Discovering New Talent

2016 has been quite an exciting year of significant collaborations to connecting with amazing people in both the influencer and design world. 

One of the highlights of my job is discovering fresh, new talent in fashion. While in Paris for Fashion Week in March, I took a break one morning between shows to visit Floriane Fosso, an up-and-coming womenswear designer, at her atelier in Montmartre. At only 25 years old, and following stints at Chanel and Michael Kors, she's already established her own independent label and finding new ways to disrupt and push the envelope in the industry. 

Floriane’s a rising new IT girl in the fashion world, with her focus on upcycling luxury materials in her designs. She represents a generation that’s no longer only about the label but about the process and impact on the planet. Although only 25, she’s wise beyond her years and has both a fantastic design aesthetic as well as a pragmatic approach from a business perspective. Her collections, the more luxurious Floriane Fosso Studio (coming Spring 2017) and the ready-to-wear From Paris to... pieces are made in small batches in France.

Designer Floriane Fosso

Nowadays, the spectacle that is Fashion Week is often meant for the cameras and not where true business is being made. Often, the buyers have 1:1 appointments with designers at the ateliers and leave the seats at the big shows to the celebrities, influencers and media. This is particularly true as fashion cycles become faster and faster. No longer do we have two seasons of designs (Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter) for both RTW and couture - even though the show circuit remains the same. Instead, consumers are looking for much more frequent presentation of new designs and this adds to significant pressure for the design houses.

Independent labels like Floriane Fosso have a bit more flexibility. Nonetheless, it's particularly busy when you only have a small team. 

This is where I come in. 

I’m thrilled today to announce a new partnership with designer Floriane Fosso to bring her designs to Vancouver! This is Floriane's first entry into the North American market and I'm so excited that she's chosen Vancouver as her first Canadian city! Soon you'll be able to peruse through her collections in the city's finest retailers; in the meantime, check out her website here: florianefosso.com