Key takeaways from Day 1 of Vogue Global Conversations

Vogue has just introduced today a 4 days appointment with fashion insiders. The Vogue Global Conversations will be held on Zoom and will feature discussions between Vogue editors such as Edward Enninful, from British Vogue, Eugenia de la Torriente – Vogue España, Angelica Cheung – Vogue China, Emanuele Farneti – Vogue Italia and L’Uomo Vogue and Nicole Phelps, the director of Vogue Runway –  and fashion insiders such as Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, Virgil Abloh, Cédric Charbit of Balenciaga to name a few. It will span a wide range of topics affecting the fashion industry, from the impact self-isolation has on creativity and design, to the future of brick-and-mortar retail and e-commerce.

On day one the topic was the Future of Creativity and the Future of Sustainability. 

Of course, the main discussions were all related to the consequences of this pandemic and how it’s affecting the fashion system. If you want to know how COVID is affecting the fashion job applications read this article.

I was really impressed by seeing Anna Wintour introducing the talk speaking directly to me in her laptop camera. These talks are a really great opportunity to learn from the heart of the fashion industry and I think it’s fantastic they are doing it for free! I’m used to consuming and producing webinars so I was really excited to see the big names of the fashion industry speaking in a regular Zoom call. If feels very intimate.

After a quick introduction from Anna Wintour herself, today Edward Enninful chatted with Marc Jacobs first and then the Austrian-Nigerian designer and LVMH prize finalist this past September, Kenneth Ize about the future of creativity.

When the editor in chief of British Vogue asked the American designer how he is going to present its spring-summer 2021 collection, Marc Jacobs replied:

“I don’t know if I’m going to have a spring-summer 2021 collection.”

In the conversation, Marc Jacobs said the process now it’s different and that we need to have patience and find new methods to design and produce fashion. “It feels like it will never exist as we know the way it did it”. 

Jacobs went on to explain that lockdown and self-isolation present challenges for the way he and his team collaborate, doing fabric development in Italy and working together to build a collection. “Until we discover a new way to work, until we create a new way to work or a new end goal to work towards, we really have nothing to do”.

“If we don’t learn from this pause we will found ourselves in way shit later”.

About the positive changes after this pandemic Marc Jacobs said:

“Individuals, everywhere and not just in fashion, should think: “How can I love myself so that I can be better? If we can do one positive thing for the environment, in terms of being kind… we have to contribute to the benevolence…””

When Edward Enninful asked Kenneth Ize how the pandemic has affected his creativity, the designer said it’s sad because he’s not able to travel to Nigeria or Italy where he has its production, but that this period has challenged brands to be more creative especially when it comes to telling stories now.

Both designers agreed that fashion shows must continue at the end of this global crisis. For Ize in fact, its Paris fashion show was fundamental to introduce the brand to the world: “The show moved our sales… Doing a show gives comfort to the buyers and to the consumers that this product is going to stay, it’s meant to be here.” Still, Jacobs thinks the show schedule needs to reflect a more thoughtful pace: “If anything there should be two shows a year…I think the amount of stuff we make, the quantity we make, and the amount of times it’s shown, it’s just so excessive.”

The second part of this webinar was a conversation about the Future of Sustainability between Eugenia de la Torriente, editor in chief of Vogue España, and Stella McCartney and Gabriela Hearst, the women who are recognized for their sustainable brands in fashion. 

The conversation started with their definition of sustainability, a “fashion” word used too many times everywhere.

For the British designer Stella McCartney “The word sustainability is a state of mind, is about balance at the end of the day. The most important thing is to use the natural resources we have on mother earth and being mindful of the process. In order to be sustainable in fashion, you need to think in advance in a circular way.”

For Gabriela Hearst “Sustainability it’s a practice and so you have to start with something challenging but achievable. It’s also a state of mind. Sustainability is learning to work with limitation so it’s great for creativity.”

“The worst could happen to us is to return to normality.” this is what the editor in chief of Vogue Spain said of this pandemic before continuing with her questions to the designers. There is, in fact, a common belief that we have to learn from this pandemic and most of all, act and change.

“This is the first time in history we can measure the damage we have done. This is the first time we are all in the same thing. We have to come out of this with a change. Especially in fashion, from the hairdresser to the stylist, editors, manufacturers, stores, designers… we have to use this time to have some kind of conscious outcome. The main thing is to use this time mindfully. We have to stop and consider the waste. We have seen in such a short period of time how nature bounces back. How can we get out of this problem? We have to come out realizing we consume too much, we have too much waste. In fashion we can do so much more with this waste, we can consume differently. it’s a reset button moment. I’ve already been working this way for many years, I’m already practicing what I preach but I hope people will take this time to consider how we are consuming mother earth. None of us wanted this, but we can only get out of it with a better future. We have to be better people. The good of this is that people slow down, ask more questions” Stella McCartney said.

“Being more empathic I think is what we all we need to become at the end of this pandemic” Gabriella Hearst concluded.

You can register from the Vogue website to watch the next conversations. I’ll sum up the best lessons from each day here on glamobserver.com.

See you tomorrow for day 2.