MARY KATRANTZOU
BRAND ANALYSIS BOOKLET
MARY KATRANTZOU
Designer Overview
PR
Mary Katrantzou was born in Greece and grew up in Athens surrounded by a creative family, her farther a trained textile engineer and mother an interior designer. Mary’s upbringing has had a profound effect on her style of design and a number of interiors and prints can be found to be key features of her collections. Studying Architecture at Rhode Island School of Design for only 18 moths Mary then moved to London for love and studied Textile Design at Central Saint Martins. Shortly after completing both her BA and MA at CSM Mary Katrantzou was awarded a NEWGEN sponsorship for six seasons (spring/summer 2009 - autumn/winter 2011). Her unique hyperrealist aesthetic and bold prints became Mary’s signature and was brought to the attention of the British Fashion Council when Mary opened the CSM graduating show in 2008. A great achievement in itself as CSM is renowned for its talented exports. Previous successors include Alexander McQueen, Giles Deacon and Stella Mccartney just to name a few. With the support of NEWGEN and the British Fashion Council Mary debuted at London Fashion Week in spring/summer 2009, and since has won a number of awards which has helped fund the company.
Relative Mo is Mary Katrantzou’s PR and they are partly responsible for such good sales figures as they help promote the brand. Showrooms are set up across the world each season in New York, Paris and LA by Relative Mo. They allows buyers and journalists to get close to the designs, allowing them to see the detailing and craftsmanship that might not be visible in pictures. These sort of showrooms are important to London designers as the majority of the fashion press don’t attended many London shows due to the strain in the Fashion Week Time table. Therefore it is crucial to take a London designers collection to a city where it will be recognized. Mary Katrantzou does not use much advertising as its small budget wont be able to compete with the mega brands when it comes to campaigns which could cost millions of pounds. However Mary Katrantzou’s designs have featured in ad campaigns for Net-A- Porter.com, it is likely the permission to use the dress in the campaign was allowed in exchange for free publicity which is great opportunity for a growing company. The magazine which Mary has had coverage in includes Vogue U.K and U.S and around the world. Harper’s Bazaar,Bon and Elle.But she also has been in smaller publications like, lets eat cake,L’espress styles and stella. Mary has also been on a few cover’s of magazines throughout her time as a designer which includes Another magazine September 2009,Stella April 2009,The times Luxx may 2010,Bolero a/w 2010 and Harpers Bazaar China May 2011.
MARY KATRANTZOU
Sales Stocked in over 70 stores around the world Mary Katrantzou’s sale are impressive for a relatively young company, orders have increased 80% between s/s 11 to a/w 11 (Quick: 2011) . Barney’s (in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago), Corso Como in Milan, Colette in Paris and Joyce in Hong Kong are just a few well known department stores that stock Mary Katrantzou (Lowthorpe:2011). However it is the Italians that embrace the Mary Katrantzou style the most as the brand is stocked in over 30 locations across the country (according to Mary Katrantzou’s LFW profile). The attraction to Mary’s designs may be due to the Italians own tastes, designers such as Versace and Missoni are both Italian brands that share Mary’s to bold style.
Above Image - 2011 Collette window Online sales are just as popular, in some cases this makes the brand more accessible to customers who may not live near a store where Mary Katrantzou is stocked. Therefore online shopping platforms reach a global scale and are more cost affective as no shop fit or store rental is needed. Online retailers stock different pieces of the collection on different price ranges. Net-a- porter.com stocks some of the most expensive pieces ranging from £1000 - £3000 while sites such a luisaviaroma.com, stylebop.com and farfetch.com don’t tend to sell anything over £1000. However simple scarfs and accessories are available to buy from these sites for around
£300 which is more accessible compared to some of the higher price range pieces. Shopstyle. com is a online retailer search engine which allows a customer to shop on the one site. This one stop site for online shoppers makes the experience more simple and easier to find other pieces of a collection which a site might not stock. Shopstyle.com shows all available online pieces which helps showcase the collection and in turn increase sales. Previous collection have also sold well such as spring/summer 2011 which sold 2,000 pieces, a great achievement for a company that has developed during a recession (Lowthorpe:2011).
