Fashion Decoded
As the recipient of an extra ticket won by Mercedes, our wonderful friend at VSA Designs, I got to attend Decoded Fashion, a series of panels on the marriage between fashion and technology, which is sometimes shaky, other times phenomenal. Decoded was conceived and put on by another good friend, Liz Bacelar (who invited us to Assembled Fashion last year).
The daylong event was launched with a panel featuring Rebecca Minkoff, Instagram’s Amy Cole, Percolate’s founder Noah Brier, and Saks Fifth Avenue’s social media pro, Carla Dunham. They each talked about how they had created successful social media campaigns and left us with these tips: make whatever you’re working on personal and authentic, stay flexible, sometimes it’s about trial and error, pay attention to your followers. Ms. Dunham said if people don’t feel moved by what you put out there, you aren’t doing your job.
Throughout the day we heard from major players in both fashion and technology. tumblr’s founder and CEO David Karp was a keynote speaker, and hands down we all agreed he was adorable. Everyone oohed and ahhed over Wirewax’s taggable video, which can be peeked at on their website.
My favorite session was the CFDA panel hosted by DKNY’s Aliza Licht, Stacey Bendet of Alice + Olivia, Nicole Miller and kate spade’s president Deborah Lloyd. Besides it being packed with girl power and besides Ms. Licht’s amazing hosting skills (She asks her panelists: “iPhone or Blackberry?” Her own answer: “Bi!”), I was left with the sense that fashion has become more of a conversation between designers and customers, and that to successfully intersect fashion and technology, one must tell a story. A good one. -Ayesha A.
Mercedes and me on the rooftop of XVI, where the super-inspiring day was topped with an after party. Photo credit: decoded.whosevent.com
Since we have to work tirelessly to produce the wonderful AU clothes you love, we don’t get to enjoy the resort season like you do. But, we can dream! These are the places we’d rather be right now. -The AU team.
(All Photos courtesy of Wikipedia.org)
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If you weren’t at Cutie Room this weekend, you missed out on our sample sale. Here’s a photo recap. Send us your photos too!
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Goodbye, Ridgewood.
Ridgewood has been home to one of our two offices for over seven years, but the time has come to part with this quaint part of New York City. And in homage to this Queens neighborhood that feels more like a little village, here are the bits we’ll miss the most.
Ridgewood contains thirteen national historic districts, including the Stockholm-Dekalb-Hart Historic District, where our office was located. Ridgewood was mostly shaped in the 1910s and 20s at the hands of German and Italian immigrants. Most of the houses are still intact from that era. We love the exposed brick row houses of this neighborhood. We’ll especially miss Stockholm Street, the only brick-paved street left in Queens! It’s also known as the Yellow Brick Road.
The Roman Catholic Church of St. Aloysius. Ridgewood is home to a ton of beautiful churches, which add to the old Europe feel that pervades the neighborhood.
Who could resist the charm of the Vander-Ende Onderdonk House, an old Dutch farmhouse, circa 1709? It’s a nice surprise in a sea of industrial warehouses.
The border between Queens and Brooklyn has changed a few times, and each time Ridgewood has ended up in disputed territory. The Vander-Ende Onderdonk House became the boundary line in 1769. After the Great Blackout of 1977, Brooklyn lost Ridgewood.
Getting to the office by subway (the L or the M) could sometimes be dicey, especially after last year’s tornado and snowstorm, but the trusty B38 could always be counted on.
Other things we’ll miss:
- Bravo, an adorable Ecuadorean café with everything from coffee to Thai food
- Cute decorations that adorn the fronts of homes. Christmas is an especially colorful time
- Clotheslines and school buses
- Stockholm Street’s southern ambience
- Rows and rows of garages
- The Manhattan skyline as seen from Seneca Avenue.
We’ll leave you with another gem: people reminiscing about growing up in Ridgewood. The Candy stores sound like a child’s dream.
Ridgewood, it’s been real!
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Reflections on Assembled Fashion 2011
On a crisp Fall Saturday, fashionistas and technistas gathered in the pristine white event space of the General Assembly. A packed room, with what one participant described as the best looking handbags in New York City, I was in awe that so many had come out to talk shop on the intersection between social media and fashion.
Amanda spoke on a panel about the emergence of flash and private sale sites along with Gilt Groupe’s Jyothi Rao, and Picki Picki’s Abi Muller. It was moderated by Bloomberg TV’s Hitha Prabhakar. I tagged along as Amanda’s web and social media gal, and found myself getting schooled. I learned so much from panels such as “Rise of the Social Media Brand” and “Content to Commerce” and thought I should share a few lessons with you.
1. Know your audience and how to reach them.
2. Listen. What does your audience want from you?
3. Teach your CEO to expect failure. Try everything and don’t get left behind.
4. The way forward is to be platform agnostic. Social media should be able to work on several devices.
5. Partnerships are a great way to get ahead with social media. Pair up with bloggers for instance.
All round a great event. I hadn’t seen so many geeks and fashionistas gathered in one place, and it was a joy to behold. Technology was on lock-down, everyone toting their smartphones and ipads, tweets of the event running concurrently with the panel discussions. And it was refreshing to see a large female presence. Amanda thoroughly enjoyed herself and brought wonderful perspective to the panel when she talked about how sometimes a little caution is needed because exclusivity is still key for big department stores. Amanda is available for speaking engagements, and if you’d like to book her, email info@amandauprichard.com
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Shooting Spring 2012
We had such fun shooting our Spring 2012 collection, that we just had to share it with you all. The collection is going to be bold, fun, flirty. Can’t wait? Neither can we!
You can see some more photos on our facebook page.
