FBC’s guest speaker on the 25th of November is retailer extraordinaire Yasmin Sewell. From a young age Yasmin has been a force to reckon with in the fashion industry. At 18 Yasmin Sewell worked as a fashion assistant at Harper’s Bazaar in New York, four years later she opened Yasmin Cho – listed by the New York Times as one of the 5 most influential boutiques in the world. In 2005 she relocated to London where she took the helm of world-renowned retailer, Browns. In 2008 she branched-out into consultancy and is credited with the reinvention of London’s iconic department store, Liberty. Yasmin steered the project to success as Chief Creative Consultant bringing in 60 new designers, and within a year Liberty declared double-digit growth, reporting its biggest half-yearly profit for over 10 years in August 2009.
Yasmin is also a big supporter of burgeoning talent and her golden touch has helped propel names including Christopher Kane, Meadham Kirchhoff, Nicholas Kirkwood, Marios Schwab, Acne andMichael Van Der Ham.Yasmin’s commitment to the industry sees her working with the British Fashion Council, as well as sitting on various boards including the Swarovski Emerging Talent Award and she has twice judged the British Fashion Awards.
Yasmin’s resume is impressive to say the least, and therefore it is only suitable that another fashion maverick conducts her interview.
On the 25th of November Yasmin was interviewed by digital whizz,FBC member and Digital Director of WGSN Lauretta Roberts at Swarovski Crystallized who had just stepped off the plane from New York where she created the first ever Global Fashion A
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| Lauretta Roberts interviewing Yasmin Sewell |
On her advise to selling, she stated that one has to know your competition, don't be delusional and most importantly know your market.
On the question on what to wear next season, Yasmin said it is right to go to with your feeling as fashion evolves and also it is worth while gathering information around the world.
With the world moving fast into the technology age, she said she is a firm believer of the internet and she will and still uses the internet to shop.
Asked how internet affect consumer behaviour, Yasmin's answer straight way was 'scary'. Scary for designers. Most of them (designers) have to be very careful their work are not over exposed hence they are hyper cautious what they exhibit on the net.
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| Courtney Blackman and Yasmin Sewell |
She also made emphasis on Boutique stores with the way the store should feel and the service and product it renders. On the topic of service, Yasmin stated that London is best known for its appalling way of customer services and I could not agree more. There is this 'I do not care' attitude. But there is one department store that as we all know is very good when it came to service and they are no other than John Lewis.
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| The crowd |
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| Lauretta Roberts,Courtney Blackman,Yasmin sewell and Alison Whelan |
One shop she would lay her hands on is David Jones in Australia and asked what she will do to it, her answer was, sort out the Brand mix and the layout.
On a whole listening to Yasmin Sewell, I can to say she has come very far and she clearly knows where she is heading.
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| The Crowd. |
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