Above is how one of Mary Katrantzou’s dress’s is sold and represented on net-a-porter. It is a very clean and professional website which takes away not attention from the item. On the left side of the web page is a scroll down image selector which you can use to view the garment on its own, from the catwalk or on a styled model, this gives the customer a variety of views of the dress, without having to leave the website. There are also options to zoom in to see the intricate detail on the garment or to play the video, this is the model from the images walking around in the garment to give the customer another way of seeing the item in motion as it is currently not an option to try it on. To the right of the image is all the information needed about the dress, the editors notes are a general description of the collection including its influences, and some information on the garment. There is also information on what the garment has been styled with. On the details tab is information on the fabrics, the fastenings, the cut and also care information.
MARY KATRANTZOU
Branding
SWOT analysis
Mary Katrantzou had her first exhibition space at LFW for the Spring/Summer 2009 season sponsored by NEWGEN after her successful graduate collection, since then she has always shown her collection not just in the exhibition space but as a catwalk show aswell. Receiving recognition and support from the British Fashion Council year after year. The brand receive glowing reviews from the press and ‘From spring/summer ‘11 to s/s ‘12 sales have increased by 200 per cent’ (Vogue:2012) however the brand is still seen more as an emerging brand, Mary Katrantzou is not yet established enough to have a stand a-lone store. However with the ways things are heading for the brand in terms of press coverage, sales, funding and collaborations it wont be long until the brand becomes established.
Strengths • Strong presence in the press • Collaborations with top brands • Strong social networking platforms • Celebrities and industry insiders wear the brand • Unique take on prints • Baking form British Fashion Council • Range of stockists in the UK and internationally • Items available to purchase online • Garments used in high profile editorials Weaknesses • Still classed as an emerging designer after several seasons • Currently no website • No stand a-lone store Opportunities • Create a diffusion line • More successful collaborations • Stand a-lone store • BFC/Vogue designer fund 2013 Threats • The high street creating copies of the collections and collaborations • People not spending a great amount of money on clothing • There are always new designers and the fashion world moves quick
Mary Katrantzou’s unique selling point is the use of print within her collections, these are often inspired from the art world in particular interiors and architecture. ‘Dizzing, hyperreal prints and colour swirling around flattering structured cocktail dresses’ (Vogue:2012) The colour used is also bold and bright. Prints in bold colours are often some of the hardest things to wear but Mary Katrantzou creates not just viewing pleasure but for wearbalitily, the garments are made to compliment a womans body and show off her best bits.
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Product There are very few women who could wear and afford a Mary Katrantzou dress, particularly an avant garde design which could cost up to £3,000. However the reason these amazingly detailed pieces are made is to showcase the Mary Katrantzou brand and aesthetic. An example would be the finale piece in the spring/summer 2012 collection which took two months to make (How to make a Mary Katrantzou dress:2011). Embellished in Swarovski crystals and miniature kitchen pots and pans the dress amazed and showed how imaginative and unique the Mary Katrantzou style is. Other fashion labels that use the runway to showcase their brand aesthetic is Alexander McQueen. Very few of the late designers garments were wearable pieces but each were unique and beautiful to look at. These show stopping designs caused a lot of hype and publicity non more so that McQueens A/W 1995 collection titled ‘Highland Rape’. A delicate and controversial subject McQueen dealt with, although it gained him a lot of media attention, good and bad, but this episode helped make Alexander McQueen a household name. Once the market took an interest in McQueens aesthetic the diffusion line ‘McQ‘ was established. Here people can buy into the McQueen brand more easily as deigns are more wearable and sell at a reasonable price range. At present Mary Katrantzou does not produce any diffusion lines or pre/resort collections she only shows twice a year however there has been talk within the company about working on other lines, in particular a T-
shirt collection (ref). Mary’s signature prints would easily translate to a T-shirt collection and could be accessible to a wider market including men as a T-shirt can be worn by anyone so easily. Mary Katrantzou’s recent collection with Topshop shines new light on this area. T-shirts designed for this collection priced at around £50 sold out within days, showing the demand for the product. Producing a T-shirt collection at a higher standard than Topshop’s and a more affordable price range than the main collection tops (£500) would be a great, unique way to sell the brand to the mass market. This new source of income would help stabilize the company’s cash flow as a T-shirt range dose not have to be seasonal, there could be new designs constantly throughout the year. Proenza Schouler is a brand that benefits from having pre collections, this extra income has allowed the company to develop and grow (Cook:2011) Current sellable products are scarfs that cost around £300 making them available to a much larger consumer base. The scarf teamed with Mary’s striking prints is the perfect accessory to add colour and a fashion edge to anyones outfit. This piece can be worn by women and men of all ages and at an accessible price can be bought as a gift. The designs themselves are made to order by hand in some cases, this is done in their London studio. The fabrics however are sources from abroad in India and Paris (Levy: 2012), crystals that were used in the S/S 2012 collection were all Swarovski due to a recent collaboration with the brand, in this case crystals would have been given at a reduced price or even for free. Having Mary used their crystals in her designs helps give them publicity as well as showing there support for fashion, making Swarovski a desirable brand to the Mary Katrantzou customer. Production of garments is overseen by 5 seam stresses and the rest of the team is made up of unpaid interns who cut the patterns. The use of interns is important especially for a smaller brand as this is the most cost affective way of production as very little labouring cost need to be paid. However a company has to be careful not to overwork and abuse interns as this could lead to future legal prosecution.
