The secret to acquiring a good entourage is to have more fun than anyone else. This is a principle we stumbled upon in New York, tested in London and perfected in Paris.
So why do we, a couple of fashion designers, need a good entourage? We have always believed there are parallels between music and Rodnik: the way that bands struggling to make it do not really follow any rules, they just improvise; the way it’s not always the best that succeed, but those with something different; the way bands market themselves as much as their product; and the way people fall in love with the lifestyle.
We didn’t start our fashion show season with a song in our hearts, however. We started with a business plan in our heads: go to New York for two days, see our biggest account – Barneys – visit our new showroom and try to create some hype for our presentation during London Fashion Week.
We had chosen to travel Air India because it is that little bit cheaper and curry is on every menu. We like a bit of curry. As we boarded, we attempted our usual, half-hearted request for an upgrade – and instead of being told there were more deserving passengers, were told to ask the captain. As we took our economy seats we suddenly found ourselves being reseated – in first class. As we taxied away, a stewardess came by pushing a silver trolley that featured a ’96 Rothschild claret and as much caviar as one could ever wish to eat. It was a good omen.
We arrived at Barneys to a welcoming committee of vice-president, executive financial director and a team of four buyers – a far cry from our first effort to get an appointment two years ago, when we were unable to meet even the assistant’s assistant. As we explained the direction we were headed – young, not taking ourselves too seriously, more accessible pricing – they explained their growth strategy for Rodnik: tap into our energy and market the concept that when you put on a Rodnik dress you feel like you are on a night out with the designers.
In order to find out what this might feel like, the next evening we set off for the Zac Posen party at the Beatrice Inn – only to arrive and discover that the party was not being held at the Beatrice Inn. As we were leaving, however, we bumped into one half of the recently disbanded four-piece fashion label Trovata.
Like us, Sam [Shipley] and Jeff [Halmos] had not studied fashion and did not take themselves too seriously. Like us, they had marketed themselves alongside the clothes and had become friends with some great people who had given them fantastic advice. Unlike us, however, they had made a great deal of money and employed a vast workforce. And while we had attended the Council of Fashion Designers of America awards, they had won one. Generally, as four Californian surf-type guys, they had been seen as a sort of fashion boy band and, like most boy bands, had eventually decided to go their separate ways and start afresh.
We got to talking and drinking, and then some friendly faces turned up in the form of a couple of Vogue writers and Bee Shaffer [US Vogue editor Anna Wintour’s daughter]. We suddenly realised that this was where the real party was. We had made our own! We decided to keep doing it.
Back in London, we found ourselves seated for dinner next to Stella McCartney and movie impresario Harvey Weinstein at the Elle Style Awards. Could they be part of our entourage? Short answer: no. Way too intimidating. Instead, we fell in with a trio of young rockers that quickly turned into a gang who wanted nothing more than to dance. This resulted in Selfridges’ head buyer Erin Mullaney being dropped on her head in an over-zealous spin. Clearly we needed time to perfect our group approach.
To this end we decided to make a short film of our adventures to show at London Fashion Week and enlisted the help of Just So Films. Our creation (see Vogue.com) was premiered alongside our AW07 collection and seemed to do the trick. That night we reassembled the Monday gang and the next day we had made it into the tabloids. Yes, there was some value to this entourage thing.
At the end of the week, at the Marc by Marc Jacobs party, we were introduced to Marc’s business partner Robert Duffy, who spent 20 minutes asking about our brand and answering questions about the way he and Marc had built their empire. He seemed to get exactly where we were coming from – and he had not even seen the clothes! What was becoming increasingly clear was that, alongside a fabulous collection, what makes a truly great label is being able to generate an energy that can blow people out of the water.
We left for Paris with our brains in overdrive – the six-month sales target we had set just three months ago had already been smashed. Inspired, we put together Team Paris: the Made-In- Heaven-Denim-girls, style guru Sauvage, a brace of Barneys buyers, some Vogue-ettes and the aforementioned Selfridges buyer. We mixed in the Olsen Twins, who we’d met last autumn, and, wearing newly fashioned rock headbands, thundered into the Givenchy party. The rest of the night is a blur, but what sticks in our mind is being woken the next morning by the head buyer from one of America’s top speciality stores. The trouble with sleeping above the showroom is that you can be caught red-handed, red-lipped and unshaven by the very people you are trying to impress.
As we blundered around our showroom, however, the buyer said she found it all a refreshing change and we realised there was something in this rock ’n’ roll lifestyle. Why couldn’t we be designers and rockers? After all, there is a product to sell and the world of the catwalk show is getting tired. Why not get Winnebago to sponsor us with three tour buses, hook up with a British band and do an American tour?
We could print T-shirts with all the dates and cities. We could dress the band, get MTV to cover it and do gigs in 20 Barneys stores across America. If that worked we could go to Canada, Japan, Europe – a world tour! What better way to get the idea of Rodnik to the people? The entourage was waiting.
sTo read previous instalments, go to www.ft.com/adventures
