From L to R: Emily Huggard, Alex McIntosh, Clare Buckley, Tony Glenville
London College of Fashion partnered with Vogue Ukraine on the first Fashion & Business conference for designers, retailers and representatives, held in Kyiv in mid May.
The conference brought together industry leaders, including co-founder of the Ukrainian Fashion Week organizing committee Irina Danilevskaya Fashion Hub UA, as well as famous Ukrainian designers – Lilia Pustovit, Anna October, Julie Pascal, Liliya Litkovskaya, Ivan Frolov, Vita Kin and Elena Reva..
The speakers from LCF were Tony Glenville; creative consultant, Emily Huggard; Lecturer on BA (Hons) Fashion Public Relations and Communication, Claire Buckley; Course Leader BA (Hons) Styling and Production, and Alex McIntosh; Course Leader for MA Fashion Futures and Managing Director of Christopher Raeburn.
Tony opened the conference on the topic of trends and fashion forecasts. He discussed brands telling stories and how this applies to the Ukrainian national story through its designers: ‘It is important for Ukraine to show what it really wants to tell the world. Ethno-themes are currently very popular.’
Emily Huggard spoke about the power of social media and digital innovations in promoting fashion brands and modern tools such as Instagram-runways, while Claire Buckley presented new approaches to brand presentation. Alex McIntosh spoke about social responsibility of the fashion businesses: ‘Treat your customer as a partner, not a client. Put purpose above profit, collaborate to survive, be different, but remain real.’
Panel discussions at Vogue UA conference were built around topics of international expansion both for retailers and designers. Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Natalia Mykolskaya, expressed her support to Ukrainian fashion-industry by offering Vogue UA to select three designers to represent the country in Toronto during Canada-Ukraine Business Forum 2016.
More photography from #VogueUAConference is available on the Vogue Ukraine website.