MARY KATRANTZOU
Competitors Erdem Erdems designs share quality with Mary Katrantzou, they create bold modern feminine garments, in strong, colourful prints with added embellishments, such as appliqué and embroidery. There colour and prints are very recognisable. Erdem has won a variety of awards, he has won the BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund in 2010, which is a huge achievement for any designer, Mary was short listed this year for the fund. In 2009 Elle Magazine awarded the brand the Fashion Future Award. The BFC awarded him with heir Fashion Forward award in 2008, which Mary has received. And in 2007 he won the Swarovski British Fashion Council Fashion Enterprise Award. The brand has a strong presence both in the UK and internationally, stocked in over 90 stores , which include some of the most prestigious department stores such as Barneys, Colette, Dover Street Market and Browns (Mary does not currently sell in Browns). Erdem shows twice a year and also has a resort collection. Online presence - Erdem has a facebook account with 5221 people who have ‘liked’ the page,
the do not use their facebook page often, there is spaces of up to 6 days inbetween posts. It is used to update customers on what press the brand has, online interviews and editorials and also to show them videos. The twitter account has 9365 followers but is not used very often at all with it currently being 26 days from the last tweet. The majority of the tweets are retweets from others mentioning the brand or an image of a celebrity wearing the brand. The brand do have a website, once on the website you can access images of their collections and backstage photos. There is also a video of the most recent show, a press page, stockists and a contact page. Products - They do similar products to Mary Katrantzou, with stunning dress’s being the main focus, there also so a collection of silk scarfs. With the price ranging from £300 - £2,000 for Ready to wear. Brand Promotion - Erdems garments are featured in the most read fashion magazines,such as Vogue and Elle and the brand is also a red carpet favourite with celebrities. In 2011 Er-
dem created a limited edition customised pudsey bear to raise money for children in need. In 2009 Erdem was chosen for the V&A fashion in motion event and is to be in the new exhibition by the museum ‘Ballgowns, British Glamour Since 1950’
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Competitors Holly Fulton Holly Fulton’s designs unique selling point is her graphic prints used on garments these are enhanced with the use of embellishments using materials such as metals and Swarovski crystals. Like Mary Katrantzou alot of her design influences come from the world of art such as the Bauhaus movement and art deco In 2009 she won the Swarovski Award for Emerging Talent in accessories at the British Fashion Awards, the Elle award for New Designer in 2010 and the BFC/ELLE talent launch pad winner in 2010. Nominated for the Designer of the Year at the Scottish Fashion Awards 2011 The brand has stockists both in the UK and internationally. In the UK you can find garments all across the country in London, Surrey, Manchester and Liverpool. A variety of stores can be found in the Middle East and Asia. And the is one store that stocks Holly Fulton in Russia and New York City. Online presence - Holly Fulton does have a website, but the web design does not promote her
brand ethos and the design is very basic, it contains images of all collections, and about page with a large bio of the designer, a stockists page and a webpage for contacting the designer. There is no official page on facebook for the designer, just one that a fan has set up with 140 likes, it is very basic and the fan does not have the time or resources to look after the page to a standard that the Holly Fulton team would. There is not twitter account for the designer either. Product - Holly Fulton creates a variety of different garments her most popular being tops, jackets and dress’s ranging from £400-£1,000 Brand Promotion - In 2011 Holly Fulton designed a limited edition bank note to be sold to raise money for funding of the London Printworks, this got her press coverage in the likes of Vogue and linked the designers name to thoses such as Zandra Rhodes and Jonathan Saunders. In 2011 she created a stationary range for Smythson. Holly Fulton also designed a Tshirt in collaboration with Topshop to celebrate 10 years of NEWGEN
MARY KATRANTZOU
