We’ve been blessed with plenty of online fashion retailers, such that nowadays, we hardly need to step into a store to own a whole new wondrous range of clothes and accessories in our wardrobes — a far cry from our blogshop days. And with luxury e-retailers paving the way, sometimes even surpassing the brands themselves in terms of slick web design or user-friendly features, you’ve gotta admire them for changing our perception of e-commerce. At one point though, you must have wondered: what’s the difference between all those sites, and how do you choose? Well, the key difference is this: the buy. Each e-retailer carries a wide range of brands, of course, but each one brings in a slightly different pool of items, based on who they’re speaking to.
For Net-A-Porter, you can call fashion director Lisa Aiken a gatekeeper of that point of view; a truly commendable role, by the way. You can even go on to say that she defines the trends — everything you see on the site goes through her keen eye first, and with years of knowledge under her (very fashionable) belt, she instinctively knows what will keep us excited too. In the following interview, she shares with us this season’s latest trends, and how a new brand can make the cut on the site — so if you’re a fashion designer-in-training, this should all be very useful to you.
Along the way, we’ll also be updating you on her fashion picks; the most trendy stuff you should wear for various occasions, whether it’s date night, travel, or a revamped work wardrobe — trust the expert, right?
As Net-A-Porter’s fashion director, tell us about your role; what do you do on a daily basis?
I’m the retail fashion director at Net-A-Porter and that involves shaping the buy. By that, I mean I go to all of the shows, then after that, to the showrooms with the buying team and we talk about our key trends for the season, which must-have pieces we want to get behind, which collections we really believe in. Beyond the more exciting side, it’s also things like managing a budget, and making sure we have good sell-throughs every season, so it’s very much a balance of the creative side and the business side. In addition to that, I spend a lot of time scouting for new brands, and that’s kind of like a passion of mine.
It’s quite a varied role — I never have two days that are the same. We also meet with brands or with the various in-house teams; once we’re done with the buy, how do we tell everyone about what we’re excited about? In the showrooms, I’m very involved in the selection — it varies greatly, but for every brand, we’ll buy 10 – 15% of the collection, so it’s about giving the “Net-A-Porter point of view” on key trends, pieces and collections.
“Designers have been so savvy in all their shirts, I think that means women can be more fashion-forward at work, you can get away with it, so pick those with a strong fashion spin.”
How would you describe the Net-A-Porter point of view then?
We like to embrace strong fashion trends. We’re very aware that when pieces go online, everything goes through ‘What’s New’, so it’s about every piece standing on its own. In many ways, it’s a very democratic way of looking at fashion because brand loyalty doesn’t exist as much; it’s about each individual piece having an impact on the customer. When we’re doing our selections, it’s very much item by item — do we believe that our customer is going to react to this?
Our woman’s also very fashion-forward. We go from the very directional brands, the Balenciagas and the Vetements, to new brands like Y/Project, all the way through to the big fashion houses, the likes of Gucci and Prada, and then, down to the slightly more polished, elevated brands, the likes of Oscar de la Renta. So we have a really broad spectrum. For me, it’s about sticking to a brand’s DNA. Who exactly is a Gucci customer and what does she love? Then looking back from that. I’ve been in the industry for a long time, so you kind of have a gut reaction to things, but you know, we have a lot of analysis and information that helps inform our decisions as well.
“I’m a bit of a sucker for pajama dressing! So I wear Equipment ones outside all the time. It’s the best thing, you can put it over your swimming costume, or if I’m going out in the city, with a pair of pool slides.”
E-commerce is huge these days — has it changed the way you buy brands?
Everyone sifts through ‘What’s New’ — it’s like 70% of our traffic is there, which is huge. And obviously, Monday, Wednesday and Friday [when that page is updated]; we’ve got a lot of customers who just log on then, to see what’s brand-new on the site. I’m addicted to it. I’d be like cleaning my teeth and like, oh, scrolling through what’s new! That definitely changes the perspective, because it then comes down to the product and price. It’s gotta catch your attention. For example, when Gucci changed direction, over at retail, it took very long for everyone to understand it, whereas for Net-A-Porter, we had such an instant reaction because the items themselves are so exciting, so whether you’re a Gucci customer or not, you saw it and loved it.
“Realistically, you’re gonna sit across a table from someone, so we should be talking about off-the-shoulder, you kind of want it to be sexy without being too sexy.”
Where do you find fresh talent?
It has changed quite a lot. A long time ago, we used to go to every showroom and see as many people as possible, and you wouldn’t see as much I think. Social media has definitely opened that up; it has given a lot of unknown brands a platform that didn’t exist before. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again — Instagram has done for fashion what YouTube has done for music. Do you remember when YouTube first came along? All of a sudden, we were discovering all these unknown artistes and being really excited about new music. And I feel that the same process has happened for fashion too. I definitely spend a lot of time going down that Instagram rabbit hole, you know, where you’re just clicking to the next thing, and the next thing, and the next! And then you’ll find a gem.
When I’m out in the market, I also speak to journalists and influencers, and they’ve always got this nugget of information — so you have to be a sponge and absorb as much as you can, then investigate those things that sound really promising.
