In Fashion Part 23

WORKs.p.a.cE: From Starbucks to dingy cubicle to gleaming corporate office.

PATH TO POWER: Start in the lowest job in a low-profile operation to learn the lingo; then, even if you need to take a salary and/or t.i.tle cut, sign on in a junior position for your dream company.

ALTERNATE PATH TO POWER: Align yourself with a dazzling design talent as the business and marketing brain, then build an empire together; for example, Barry Schwartz (Calvin Klein), Robert Duffy (Marc Jacobs), Domenico De Sole (Tom Ford).

MOST COVETED BUSINESS JOBS: CEO of fashion label, divisional merchandise manager, fashion director of specialty store, publisher of an online fashion magazine, CEO of an ad agency.

DOGGIE JOB: A dead or dying category (print, bridge, better) where your boss has no sense of humor.

KEY BRANDS: All fashion labels, all fashion magazines, all stores.

KEY PERSONALITIES: Michael Gould (Bloomingdale's), the Nordstrom brothers, Robert Duffy (Marc Jacobs), Patrizio Bertelli (Prada), Bernard Arnault (LVMH), Francois Pinault (Printemps).

KEY ALLIANCES: Anyone you've ever worked for.

MODERN SUCCESS STORIES: Jeffrey Kalinsky, whose Atlanta-based Jeffrey store-Jeffrey Atlanta-took off in New York's meat-packing district-Jeffrey New York-just as that neighborhood was becoming the next big shopping destination. The folks at Nordstrom, identifying with his outsider intelligence, invested with him.

MISCONCEPTION: That the business end isn't creative.

LANGUAGES: Time, s.p.a.ce, money, margins, SKU (Stock Keeping Unit), ROI (Return On Investment).

STARTING COMP: Basic with performance bonuses built in.

POTENTIAL COMP: $ to $$$$$.

PERKS: Quick mobility. You can move up from Bloomingdale's sales a.s.sociate to a.s.sistant buyer to Dolce & Gabbana showroom manager to regional sales a.s.sociate, etc.

Without Pierre Berge, there'd have been no Yves Saint Laurent.

Without Francesca Versace, Donatella Versace, and Santo Versace, there'd have been no Gianni Versace.

Without Giancarlo Giammetti, there'd be no Valentino.

Without Robert Duffy, there'd be no Marc Jacobs.

Without Domenico De Sole, there'd be no Tom Ford.

Without Barry Schwartz, there'd be no Calvin Klein.

Without Susan Posen, there'd be no Zac Posen.

Without Bud Konheim, there'd be no Nicole Miller.

Without Judy Kors, there'd be no Michael Kors.

Without Paul and Linda McCartney, there'd be no Stella McCartney.

Without Patrizio Bertelli, we'd never have heard of Miuccia Prada.

This chapter is about how you can be the next Robert Duffy, Domenico De Sole, Susan Posen, or Patrizio Bertelli. Getting there doesn't involve earning a degree and being supersmart or supercool. It's about putting yourself in the right milieu to work in the singularly thrilling, demanding, daunting, fun, cool world of fashion and grabbing on to the most talented person you find. This is the business side of fashion that requires a highly functioning left side of the brain. The fashion business brain is logical, rational, a.n.a.lytical, and objective. He or she thinks in a sequential way, breaking down a large objective, like creating a stunning collection for fall, into smaller, less daunting steps. He or she is consistently able to make things happen. Most important, this person, this alter ego of the designer, must know the designer well enough to think the way he or she thinks in order to communicate well with the designer. Which means that this person is probably something of a saint as well as being a renaissance person.

"At least I knew that when you add 3 plus 3, it will equal 6," says Giancarlo Giammetti, modestly explaining his slightly more evolved abilities to run a business than his partner of forty-five years, Valentino Garavani, in the 2009 Matt Tyrnaurer film Valentino: The Last Emperor.

Let's talk about your brain. I'm making the giant a.s.sumption that you, like Giancarlo Giammetti, are a left-brain thinker who sees things in a logical, sequential way whereas your friend, the Creator, has brilliant visions but isn't necessarily able to complete the steps to bring the vision to life.