Competitors Johnathan Saunders Johnathan Saunders is another print designer, he an MA in printed textiles from St Martins which won him the Lancome Colour Award in his graduating year of 2002. As well as designing for his own fashion house he is the creative director for the Milan label Pollini. He uses traditional fabrics and explores ways in which prints work around the pattern pieces of garments, using traditional silk screening techniques. Johnathan Saunders has won a variety of awards besides the Lancome colour Award, in 2006 by the BFC he was awarded the Fashion Forward Award after being part of the NEWGEN scheme and then the year after in 2007 won the Elle Style Awards, Designer of the Year. In 2011 he received Scottish Designer of the Year. And this year he won probably the most coveted Award, the BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund Award for 2012 The brand stock both in the UK and internationally, he has strong client based in the UK and the USA due to previously showing for some seasons in New York. Johnathan Saunders works can also be purchased from Net-a-Porter. He designs for women and men. Online Presence - Johnathan Saunders has a facebook page with nearly 6,000 people ‘liking’ the page. The brad update their facebook page everyday, not just with news and information about the brand but also interesting exhibitors or creative articles, which is unusual for a
brand to do, as most use social networking as a platform just for themselves but here they are almost conversing with the consumer and showing them what they are interested in outside of their own brand. On twitter the brand have 5,397 followers, the twitter account is used everyday , they re tweet posts by others that mention then, and update their followers about the brand such as images, articles and interesting editorials. The brand website is very well made, clear and easy to use, with contacts, projects, biography,stockists and information on his collections. Product - As with most designers based around print Johnathan Saunders has created scarfs as part of his ready to wear collection which are priced at £285, products also include dress’s, skirts, jumpers and tops. Brand Promotion - A lot of people in the public eye wearing Saunders eye catching designs, in March 2012 Samantha Cameron wore one of his designs to meet Michelle Obama. He was also one of the designers to create limited edition T-shirts for Topshop to celebrate NEWGENS 10 year anniversary. In 2011 he created a custom one off Pudsey Bear to raise money for children in need. And like Holly Fulton has created a range for Smytson. In January 2010 he collaborated with Topshop where prices started at £35, even before Topshop he created a range for US brand target.
MARY KATRANTZOU
Collaboration Today more and more designer brands are collaborating with a wide variety of different brands and people. It used to be the case that these designer brands did not want to be associated with the high street, but in this ever changing financial market and due to the rise of the high street producing filtered down imitations faster than ever before the designer brands have join forces with the high street to create limited edition collaborations which take key elements from their main line. These designer collaborations with high street are massively publicised and appear in a lot of press, a lot of hype is created on social networking sites and often leads to large queues of people wanting to own these highly sort after pieces. Mary Katrantzou was launch into the British Fashion scene with the help of the British Fashion Council and Topshop’s NEWGEN scheme, since then Topshop have collaborated with the brand several times. Her first collaboration with the high street store was in 2011. Which has taken print elements from her s/s 10 collection which was inspired by blown glass. This collaboration consisted of two prints, both of these were used on a dress, costing £120 and a scarf at £50. There was also 7 different prints used on nail design for the WAH nail’s who have a studio in the flagship Topshop store.
In February 2012 to celebrate their 10 years of supporting new designers NEWGEN asked 20 past designers to each design a limited edition T-shirt, which were sold and promoted through out fashion week. The T-shirts where priced at £30 with £7 of this going directly to centre point a charity dedicated to young homeless people. On the right is the image used to promote the brands T-shirt, interestingly the Mary Katrantzou was one of the only ones to be photographed in black and white, even though a focus of her ethos is colour the pattern is the main centerpoint of her collections and with the image not in colour it brings out the print more and creates texturised contrasts. The collection of T-shirts was released on 17th February, this created even more press for the designer who’s Topshop Collaboration was realised on the same day. This fashion week was a big celebration for Topshop and it is clear to see why they choose to celebrate their success of 10 years supporting designers by collaborating with the brand, Mary Katrantzou is getting become an internationally talked about brand. Below are some images to show how the T-shirts where promoted on the courtyard and inside Somerset House.
