Industry Icons
- Mar 13, 2017
- 3 min read
The main reason why I worked this post is for inspiration. Everyone knows that the best teacher in universe is called 'experience', but no one said that it should just be based on ours. In my opinion, this is one way of learning how to 'fly' - from people's stories of successes. Here are my personal list of people I look up to, who is rocking the fashion industry.
NATALIE MASSENET (Founder, Net-a-Porter)
Dame Natalie Massenet is the founder of Net-a-Porter, one of the pioneers of luxury e-commerce. But honestly, if integrating fashion journalism, luxury lusts, and an innovative shopping experience isn't a genius move, I don't know what is. As I was writing this, it was announced that she will take the co-chairman position at rival luxury e-trailer Farfetch, two years after she stepped down from Net-a-Porter (Ellison, 2017).
EMILY WEISS (Founder and CEO of Into the Gloss and Glossier)
She was one of those girls who dreamt of New York, and conquered it. An ambitious NYU art student, Emily interned at Teen Vogue for 3 years an took a job as a fashion assistant at W Magazine, and found an inspiration to start Into the Gloss, a beauty blog revolving on authentic connections with beauty lovers. What started as a side project, went out to raise $10 million in venture capital (Indvik, 2015). Oh, and she also founded Glossier, a millennial beauty brand conceptualised based on what ITG's audience wants.
MARGARET ZHANG (Blogger, Stylist, Writer, Photographer, Creative Director)
This Australian fashion blogger is insanely hardworking and creative. I mean, she does everything a blogger could, or more. Margaret had collaborated with big-name brands like Matches Fashion, Swarovski, Gucci, Chanel. She modelled and photographed the covers from Nylon Singapore, L'Officiel Indonesia, L'Officiel Philippines, to Vogue China. I had the pleasure to meet this uber-talented multi-hyphenate during an event in Sydney. Essentially, everyone had the same question in their minds: "How does she manage to travel so much, come up with all this creative briefs, cover all the magazines, while also studying in university?" The answer: nothing is impossible (My personal motto. Hey, I ended up here in Singapore after a ridiculous, Kardashians-would-approve plot twist.)
EMILY JAURY (Founder, Love + Flair)
The second Emily on the list! She's the founder of current Indonesian it-store Love + Flair (loveandflair.com) and several other labels. I had thought that Indonesia needs a multi-brand e-commerce site where many local brands are available in one spot, and she is doing a great job with it. I personally love how she documents her entrepreneur journey on Instagram.
SIDE NOTE: MILLENNIALS ARE BLAZING EM PATHS. Who's lazy again? As I worked on this post, I get a better idea of what . Maybe the main points I can pick out from here are these:
Know what the audience / market wants
Think of something unique
Work hard for what you want
Your background won't necessarily define your future
Don't be afraid to chase your dreams
Plus, those who needs no introductions for their contributions in the global fashion industry:
FRANCA SOZZANI (She is dearly missed.)
GRACE CODDINGTON
ANNA WINTOUR
CARINE ROITFELD
DIANA VREELAND
...and many more people that I didn't mention! This also goes to the people working behind the scenes.
Until then, readers.
References:
Acerleration. Emily Jaury, dari coba-coba hingga memiliki gerai sendiri. Retrieved from http://www.acerleration.com/stay-inspired/emily-jaury
Ellison, J. (2017). What Natalie Massenet did next: Net-a-Porter founder announces new role at Farfetch. Financial Times. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/dce4a228-fdd8-11e6-8d8e-a5e3738f9ae4
Glamsquad Magazine. (2015). Nat Massenet. Retrieved from http://glamsquadmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/NAT-MASSENET2.jpg
Indvik, L. (2015). How 'Into the Gloss' and Glossier founder Emily Weiss turned a side project into a burgeoning beauty brand. Retrieved from http://fashionista.com/2015/04/emily-weiss
Tiku, N. (2016). Inside Glossier, The beauty startup that just happens to sell makeup. Retrieved from https://www.buzzfeed.com/nitashatiku/inside-glossier-the-beauty-startup-that-just-happens-to-se ll?utm_term=.nwj4q3BB1#.rjMz2oYY4
WGSN. (2015). Fashion’s rising icon: How Margaret Zhang turned her blog into an established brand. Retrieved from https://www.wgsn.com/blogs/fashions-rising-icon-how-margaret-zhang-turned-her-blog-into-an-e stablished-brand/
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