Seeing the Valentino film brought to my mind the sometimes soph.o.m.oric dynamic I've witnessed between Marc Jacobs and Robert Duffy, who met as teenagers working at the Upper West Side, then-edgy clothing store Charivari and who, throughout their careers, have sat at desks pushed together and facing one another. Duffy likes to complain about Marc's absent-mindedly swiping papers stamped "Confidential" or "Audit" and sketching on the back, then forgetting them somewhere in the design studio to be unearthed seasons later. Or for leaving bits of salad on Robert's spreadsheets. Thanks to Robert's abilities and to a total trust between the two, Jacobs is able to exist in a kind of fashion bubble.

Without Harvard-MBA-former-Gucci-finance-whiz Domenico De Sole at his side, Tom Ford may not have left Gucci to have his stint at Yves Saint Laurent before founding his own fashion house.

In some cases, as with Michael Kors and Zac Posen, there is Mom. Michael's mom Judy has worked for her son's company since its beginnings. Zac's mother, corporate lawyer, and company CEO Susan Posen has created the structure and alliances in which her son's design talent has thrived. Gianni Versace learned the dressmaking trade from his own mother, Francesca, at whose side he worked as a child. In turn, his older brother, Santo, and younger sister, Donatella, worked at his side, until his tragic death, and they continue to run the house of Versace.

Then, there's the odd case of the catalytic impact one personality has on another. Without Patrizio Bertelli, her pushy, driven Tuscan husband of decades, Miuccia Prada may never have taken the reins of her grandfather's luggage business and found a way to create simple, utilitarian bags and jackets that would explode the brand overnight into a global fashion powerhouse. After all, Miuccia had studied political science as a student and enjoyed living her life in the counterculture. She had no training in fashion, sketching, or designing.

Of course this is much bigger than just selling. This is taking the germ of an idea and bringing it to life. Yes, this involves business smarts. But there's a tremendous amount of creativity involved with keeping things running smoothly so that Marc, Tom, and Miuccia can focus their energies on what they do best.

The most obvious lesson is to link yourself with the biggest star in your orbit. Which is what Giancarlo Giammetti clearly did on that summer's night in Rome fifty years ago, when he met a young Valentino at a cafe on Corso Veneto.

On the flipside, you can look at amazingly talented designers who have never found their business alter ego. I'm thinking here of the exquisitely talented Cuban-American Narciso Rodriguez or the young star Chinese-American Peter Som. Neither has had a built-in business partner, which has made making it in fashion (already a painfully difficult proposition) even more acutely challenging.

Then there are the other exceptions-those who've succeeded beyond most measures of success without a strong CEO at their side. While Karl Lagerfeld has had the structure and DNA of Chanel upon which to rely for inspiration, he is essentially a one-man fashion phenomenon. And, of course, there's the man behind Polo Ralph Lauren, one of the most successful fashion labels of our time, who seems to have both sides of his brain firing at all times. The success of Ralph Lauren is probably bigger even than his own Hollywood fantasy.

Anatomy of a Partnership: Nicole Miller + Bud Konheim

WHY IT WORKS (TWENTY-SIX YEARS AND GOING STRONG).

Nicole is a serious designer who knows how to find newness that is original; Bud is a Seventh Avenue legacy who knows how to run a fashion company and showcase the talent of a serious designer.

Nicole and Bud share a serious work ethic.

Nicole and Bud agree on the basic premise of the company. Bud says, "We are a design company, not a commodity company. The beauty of design, and the appeal of design, is that it's individual and it's different. You can't take one design and make zillions of it because then it's not individual anymore. It dilutes its specialness."

Bud adds: "Everybody in our place has a work ethic that matches what Nicole and I do. And that doesn't mean we don't relax and have a good time. We do. Nicole goes off to St. Bart's for two weeks, and I go off to Florida. But when it's work, it's work.

"Nicole is mature and emotionally stable.

"Nicole attends sales meetings and can handle hearing about the negative reality of the marketplace from the sales force.

"Nicole is no diva. When she hears bad news, she doesn't scream or throw things. Nothing. She puts her nose to the grindstone and starts revamping what isn't working.

"We've had the same vision for growth. We chose not to be a giant, but to remain a midsized company. That way, we can remain a design house."

Stellar Sellers: Getting Past No

Selling is a serious art. At its essence, you have to get past the barriers the person you are selling to has built up in his or her mind about your product or brand. You have to find a way to understand what that person's personal prejudice is and then find a way to move past it.

WHO DOES WHAT (MOST OF THE TIME).

