Part 23 (1/2)
WORKs.p.a.cE:
From Starbucks to dingy cubicle to gleaming corporate office.
PATH TO POWER:
Start in the lowest job in a low-profile operation to learn the lingo; then, even if you need to take a salary and/or t.i.tle cut, sign on in a junior position for your dream company.
ALTERNATE PATH TO POWER:
Align yourself with a dazzling design talent as the business and marketing brain, then build an empire together; for example, Barry Schwartz (Calvin Klein), Robert Duffy (Marc Jacobs), Domenico De Sole (Tom Ford).
MOST COVETED BUSINESS JOBS:
CEO of fas.h.i.+on label, divisional merchandise manager, fas.h.i.+on director of specialty store, publisher of an online fas.h.i.+on magazine, CEO of an ad agency.
DOGGIE JOB:
A dead or dying category (print, bridge, better) where your boss has no sense of humor.
KEY BRANDS:
All fas.h.i.+on labels, all fas.h.i.+on magazines, all stores.
KEY PERSONALITIES:
Michael Gould (Bloomingdale's), the Nordstrom brothers, Robert Duffy (Marc Jacobs), Patrizio Bertelli (Prada), Bernard Arnault (LVMH), Francois Pinault (Printemps).
KEY ALLIANCES:
Anyone you've ever worked for.
MODERN SUCCESS STORIES:
Jeffrey Kalinsky, whose Atlanta-based Jeffrey store-Jeffrey Atlanta-took off in New York's meat-packing district-Jeffrey New York-just as that neighborhood was becoming the next big shopping destination. The folks at Nordstrom, identifying with his outsider intelligence, invested with him.
MISCONCEPTION:
That the business end isn't creative.
LANGUAGES:
Time, s.p.a.ce, money, margins, SKU (Stock Keeping Unit), ROI (Return On Investment).
STARTING COMP:
Basic with performance bonuses built in.
POTENTIAL COMP:
$ to $$$$$.
PERKS:
Quick mobility. You can move up from Bloomingdale's sales a.s.sociate to a.s.sistant buyer to Dolce & Gabbana showroom manager to regional sales a.s.sociate, etc.
Without Pierre Berge, there'd have been no Yves Saint Laurent.
Without Francesca Versace, Donatella Versace, and Santo Versace, there'd have been no Gianni Versace.
Without Giancarlo Giammetti, there'd be no Valentino.
Without Robert Duffy, there'd be no Marc Jacobs.
Without Domenico De Sole, there'd be no Tom Ford.
Without Barry Schwartz, there'd be no Calvin Klein.
Without Susan Posen, there'd be no Zac Posen.
Without Bud Konheim, there'd be no Nicole Miller.
Without Judy Kors, there'd be no Michael Kors.
Without Paul and Linda McCartney, there'd be no Stella McCartney.
Without Patrizio Bertelli, we'd never have heard of Miuccia Prada.
This chapter is about how you can be the next Robert Duffy, Domenico De Sole, Susan Posen, or Patrizio Bertelli. Getting there doesn't involve earning a degree and being supersmart or supercool. It's about putting yourself in the right milieu to work in the singularly thrilling, demanding, daunting, fun, cool world of fas.h.i.+on and grabbing on to the most talented person you find. This is the business side of fas.h.i.+on that requires a highly functioning left side of the brain. The fas.h.i.+on business brain is logical, rational, a.n.a.lytical, and objective. He or she thinks in a sequential way, breaking down a large objective, like creating a stunning collection for fall, into smaller, less daunting steps. He or she is consistently able to make things happen. Most important, this person, this alter ego of the designer, must know the designer well enough to think the way he or she thinks in order to communicate well with the designer. Which means that this person is probably something of a saint as well as being a renaissance person.
”At least I knew that when you add 3 plus 3, it will equal 6,” says Giancarlo Giammetti, modestly explaining his slightly more evolved abilities to run a business than his partner of forty-five years, Valentino Garavani, in the 2009 Matt Tyrnaurer film Valentino: The Last Emperor.
Let's talk about your brain. I'm making the giant a.s.sumption that you, like Giancarlo Giammetti, are a left-brain thinker who sees things in a logical, sequential way whereas your friend, the Creator, has brilliant visions but isn't necessarily able to complete the steps to bring the vision to life.
Seeing the Valentino film brought to my mind the sometimes soph.o.m.oric dynamic I've witnessed between Marc Jacobs and Robert Duffy, who met as teenagers working at the Upper West Side, then-edgy clothing store Charivari and who, throughout their careers, have sat at desks pushed together and facing one another. Duffy likes to complain about Marc's absent-mindedly swiping papers stamped ”Confidential” or ”Audit” and sketching on the back, then forgetting them somewhere in the design studio to be unearthed seasons later. Or for leaving bits of salad on Robert's spreadsheets. Thanks to Robert's abilities and to a total trust between the two, Jacobs is able to exist in a kind of fas.h.i.+on bubble.
Without Harvard-MBA-former-Gucci-finance-whiz Domenico De Sole at his side, Tom Ford may not have left Gucci to have his stint at Yves Saint Laurent before founding his own fas.h.i.+on house.
In some cases, as with Michael Kors and Zac Posen, there is Mom. Michael's mom Judy has worked for her son's company since its beginnings. Zac's mother, corporate lawyer, and company CEO Susan Posen has created the structure and alliances in which her son's design talent has thrived. Gianni Versace learned the dressmaking trade from his own mother, Francesca, at whose side he worked as a child. In turn, his older brother, Santo, and younger sister, Donatella, worked at his side, until his tragic death, and they continue to run the house of Versace.
Then, there's the odd case of the catalytic impact one personality has on another. Without Patrizio Bertelli, her pushy, driven Tuscan husband of decades, Miuccia Prada may never have taken the reins of her grandfather's luggage business and found a way to create simple, utilitarian bags and jackets that would explode the brand overnight into a global fas.h.i.+on powerhouse. After all, Miuccia had studied political science as a student and enjoyed living her life in the counterculture. She had no training in fas.h.i.+on, sketching, or designing.