MARY KATRANTZOU
On 17th February 2012 Mary Katrantzou revealed its newest range for Topshop. This time round there was much more variety dress’s, trousers. tops. leggings, shirts and scarfs This collection received a lot of press from across the board, in fashion monthly, weeklies, the tabloids and the broadsheets. All the main blogs like Style Bubble where excited for the realise of the 10 piece collection which had items ranging in price from £30 - £350. Mary was quoted as saying ‘My idea behind the collaboration was to design for the Topshop girl a range that is as close to the aesthetic of my mainline as possible, with great control over the quality of design and production.’ (Vogue online:2012) Below are two images from the lookbook for the collaboration. By creating a lookbook for the range the store immediately elevates the collection to a more high end designer status. Most of her stock was sold out within days of launching which includes the porcelain bowl skirted dress which stole the limelight and was oxford streets best seller. With her Topshop collaboration many celebrities and reality television stars wore her best selling bowl dress which celebrities wore to up and coming events which promoted the Top-
shop collection as press would ask who are you wearing. Chloe Green was among one of the celebrities who wore Marys dresses to a premier when Topshop collaboration first came to store. And as she is the daughter of Sir Phillip Green the owner of Topshop which is in the company arcadia. Other collaborations includes a selection of bags from Longchamp where Mary created two types of bags in 5 different designs. Based on inspiration from east meets west. “Their pilage and tote bags are the perfect canvas to engineer a print and it’s also great to offer women who might not be ready to commit to a fully printed look.(Mary Katrantzou quote on the collaboration) Collection of handbags with the leather label with totes coated in Katrantzou’s signature digital prints. It showcases a “East Meets West” theme with intricate paper lanterns, dragons, and Asian architecture, making a colourful alternative to Longchamp’s signature muted palette. The new series from Six Scents perfume, Six Scents Series Three, brings together prominent perfumers and designers again,The rising design stars: Alexis Mabille, Mary Katrantzou, Junn.J, Rad Hourani, N. Hoolywood, and Ohne Titel, are paired with perfumers from Givaudan house. The collection consists of six fragrances, associated with the name of one of the artists. ”Trompe L’Oleil composition is a variation on the classic feminine scented theme, modernized with fruits and citruses and the base notes of oriental sensuality.” (ww. six-scents.com)
MARY KATRANTZOU
Marketing Social Media has become increasing popular in the way in which brands promote themselves. In the fashion industry the use of social media is now essential, in particular for up an coming designers as social network is the largest, fastest, most up to date and probably the most simplest way for them to reach their consumers and most importantly it is free. Mary Katrantzou use there facebook page very effectively. Below is a shot of what the header of their page looks like. As you can they have chosen a photomontage of images from backstage at their catwalk showcase, showing different patterns, details and colours. The profile picture contrasts this as the colours are much more subtle which allows the larger image to stand out more. The profile image is also one directly from the catwalk with the garment moving showing the collection different to how its viewed in the larger image. The page shows that 18,592 people have ‘liked’the brand on facebook and over 1,000 people are ‘talking about this’ when updating their own pages or talking to friends on the social networking site. The 18,592 people that have ‘liked’ the brands page can now receive updates from the brand as information they share on their page will automatically come up on to the facebook users new feed. That is 18,592 consumers that Mary Katrantzou can directly advertise to for free, in a very fast amount of time.
Having a facebook page is not only effective as it allows Mary Katrantzou to advertise for free but also because it affirms industry connections. On the left is the pages that the brand itself have ‘liked’ The majority of pages that the brand have ‘liked’ are stores that stock the collections, stores and brands that they have collaborated with, make -up brands, magazines, museums and gallerys. These brands also use their facebook page as a communication tool, to make there facebook users feel as though they are part of there conversation, by allowing comments to be posted underneath their posts. For example below British Vogue have posted about Henry Holland wearing S/S 12 Mary Katrantzou from a post of his blog for Vogue. com they have asked the facebook users a question which has gotten them involved in the both the brand and the magazine. 186 facebook users have ‘liked’ the image and 16 users have shared the post on to their own facebook profile, everytime a user gets involved with anything on the brands facebook page all their facebook friends will be able to see this and have the choice to click and find out what it is, again creating more free advertising.
