In the exhibition hall at London Fashion week are collected the UKs fashion Jewelry and accessories designers. This year there is as always a large and diverse collection of small and large companies.
What can they they can offer in our commercial mass production world of fast fashion?
The limited edition, bespoke quality of exquisite hand made pieces provides the unique and collectable quality that art buyers have been seduced by for centuries.
However fashion is all about commerce and selling a product to make money so designing for a high street brand is always an attractive option too. There has been many collaberations by top catwalk designers like Stella McCartney with the high street as we know. Top shop pioneered this. This is also the case for jewelry and accessory designers.
Our established ability to understand our customers and connect with them on an emotional level is the reason for our success.The reason for this success is that our brands — Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, and Terrain — are both compelling and distinct. Each brand chooses a particular customer segment, and once chosen, sets out to create sustainable points of distinction with that segment. In the retail brands we design innovative stores that resonate with the target audience; offer an eclectic mix of merchandise in which hard and soft goods are cross merchandised; and construct unique product displays that incorporate found objects into creative selling vignettes. The emphasis is on creativity. Our goal is to offer a product assortment and an environment so compelling and distinctive that the customer feels an empathetic connection to the brand and is persuaded to buy.
One such jewelry designer I admire is Jacey Withers. He has been in business now for ten years.
As well as designing exquisite one off pieces that can be made to order, he has also sold his fox collection to Anthropology, a cool brand aimed at the 30 -45 year old women.
Read the URBN company profile and you will see why they picked a designer such as Jacey Withers for his collection and design qualities - it is very interesting.
URBN are on the up and as I wrote in a previous blog about Anthropology this store is influencing key people in the fashion industry.
I am going to visit Jacey Withers this Friday at LFW to see his new collection. He has a studio in Shacklewell Lane in Dalston London which he shares with a collection of other British design talent.
