Goodbye 2024 ----- Hello 2025

The world may alway seem to be in a state of flux and uncertainty, nevertheless what helped me stay grounded throughout 2024 are the core values and principles I've adopted. No doubt, the day to day issues can cloud, distort, and make our larger mission in life seem unattainable - the lesson I've tried to retain is those things do not control my attitude or whether I achieve my goals and aspirations. Ultimately, I (we as individuals) have the awesome responsibility of choosing to what degree any external elements play on my (our) emotional life (a bitter pill to swallow). 

The retail business in 2024 has also had its fair share of highs and lows - external geopolitical disruptions of international trade routes, tariffs and import bans imposed by the United States and its allies on China and Russia, internally manager's fallacies regarding the current state of the economy and its consumers, playing an endless game of catch-up with balancing demand and supply, departments operate in silos which negatively impact the the final execution of all marketing activations, increased penetration of markdowns as a total of business, and inventory guts just to vocalize a few. 

To combat (or compound) the aforementioned a major initiative echoed in the retail industry's executive corridors is of "digital transformation" which cut across topics ranging from - integrating new enterprise resources planning systems, new software (i.e artificial intelligence, blockchain), big data collection and analysis. One instance of this transformation I noticed in 2024 was the layout change of the Saint Laurent website.

Overall Kering's business has been on a slow decline, the storied fashion conglomerate ended 2023 down about two points on a comparable basis to 2022. At its half year milestone for 2024 the business experienced a steeper drop down 11% to 2023 on a comparable basis. The company's chief steward, François-Henri Pinault, in a article from July of 2024 it was suggested the heir to the family business was "...scrambling to turn things around..." Particular due to the headwind at Gucci - as of the third quarter for 2024 contributing to the group's largest deficiency down 25% comparatively to the same time last year. In the July article it was also mentioned that one of the main concerns was Gucci excessive inventory - accounting for about 8%-10% of production - the brand sent to discount channels like private sales and outlets mainly in Asia. Which ultimately led to questions regarding a drop in the brands weakening status as "exclusive and luxury." Quoted in the same piece, Mimma Viglezio, a former vice president at Gucci Group observed "Pinault had appeared to be totally reactive" to events, rather than putting in place a long term vision." In an effort to right the ship Gucci's previous Creative Director Alessandro Michele who's recognizable and novelty designs in 2019 tripled sales for the Italian house was now out and in was Sabato De Sarno, to usher in a more somber look in an effort to court affluent buyers who aesthetically lean more conservative and that the brand views as big spenders. Rather than the less-wealthy aspirational shoppers who Gucci heavily relied upon and who were drawn to the uniqueness and trendsetting design of Mr. Michele.

A slight digression - now as avid Internet surfer I am constantly flagged as a bot due to the speed in which I scan page after page after page on any particular website. Which is reasonable that the activity may seem suspicious, in any case it is better to be safe than sorry in light of the litany of security breakdown the United States across both federal and private sectors of their computer and third-party software system providers - it is also reasonable to expect this trend will continue and may become more dynamic and sophisticate in the future. 

Okay, so Saint Laurent (during one of these surf sessions ...lol) I noticed the once vertical orientation, menu listed vertically to the left, and complemented with the season's campaign image centered middle - was cool (easy to navigate/product pages right amount of information/the site does not slow my laptop down because of all the third-party coding/tags/cookies). Now, the update the layout is  horizontal in design - (most significant in my view) more on model product images which I found helpful (especially for the Denim/Jean shop/class). Overall I was unfortunately underwhelmed and found the site boring (I almost hesitate to say nonetheless aesthetically homogeneous to the likes of the major fast fashion maisons). Now, I do not doubt there was abundance data that was gather and analyzed, multiple A/B test, and market research done prior to the new site launch...however, Dr. Stephen R. Covey early on in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People teaches "...But each person's interpretation of these facts represents prior experiences, and the facts have no meaning whatsoever apart from the interpretation..." Not all data is necessary and not all opinions are valid - it would be wise firms to not only vet sources but seeks a diverse pool of expert advise. 

More on consumerism and consumption in a later post --- 

I also thought it would be interesting to create a #FashionOpEdDesigneroftheYear  #FashionOpEdBrandoftheYear and #FashionOpEdRookieoftheYear hashtags. 

For #FashionOpEdDesigneroftheYear  and coincidentally #FashionOpEdBrandoftheYear I landed on a Creative Director/Brand dual. For the inaugural year it came down to two very strong designers Demna Gvasalia for his work as Creative Director at Balenciaga and Jonathan Anderson for his work at his eponymous label JW Anderson. These two designers create vastly different and unique worlds I felt their consistent vision and the communication strategies speak authentically to their respective yet similar target demographic. However, Mr. Gvasalia current design direction speaks to a broader audience - the tone of the collections (the Fall 2025 lookbook were shot by Mr. Gvasalia via his iPhone), the website design, the model selection , the clothes, the sneakers,  the social media (Instagram) - its the luxury world's democratic left wing head banging rebel. So, I dub thee Demna Gvasalia for his work as Creative Director at Balenciaga #FashionOpEdDesigneroftheYear  #FashionOpEdBrandoftheYear #FashionOpEdDesigneroftheYear2024  #FashionOpEdBrandoftheYear2024 #FashionOpEdDesigneroftheYear2024DemnaGvasalia  #FashionOpEdBrandoftheYear2024Balenciaga

For #FashionOpEdRookieoftheYear this going to Mowalola Ogunlesi for her work as Founder and Creative Director of her eponymous label MOWALOLA . The brand, though still building a loyal customer base, has began to create a strong identity and assortment across women's and men's ready to wear collections and leather goods. 

#FashionOpEdRookieoftheYear #FashionOpEdRookieoftheYear2024 #FashionOpEdRookieoftheYear2024MowalolaOgunlesi #FashionOpEdRookieoftheYear2024Mowalola