University of the Arts London Retail & Luxury Goods Club: THE VOGUE FESTIVAL: Bringing the Vogue brand to life

Overlooking a rainy and chilly weekend, London was the setting of what aims to become one of the most important dates in the world’s fashion calendar: The Vogue Festival. The concept, initiated by editor-in-chief Alexandra Shulman, brought together the fashion elite, including top models, leading designers, fashion-forward stylists, photographers and other key players in the fashion industry. From the perfect image of Tom Ford to eco-trendy Stella McCartney, each one of the speakers was a leader in their field, filling the theatre with inspiration and admiration.

The two-day event, organised in association with Vertu – pioneer and leading manufacturer of luxury mobile phones – was held at the Royal Geographical Society in South Kensington and included seven in-formal ‘in conversation with’ talks, five panel discussions and one Q&A session. The sold-out event also featured four educational seminars. Unfortunately these were filled on a first come, first served basis, leaving a greater part of the attendees with a sense of disappointment.

The festival, or rather fashion conference, inaugurated with a tête-á-tête between Christopher Bailey and Alexandra Shulman. Going against all stereotypes of the ‘fashion diva’, Bailey’s down-to-earth approach quickly won over the hearts of the audience, confirming a fact we long suspected: Bailey is undoubtedly the most talented and charismatic designer of his generation. The session went on to present some of the industry’s success stories, as Lucinda Chambers, Vogue fashion director, Marigay McKee, Harrods fashion and beauty director, Matthew Williamson and Russell Marsh, casting director, shared memories from their lives in fashion. Closing the first session was Nigella Lawson, who chatted to the free-spoken Kirsty Young, discussing women and food – perhaps the most complicated relationship throughout times.

Friday afternoon continued with a glamorous touch of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana who presented their current campaign; Famiglia, in conversation with noone else but Shulman herself. “Family is a universal unity where one can feel the warmth of love”, said Gabbana, as the designers highlighted the value of family and friends. The Italian duo also talked about working together after ending their personal relationship, the closing of the D&G line and the new focus on the main line, Dolce & Gabbana. The afternoon continued with an interesting panel discussion with Lisa Armstrong, Laura Bailey, Edi Campbell, Pixie Geldof, Mary Portas and Anne Robinson. These six beautiful and intelligent women of different generations discussed whether fashion has an age limit, with colourful references to mini-skirts, the obsession with youth, the importance of trimming and the option of Botox. The final conversation was without doubt the cherry on top of the afternoon, as Stella McCartney was interviewed by her long-time friend, actress Kate Hudson. With their unique ability to laugh about themselves, the artistic twosome recounted the McCartney-designed dress that Hudson wore to the Oscar’s in 2001, and which scored her a place on every ‘worst dressed’ list possible. Of course, McCartney also spoke about her ethical values, the support of PPR and the relationship with her creative team that “lets her have children and a personal life”.

Saturday kicked off with the Queen of ‘wrap dresses’, the iconic Diane von Fürstenburg, who shared her experience of building and rebuilding her own brand. The morning session continued with Tim Walker and former Vogue fashion editor Kate Phelan, who spoke about casting the right model, the importance of the location and what really makes it a fashion photograph. Legendary photographer David Bailey then took the stage in a conversation with Vogue’s features director Jo Ellison, and talked about his difficult school years, his megalomaniac friends and how he never got along with feminists. “I had a terrible time with feminists in the Seventies”, Bailey told Ellison, “They hated me, those women. I think they hated everything”.

The event’s last session started with the sexiest figure in fashion, Tom Ford, who himself may not be on the good side of the feminist movement. The flawless Texan had a heart-to-heart with Shulman, discussing various topics from how he got his first job (which included stalking a woman who hired him because he had beautiful hands) to his obsession with perfection (especially when things bear his name). The shameless Ford even asked the British editor if she had ever slept with a woman – much to her embarrassment. Later on, the stage was lit up by graceful beauty in the presence of models Lily Cole, Jourdan Dunn, Eva Herzigova and Natalia Vodianova. These four well-known faces shared model secrets with the also astonishing Calgary Avansino, executive fashion director at Vogue. The models reminisced about the beginning of their careers, discussed the differences between the past and present in modelling and talked about food issues related to the profession. Vodianova’s attempt to highlight that models generally live a healthy lifestyle turned wrong as the model claimed that “being skinny is better than being fat” – a statement that has now gone viral. Did Vodianova mean to be tactless? We don’t think so. Should she think before she speaks? Oh, yes. The closing debate focused on the red carpet, featuring the opinions of vintage expert William Banks-Blaney, photographer Richard Young, stylist Rachel Zoe and actress Joely Richardson. The dialogue underlined the challenges of the red carpet, from lighting to choosing the right outfit. Also discussed was how difficult it has become to create an exceptional look that creates a real buzz, both from a stylist and a photographer standpoint.

Needless to say, the Vogue Festival was a great success, leaving fashionistas more infatuated with the Vogue brand than ever. In an interview with the University of the Arts London Retail & Luxury Goods Club, Imran Amed of The Business of Fashion stated: “The Vogue Festival event extends the Vogue brand into a whole different space in the way it brings it to life. Previously Vogue was a magazine, then a website. Now, it can also be seen as an event where Vogue readers can have a dialogue with not just designers and photographers but also with the editors whose names they recognize from the magazine but who they maybe don’t know as people, and I think Vogue editors are doing a great job in moderating the conversations. So in general, what is great about it is that is just brings the Vogue brand to life”.

Written by Luis Roberto Ortega and Melina Notkina