MARY KATRANTZOU
The brand use their facebook page on a daily basis, to inform and communicate with their customers. On this page are some examples of how as a brand they use facebook as an effective tool to communicate. 1
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1 - Is an image from Mary Claire UK in which the magazine has used a Mary Katrantzou in a editorial. 182 of their fans have liked the post and 10 have commented. It also shows that 12 shares have been done on this image. Below the image is the option to share the link the brand have posted, by doing this it becomes your current update on Facebook, which is then viewable to all of your Facebook friends. This is also free advertising for the magazine and shows of a beautiful styled image of the brand to the target consumers. 2 - This is an update stating how many days it is until the Mary Katrantzou show. The show refers to the London fashion week show which will be happening in 18 days, over 100 of the fans have liked this post. And several have commented on the update to show their enthusiasm for what is too come. By doing this the brand is interacting with the consumer and making them feel part of it, as though they are getting excited with the Facebook fans. 3 - The Facebook page also allows for fans to post onto the wall, this is probably monitored by the brand so that no negative posts will get published, and if they do they are taken away or dealt with straight away. Here a fan has posted an image the have found or created were Blake lively character Serena in Gossip Girl is wearing a dress by the brand. It only has 5 likes, this will be due to the fact that when a fan posts it will not come up on other fans Facebook feeds. 4 - In the run up to fashion week the brand have uploaded and posted some fashion illustrations from the last collection, this post has over 200 likes. Probably due to the fact this gives you a sneak peek into what goes on behind the close doors when designing a collection. The consumers will like to see the drawing that came before and inspired the creation of the dress they own or would like to own. 5 - Here is another post by a fan who has created a tumblr blog dedicated to the brand, she has posted it on the wall for more fans to see and the brand itself have given it a ‘like’ by doing this it almost gives the blog their seal of approval. 6 - In this post a Facebook fan has asked the brand a question about where they can find Mary Katrantzou in Japan. The brand replied in 2 minutes which is a very fast response and shows that someone is often looking after and updating the social networking pages. Engaging with the consumer is not hard to do on social networking sites, it also shows you value your customers as most lead to busy lives to try and search themselves, the brand has taken out the middle man and will give advice itself. I have also noticed the tone in which the brand talks to their consumers. Usually on social networking sites people can be very relaxed, however the brand have stayed very professional with correct grammar and no smile face emotions or kisses at the end of posts.
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When you begin a search for Mary Katrantzou on twitter the official twitter is the first search available to you. Below is what a twitter page looks like. Their is no about me or bio filled in, as its not really needed, those who are following it or have searched for it will already know the brand. It is interesting that have used a picture of the designer herself as the profile picture instead of a garment or look from the runway like most design houses. By doing this it gives the impression that it is Mary herself who is connected to this twitter account. The brand has 13,751 followers at present and is following 344, the twitter accounts they are following are magazines, stylists, and general industry professionals. The background is of a model in one of her dresses, although this is not a garment from her collections it may be a teaser for her soon to be realised collaboration with Topshop.
Here is an example of how the brand promotes and mentions others. In the first tweet it gives an insight into what to expect for the next collection as they have tagged Swarovski on their tweet, this also promotes the brand Swarovski and if they get a re tweet it will promote themselves even more, it also means that if somebody was to search Swarovski that this would come up too. The next tweet is a link to a page on Vogue UK’s website which has a feature on Mary Katrantzou. The brand may have benefitted to mention and tag the Vogue UK’s twitter page in the tweet so then they would have been more likely to get a retweet and again promote themselves that bit more. Here is a tweet which makes it appear as though the twitter page is for the designer herself and the brand rather than one or the other, and that she herself actively uses it as she is talking to someone who’s account is protected, so probably a friend more than someone in the industry. Where she has discussed plans for a dinner date and also used informal kisses at the end of the tweet, which are not used at all throughout the twitter account. This gives a very personal feel to the account and will make the user feel closer to the designer.
