Creative Influence: How New Designers Are Using Networks to Boost Their Brands
Fashion lives a love-hate relationship with Instagram, and it's not from today. An essential tool for the emergence and consolidation of new digital celebrities, the platform has also transformed the industry's communications and has been driving the renewal of the scene with a smart generation of young people - very young! -, for whom the looks of the day are no longer enough.
After the app algorithm changes and the likes go away, it takes more than make-up guys, painted mouths, and borrowed clothes to be relevant on the timeline. As the pioneers of influence try to renew themselves in the face of millions of tired followers of “greeted” and false endorsements, another class shrugs to superlative numbers, builds their strength with authentic partnerships and, above all, lets out a scream of independence as they develop brands. in which the clothing sold is an extension of the personality of its creators.
Of course a beautiful feed is always a great business card, but you have to slide your finger a little farther into the universe of Luciane Sakon, Cecilia Gromann and Ana Clara Watanabe to realize the discreet and secure movement that legitimate Gen Z representatives are promoting. in the on and offline world. All are from the interior of São Paulo, but have very different references and personalities. I'm glad
Luciane is from Suzano, graduated in fashion at Faculdade Anhembi Morumbi, in São Paulo, in 2013. She is 27 years old. Owner of a keen aesthetic sense, is adept at minimalism and has never idolized any big name in the global circuit, as is common among fashion students. Instead of Miuccia Prada, Karl Lagerfeld and Marc Jacobs, his gaze points to the profiles of Danish influencers such as @sophiaroe and @ josefinehj. “I like their real-life proposition, with pieces being repeated in productions, used with styling variations, as I and many friends do. No one has 10,000 pairs of shoes in the closet! ”
Optimizing the closet and betting on versatile, timeless and easy-to-match pieces went from personal to business when it launched Haye (@haye_clo) two years ago. Nominated as profile to follow by Brazilian youth fashion portal Steal the Look, she saw her numbers explode in record time and decided to test her dream of being a designer there via direct message. It launched a capsule collection of one-size-fits-all oversized velvet t-shirts and personally responded to incoming inbox orders.
She stayed at this for almost a year until she realized that demand was enough to go a step further. Luciane decided to professionalize the business, set up a website, created a label, increased production. Today sells to Brazil all the micro-collections, from five to ten models, which launches every four months, with a democratic grid, which goes from PP to GG, and that invariably sell out. For the summer, she prepares nine models, including shorts, trousers, jumpsuits and neutral blouses, which she draws and cuts on Texprima weaving fabrics in a space at Bom Retiro.
There, students and small designers can buy reduced cloth footage and develop their clothes at retail, thus making it possible for a dream that would be unviable if they had to buy the material wholesale. “It's a perfect initiative for small brands like mine, as it not only dramatically reduces costs but also prevents waste. I buy just the amount of fabric I'm going to use and run it right there. ”
Luciane still has a showroom in Bela Vista, which shares with her tattoo artist's boyfriend's studio, where she meets scheduled customers who prefer to try on clothes before buying online. “It's usually only on the first purchase. Then customers relax and shop on the site and even Instagram. ”She is currently exercising a broader modeling, especially for pants, to better suit men who also want to wear their clothes. Multitask, Luciane does it all by herself. Inspired by real people, art and photography, she designs, cuts, sews, sells and models her creations. She's the one who wears the looks on Instagram and on Haye's website.
In parallel, she directs the art and content of the feed of two friends' restaurants and does exercise her influential side, which happened by chance when she was quoted by Steal the Look. “I partner with brands that I believe in and have to do with Haye and the aesthetics of my feed. I could earn so much money, but would not be true. I earn enough from my label to be able to afford to choose, ”he says. Luciane has 37,500 followers on Instagram, Haye has just over 6,500, but with excellent engagement. “I loved when the likes disappeared, because now you follow and like who really likes your content, not because the post has 1 million likes. For me, not much has changed. I want to remain true and influence who really identifies with what I do. ”
A very similar thought to Anacê (@ atelieanace, 2,000 followers), the mark of Cecília Gromann and Ana Clara Watanabe, both 21 years old. Friends of Faap's fashion school and seething with creativity have launched the new business less than a year ago and are already making ambitious plans. With four feet in artsy, they occupy a space at the Ondina 55 Gallery, where they welcome clients and friends for private wine sales.
“It's an experience because people don't just come to buy clothes,” says Cecilia, who has 32,300 followers on Instagram. Born in Embu, in Greater São Paulo, she has passed the jewelery style Mariah Rovery and designer Shorts & Co., where he exercised hand in men's fashion. Who really likes the universe of boys is Ana Clara, owner of a half Tropicália vibe, fan of tailoring, bright colors and large shapes. References that match the repertoire of Cecilia, who makes the style more woman in the duo, but ends the relationship with extreme personality.
Together they began to produce clothes that looked good in the photo, with editorial soul but little commercial appeal. Gradually, they have been balancing the formula and getting closer to what they think their real vocation is: making clothes for a niche of people who move between art and culture and who like exclusivity. The collections come in the dropper, with less than ten models in each, and with genderless modeling. If the former looked at modernism, in the latter they mined old photographs of their families and reinterpreted the customs of weird ancestral proportions. Among the fabrics, cotton, crepe and linen, natural, yes, but without ecoparanoia. “Being sustainable is a must for a fashion brand. We don't want to use this as marketing, ”explains Cecilia.
Proud of their country roots - Ana Clara is from Pindamonhangaba - they photographed the promotional material on a farm in Embu (SP), with unconventional models, in the largest rural fashion climate. Yes, they also serve as mannequins for four-handed creations, but it's easier for Cecilia, who has a greater influential vocation than her friend's. “Until recently, I only posted a chair photo in my feed!”, Ana Clara amuses. “Cecilia helps me a lot. I'm loose now. ”
In fact, Cecilia soon understood that working on her personal image was part of the game and that they would be the best poster girls for clothes. It also conducts its digital partnerships, but as long as they do not compete with Anacê. Therefore, it prefers to work with bigger names, like Calvin Klein. Reticent when the word influencer enters the conversation, she explains that it is because she was afraid of being labeled and thus suffer prejudice in her area, since she always wanted to be a stylist. “I just learned to use it to my advantage.”
Girls have no desire to be retail giants, although they plan to move from showroom and digital to physical points in the not too distant future. “We don't want to lose the premium essence and characteristics of exclusive products,” says Ana Clara.
As for the influencers' next step, they are well aware and calm: “We will not have a new Thassia Naves. Content tends to be more niche, which is good. Instagram changed its algorithm and ended the likes, since everything was big and fake, ”says Cecilia. Ana Clara choirs and adds: “It is better to have a real influence on a smaller group of people than to have a huge following, which makes it almost impossible to measure the impact of their influence. For our business model, size is not a document. ” How many likes do these girls deserve, huh?
