Exhibiting and International Exposure

Throughout all my career I have been privileged enough to travel extensively, not just in Europe but to the US too. Most of the brands that I worked for exhibited at fashion events, like Who's Next in Paris, or Bread & Butter Barcelona. Some others had much bigger budgets to afford to book suites in some major hotels during all the Fashion Weeks across the Globe, like at the Bryant Park Hotel during the Mercedes New York Fashion Week, or at the Ritz in Place Vendome, during Paris Fashion Week. Some others also rented showroom spaces within other showroom,  quite common in Milan. Between the selling seasons I would go to visit some of the major accounts to see how the brand was performing, and if there was any help the client needed to increase the sales. I would also search for potential clients for an eventual expansion in that specific region. I was mostly fascinated by the department store in the New York, mainly because of the huge potential they had with such huge footfall. The present failure of the department stores in the US deeply saddens me, as I would love to express my really debatable theory, but unfortunately I am not in the position to do so. The international travel has also a huge impact on the way you construct a collection, giving you the opportunity to be both extrovert and commercial at the same time.