Here are 2 examples of tweets that Mary Katrantzou has re tweeted to show her followers. The first one is by Vogue magazine where they have tweeted about the designer being at a party at Colette in Paris, they have tagged the brand and the brand have re tweeted given each of them maximum exposure to each other followers. The same goes for the re tweet of Topshop which is a tweet in response to a customer tweeting about how excited they are for the collaboration.
The day after her London Fashion Week Show I checked both the brands facebook and twitter to see if the amount of people following them had made a dramatic increase. On twitter the brand achieved 3,186 more followers and on facebook 2,100 more people had liked the brands page. This goes to show just how much awareness London Fashion week can bring to a young designer and also a collaboration with a leading high street brand.
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Mary Katrantzou are currently developing a new site to launch soon. On their webpage is this one window which is very plain and stylish using the colours black grey and pink. In bold black is the brands name in capital letters larger than anything else on the page, below this is a downloadable press book which contains press clippings up until august 2011. On the right hand side of the page is contact details for all different areas of the brand, these include for contacting the studio directly, sales, marketing and the contact details for applying to be an intern. The details of the brands PR are also on the right hand side. And below all of these are links to their facebook and twitter pages.It has been like this for at least 2 months and there was a real missed opportunity as they could have timed the launch of the new website around the time of the topshop collaboration and the S/S 12 show, as the brand was getting a lot of press at this point and people would have gone to look at the website. For their new website they should include: .A bio of Mary Katrantzou .An archive of the past season collections .Any catwalk videos .Backstage shots of collections .Press .Stockists .Contact page It may also be quite a nice touch if the brand where to begin a blog as part of there social networking side which they could have an intern to create and update, they could use it to effectively give customers information about any events or press the brand have. And also behind the scenes photographs within the studio.
This year Mary Katrantzou took part in the first Faberge Big Egg Hunt in London, where 200 uniquely crafted eggs where created by leading creative and hidden across the city to then be auctioned to raise money for charity. The egg raised £12,000 from auction, the egg was ‘hidden’ in the May Fir Hotel and was made out of Swarovski crystals, bells, whistles and metal flowers, and is described on the website as ‘Man meets machine meets Mother Earth. An army of petal, metal and crystal. True flower power.’ The Egg Hunt broke a world record and received a lot of press before and during the 40 days of the actual hunt. Also this year Mary Katrantzou have also customized a pug dog toy for Luisa Via Roma, which will be auctioned on ebay to raise money for UNICEF, other designers include Balmain, Versace and Missoni. There is also a limited edition bag for sale at the price of £109.07 with proceeds going towards the charity. The pug Mary Katrantzou has created clearly reflects the brand, with the use of materials from the collections and colour pallett, however the bag only features an image of the brands pug and is not anything to do with the brand itself in terms of design.
In June 2011 Mary Katrantzou worked together with the artist Pablo Bronstein to create two regency inspired costumes (top right) for the exhibition ‘Sketches of Regency Living’ at the Institute of Contemporary Art. The two costumes were used for a ballet performance at the exhibition and took inspiration from her ready to wear collection. the designer also took part in the Culture Now talks and was in conversation with Professor Louise Wilson, the head of MA fashion at Central Saint Martins..
MARY KATRANTZOU
Funding After her CSM graduation show she was nominated for the Harrods and L’Oreal Professional Awards and then Mary received NEWGEN funding by the British Fashion Council for 6 seasons, it began in S/S 09 with an exhibition space at London Fashion Week and every season since then to A/W 2011 with an exhibition space and also a catwalk showcase. After NEWGEN the brand progressed onto the Fashion Forward scheme developed by the British Fashion Council which aids them into progressing their business and showing at LFW. This year Mary Katrantzou was short listed for the BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund It provides one British based designer with £200,000 and access to high level mentoring support, additional awards and mentoring and business support. The winner this year was Jonathan Saunders. Even though the brand did not win, to be short listed is a huge honour and through this received a lot of press. Winners of the BFC/Vogue Fashion Fund tend to be short listed before actually winning so it was not expected that the brand would win before first being short listed. This year the brand has gone from strength to strength particularly with the highly popular and highly publicised collaboration with Topshop and in June the brand will be launching their first resort collection. Their is also plans to launch special edition couture pieces ‘Some hand-finished dresses already have a demi-couture level of craftsmanship and I would love to work
on more one-off pieces to cater to a type of client I have’ (Katrantzou:Vogue:2011) Our proposed brand launch pad idea would also give her a unique edge on other short listed designers and position her as a clear runner to win the award in 2012. In October 2010 Mary Katrantzou applied for the Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize but was beaten by new comer Thomas Tait. By this point in her career she was already quite established and probably did not win this award due to the judges feeling Thomas Tait could do with the fund. In 2011 she received the award for Emerging Talent - Womenswear at the British Fashion Awards, and won the Swiss Textile Award, the 2010 winner for this award was Alexander Wang he says of the award on Vogue online - “It was definitely an honour, the award helped open up more opportunities and has been an amazing experience,” Mary Katrantzou received £100,000 as part for the prize. This year Mary Katrantzou was also a nominee for the Hospital Club fashion prize in the emerging category. Unfortunately she was not short listed for this prize, there was much newer designers on the list but the brand has not been around long enough to yet be on the list of established designers, maybe after a few more season she will make that leap and be more likely to be short listed and perhaps win.