FASHION SUCCESS STORY: BREAKDOWN OF RESPONSIBILITIES SELLER/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER (CEO): LEFT-BRAIN THINKER DESIGNER/CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER (CCO): RIGHT-BRAIN THINKER.

Runway Show Creating budget, schedule, PR (ensuring key retailers and editors attend event), deciding venue Finding inspiration; making samples; fitting clothes; working with the stylist on the look of the show; overseeing model selection, hair, and makeup Retail Store Does the square footage a.n.a.lysis to make sure sales can support location and design spending; hires and trains staff Conceptualizes how to translate clothes into a breakthrough and original shopping destination; IDs the next cool neighborhood HR Talent nurturer and keeper Talent magnet HQ Keeps back office running like clockwork Fills showroom with excitement, cool people, cool music, unexpected inspirations Global Plots out an aggressive but doable global expansion plan; creates appropriate structures to sell in Europe and Asia Travels, visiting to get the vibe and energy of new markets; finds like-minded, eccentric creative people to connect with in individual markets Image Hands-on with nontraditional media plan and buy: viral, interruptive, guerilla messaging Art directs the ad shoot with BFF female star and mega fashion photographer; the shoot itself the subject of gossip and news "I find that the key to selling is that a real salesperson hears the word no as a challenge whereas normal people hear the word no as rejection," says Bud Konheim of Nicole Miller. "To a salesperson, no is not an answer; it's the beginning of the conversation.

"Great salespeople are very difficult to find, but they do share one distinguishing characteristic: their ability to face that struggle, to figure out what are the other person's prejudices causing him or her to be negative and then to get past no.

"Most of the salespeople I know have had a personal history of challenges. These are people who grew up with no real privileges. They had to fight for everything. Nothing came easily to them. They had to hear no from their parents again and again and again, and they were smart enough to find ways to turn it into yes. That's salesmanship."

Profiles in Courage: Two Seventh Avenue Sales Stars (and How They Win)

Star Number 1*

A second-generation garment center guy who lives in the suburbs. He's an average guy with no huge intellectual curiosity. What makes him a great salesperson? He is highly compet.i.tive.

To use a sports a.n.a.logy, his bosses liken him to a great fullback: "When you give him the football and tell him to run it to the end zone, does he complain that the field is too crowded? No. He just does it. Winning is what it's all about."

Star Number 2*

A Midwestern Asian-American woman who came up through the retail shops, first near Chicago. Then, after spending one week in the New York City store, she is named the manager.

"She is aggressive," explains her boss. "She is a killer. She doesn't hear the word no. She has no idea what it means. Plus she is really good at feeding the retail information back to the designer. Also, she's good at wearing the clothes, embodying the label to the industry."

Did Your Parents Say No a Lot? You Might Have a Future in Sales!

Q: How do we know if it'll sell?

A: We don't know.

"We put a small number of each dress out there and watch to see how it does," explains Bud Konheim. "It's a test. We see how it does. What you can't do (and this is my fifty-fourth year in the business) is push fashion, and you can't push style. What you have to do is allow it to develop.

"When you try to sell more, increase volume, make guarantees and deals with the retailers, you lower the price, [the result is that] you end up diminishing your product and your brand, saturating the market. None of those things work."

ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS.

Would you make a great fashion salesperson? (Clue: More yesses mean yes.) Do you like meeting new people daily?

Is it easy for you to speak with strangers?

Are you naturally compet.i.tive?

When you hear the word no, do you consider it a personal challenge to find a way to convert the answer to yes?

In your work life, have you often and naturally gravitated to sales roles (lemonade stand, Gap store, Starbucks)?

Do you possess an impeccable work ethic? That is, if the job is officially from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., you automatically make sure you are there from 8:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. most days. In sales, you are expected to be available during business hours whereas creative types keep their own, usually later and more erratic, hours.

When confronted, are you able to fire back a logical, nonaggressive verbal response?

Do you feel a natural affinity for certain brands and products? Are you able to express and embody that pa.s.sion?

You've never been asked to play Sleepy or Dopey in a casting of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?

Q: Do Salespeople Need College Degrees?

A: "The garment center isn't a hotbed of intellectual activity," says Bud Konheim. "If you're talking about the ability to sell product, you don't need to go to college for that. You can sit in the woods instead and watch how the animals move from point A to point B. Today it's about success."