What are the factors you consider when bringing in a new label? What makes the cut?
Every new brand has to have a really defined point of view. On Instagram, we see a lot more brands, but at some point, a lot looks the same. For a new brand to catch my eye, it’s gotta be something I’ve never seen before that really stands out from the crowd. I also want a brand to be able to articulate what they do in a very short space. So I always say, if you can’t say what your brand stands for in three words, then it’s hard. And those words can’t be generic, you know! Like ‘chic’, ‘fashion’ etc. I wanna hear ‘minimalist’ or ‘directional’, very pointed descriptions.
And then, it’s whether or not they’re ready too. You can be excited by what you see, but perhaps, they don’t have their operations, they’re not commercially-ready, the collection’s too small right now — you don’t want it to get lost, you wanna make sure you’re giving every brand the best start point — so if they’re not ready I’ll always say, we’ll come back, we’ll do it next season. You only get one chance to launch a brand, so we want to make sure it’s the right way.
Do you have any favourite new brands you can talk about — for the upcoming Fall/Winter season ?
I’m really excited about a brand called Wanda Nylon, which is a Parisian brand. The designer has had it for a while now, and it used to focus on raincoats, but she’s really developed the collection, so when we went back to see it, there were great lamé pieces in there, great sweatshirt/shirt hybrids. She played a lot with coated fabrics, and she did it in a modern 80s vibe which I really love. Yeah, you know you love a brand when you try on everything in the showroom yourself!
We’ve also seeing an exciting moment for contemporary brands — traditionally, in a department store, they can be a bit safe, but I like these really directional brands, with a strong design factor. So there’s a brand called Sid Neigum; it speaks to the minimalist girl, but with strong silhouettes, like a cut-out at the back, an asymmetric hemline, an off-shoulder… There are cool fabrics too like velvet or structured cotton to get that kind of strong silhouette.
How about accessories?
For accessories, what we’re seeing are contemporary bags that shift away from the overly branded bag. The design factor is so strong. One of them is Danse Lante; they are based in London but are from South Korea, and they use really exaggerated metal details, and interesting shapes, like a bucket bag with a top handle and geometric hardware on it, or a shoulder bag with a great ring detail. Or interesting colourblocking — plus, the price points are fantastic.
“I’d definitely be wearing a slogan t-shirt because, realistically, you need an airplane selfie! So we need one, with trackpants and great sneakers.”
What are some of the Spring/Summer trends that did well on the site – any favourites?
Streetwear has been a huge influence on Spring/Summer — Vetements and Off-White have been big champions for us. But even something like the Gucci logo t-shirt — I mean, we’ve literally sold thousands of them. And it sells out! It was so funny to see the reaction from the first one, it just went instantly; it was, by far, one of our bestsellers for the season.
We also saw utility fabrics, like chinos replacing jeans. We’re all addicted to denim, and I feel like my denim wardrobe’s going a bit out of control, so we need an alternative! We also loved seeing the return of the dress. For a long time, we’ve been dressing in separates because that allows us to put our own spin on things, but what we saw was a lot of brands embracing the dress, so it’s like an unusual silhouette or a patchwork print. Sometimes it’s so easy to just go into your wardrobe and pull out a piece and instantly feel cool and interesting, and it’s that one item that’s done all the work for you.
One that carries on to Fall/Winter is designers using bold, saturated colour. I think that comes off the back of the whole maximalist approach to dressing, a few seasons now, and I think that’s given a lot of women confidence to wear printed colours in a bigger way, so the designers went for bold, striking colourways as well. There was a lot of pink and a lot of yellow.
Any that you particularly hated?
Mm… not that I can think of! I try to embrace as much as I can. I mean, even the 80s — once upon a time I’d be like, we’re never going back — but it’s really cool again! So now, I’m like, never say never! You’re allowed to introduce one 80s element to the outfit, and that’s it! You either do a broad shoulder jacket and vintage denim, or just one shiny element. And keep the makeup clean. My thing is that if you’re doing a big crystal earring, you do it with a white t-shirt and jeans, or you’re doing statement makeup, you’re parring down your accessories for that balance, whereas in the 80s, it’s everything, all over!
“Honestly, my favourite thing to wear is a white t-shirt, tuxedo jacket and major earrings, I’m all about one right now!”
Lastly, what do you think about Asian brands?
Fashion has become very global. Once upon a time, you’d have New York, Paris, Milan, London… But now there’s a lot more popping up from different areas in the world. We’ve got a few labels from South Korea; what’s really interesting and why I think we’re gravitating towards Asian brands is that they have an interesting, directional point of view that perhaps the rest of the world doesn’t have. I like that they tend to push boundaries, and are more adventurous, even the most established ones like Sacai, when they first came on the scene, it was like, wow, where did this come from, it’s so different. Even things like sunglasses, we’ve got Gentle Monster, because they’ve got this very interesting aesthetic. I’m excited to see what comes out in the next few seasons, because it’s definitely becoming more focused.
All items available at net-a-porter.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment.