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Well, the first development meeting that we'll have will be about inspiration so things that
I either want or pieces that I have found. I love to go to vintage shops and find interesting
pieces, you know little design details, it might be a shoulder, it could be a lapel,
it could be a fabric whatever it might be I will think about how I can make that my
own and how that could possibly be the fashion message for the collection.
Each season the process is different because each season the collection gets bigger. When
I first started designing a collection, it was a collection of dresses now we have separates,
we have trousers, we have shirting, we've got knit, we have tailoring. So we'll create
a collection which is a big collection -- there is the show collection and then there is the
selling collection.
It's a fine balance between satisfying the hunger for 'new new new', and Victoria constantly
pushes her own boundaries forward - you know, in terms of the fashion message and new silhouettes,
new categories, new colours etc. - but at the same time loving the customer that you
have created.
In the weeks before Fashion Week, we get what is called the handover, so the design teams
talk us through the collection. We'll have seen them first stages in the making but then
we have the official handover, which is a week before when everything's been signed
off. So we see the collection, we might make some changes in the last minute, make some
additions, ask for perhaps a dress with a sleeve or some slight tweaks.
Victoria wanted to show in New York originally, that was very much her decision. New York
is the beginning of the fashion calendar for that particular season.
It's the kick off and it really whets the appetite of everybody: the press, the buyers
and the end consumers. So whilst I don't think it's all about the fashion show because it's
all a very important, you know, part of the collection fits and feels and sells, the fashion
show really produces imagery. And it's all about imagery nowadays and it goes around
the world in one quick go, so for us it's yea, it's vital.
Our slot is the Sunday of New York [Fashion Week], which for a lot of people they get
to New York on a Saturday, and because we're the first show on Sunday morning it's really
the start of the season in that respect, which is amazing because everyone's really excited
to start to see all the new collections and there's a real energy at the show, which is,
you know, incredible and extremely important for the brand.
We spend about 5 days prior to the actual show working the collection and really focusing
it. We don't really know what the show is going to look like until probably the night
before. So the week before you get a rough idea but then things can change dramatically.