MARY KATRANTZOU
Launch Pad For our launch idea, we have decided to link with the V&A museum. As Mary’s collections a rich in inspiration from the art world, it seems appropriate the celebrate her work in one of the worlds greatest art museums. These past couple of years have seen the designer grow from strength to strength, with her becoming one of the main names in the British Fashion industry and with this year marking her first fashion show without NEWGEN funding. We in vision a celebration of the designer in conjunction with the V&A. Fashion in motion is the key focus as a variety of designers who have been involved with NEWGEN previously have had a fashion in motion event, Alexander McQueen which was the year he began to do his own shows. Other designers who have received NEWGEN funding and have had a fashion in motion event are Clements Ribeiro, Peter Jensen and Gareth Pugh. In 2009 The V&A hosted a fashion in motion event with Erdem, who in 2010 then went on the win the BFC/Vogue designer fund, which is something Mary was short listed for this year. It would be a step in the right direction to show the judges how popular her designs are becoming and that there is a strong room for progression within the brand. She also following in the footsteps of other designers who have won the award like Johnathan Saunders as they have now both had successful collaborations with tophop.
Above: A Sample of an invitation and promotional email Attachment for the event.
She has a archive of stunning garments and we feel that a fashion in motion event would be an amazing way to mark her journey as a designer so far. Our video captures the ethos of the brand, playful yet surprisingly deep and complex, colourful and bold, this would be played just as the crowd have took their seats the give a taster of what to expect,. We have also thought that she could also do a few events at the V&A to coincide with this, perhaps a live Q&A in one of the V&A’s lecture theatres. And maybe some workshops on print and pattern, perhaps screen printing or illustration. The V&A have their own in house magazine which is sold at the museum and online, this magazine also gets sent out to members all across the country, as with all fashion in motion events there is an editorial feature on the designer in the issue after the event. The events and talks at the V&A are always very popular and may get a new generation talking about the designers work. This event would also be highly publicised in a variety of papers and magazines, and in the V&A itself, with in the V&A members magazine containing a feature of her in the issue before the show and then a page of images and round up of the event in the next issue, the show would also be available for all on the museums website.
MARY KATRANTZOU
References: Quick, Harriet. (2011). Mary Katrantzou. Vogue July 2011 Lowthorpe, Rebecca. (2011). Work of Art. Elle May 2011 Grazia. (2011). How to make a Mary Katrantzou dress. http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=GAsd8nNEu7M. (accessed on 10/4/12) Cook, Shirley (2011). Interviewed by Healy, Industrie Magazine Levy, Iona (2012). Interviewed by Pitt [Interviewed by email March 2012] http://www.vogue.co.uk/ http://www.jonathan-saunders.com/ http://www.hollyfulton.com/ http://www.erdem.co.uk/ http://www.style.com/ http://www.elleuk.com/ http://www.britishfashioncouncil.com/ http://www.colette.fr/ http://www.net-a-porter.com/ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mary-Katrantzou/115328501868015 https://www.facebook.com/erdemrtw https://www.facebook.com/pages/Holly-Fulton/208383472514973 https://www.facebook.com/SaundersStudio https://twitter.com/#!/saundersstudio https://twitter.com/#!/MaryKatrantzou https://twitter.com/#!/ErdemRTW