desperately agonizing for getting back to the glorious past?

Why the fashion industry abandoned the pioneering spirit that made its success, the unstoppable quest for beauty and the will to inspire people just to get stuck in an ivory tower of privilege and self-referral?

Because it cannot allow to lose privilege and established positions.

Because diversity and inclusion are just superficial beliefs.

The fashion industry is losing its appeal because it is giving up on understanding the reality.

When I read things like this –
“If the current crisis has taught us anything, it is that new for the sake of the new is just a PR stunt; that the urge for senseless change is a toxic marketing trick”
– written on one of the key media in the industry by one of the brightest minds (Angelo Flaccavento on BoF) I think that something risks to go very bad.

It’s not the urge for senseless change…

it’s the need to understand that THE WORLD HAS CHANGED FOR GOOD

Fashion and luxury do not need revolution nor “renaissance”…

They need:
– a business model
– a carefully crafted brand strategy
– a yearly action plan
– a strong vision
– a unique path to be developed through all the key state-of-the-art tools
– a motivated and dedicated team of professionals open to innovation

Christian Dior Couture is the classic example of successful brand evolution.

In one week they scored:
– best project for haute couture with Maria Grazia Chiuri “The Myth of Dior” movie directed by acclaimed director Matteo Garrone
– a huge queue in front of the store in Paris selling the Nike Dior Michael Jordan edition by Kim Jones

Great strategy + impeccable execution

And, no it’s not just a matter of money invested…

Just a video with dancing models…and some amazingly deja vu craftmanship videos

Maybe it’s time to look ahead, instead of just focusing on the ‘80s…

Maria Grazia Chiuri vision beats Virginie Viard

While Dior seemed dreamy and refreshing, Chanel emerged ad stucked in the past…

Will Phoebe Philo come to rescue the French Maison?

“What got you here, won’t take you there” is the bestselling book of one of the brightest minds in coaching: Marshall Goldsmith

The title says it all about the resistance to change, and much more…It’s a great read, and following Marshall Goldsmith webinars is Invaluable.

And I always wonder why all the prestigious consulting firms (the one attached is just an example) investigate about the future of fashion and luxury asking questions to C-suite executives of the same industry they have contributed to get on the brink of the ravine…

I am sure that 10 years ago they asked General Motors, Fiat and Peugeot about the future of the car industry.
But they certainly forgot to ask Elon Musk forecast.

Breaking news from Bloomberg Media Distribution:
“Tesla overtakes Toyota Motor Corporation to become the world’s most valuable automaker”

 

What do you think?

Powerful women

Rose Marcario

2006: she left a high-flying private equity job to go to India and restore herself following a burnout.

2007: she said that “the business world’s addiction to quarterly earnings was suicidal.”

2008: she joined Patagonia.

In 2020 she stepped down as CEO to “focus on the next steps in making systematic change to corporate benefit to the world”, especially leveraging technology and media.

She is also promoting the idea that “if capitalism is serving multiple stakeholders, then I think it can be compassionate. Then you care about your employees, you care about your suppliers, you care about your community, it’s different than just caring what your earnings per share is. That’s not going to lead you to a good long-term effect.2

And that …
“And we can do it! I ran a business that’s a really successful business by any indicator…and we were doing a lot of good in the world”

She took the green brand to almost 1 billion $ revenues and she launched the infamous campaign “Don’t buy this jacket”.

She could make the perfect CEO for a big brand in fashion aiming at being sustainable, walking the talk.
Will she?

Some fashion and luxury brands are stuck in the sandpit, too afraid to move on and too nostalgic of the “old normal”

Some of them are rigid because they have never done maintenance, some others are thinking big and cutting costs.

The most interesting ones are exploring the New World.

Instead of shutting down projects they have changed them, instead of doing propaganda they are sniffing what’s going on in the air.

And they are bold enough to go outside of their boxes on discovery path, focused on a new keyword:

#outdoor

 

Burberry and Dior are going to show outdoor their new collections.

Dior will organize a Cruise show in Southern Italy, in the jewel city of Lecce, Puglia and Burberry will show in the magnificent British countryside.

The two brands couldn’t be more different but both demonstrate the will not to just survive the pandemic outbreak but also to explore new paths for the industry.

What do they have in common? Italian Ceo and Creative Director.

And they will take us live outside of the claustrophobic places where we lived until now: our houses and devices.

It won’t just be a techno show with trance music.

It will be a journey.

It will be a borderline experiment of bold people willing to uplift us.

Thank you.

Education is the only way out of confusion, turbulence, violence, insecurity.

Knowledge is the only peaceful weapon a human being can use

Awareness is the most empowering skill one can gain and that leads to successful living

Instead of nurturing our sense of entitlement, we should foster our curiosity, exploration attitude and never ending passion for discovery.

Education is the only bottom up elevator that allows strong fundamentals and real equality of the starting points.
It is the only activity we should peacefully fight for.

Education is the best way out for long lasting success