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A Resplendent Display of Role Awareness with YSL Creative Director, Anthony Vaccarello
As we transition out of the spooky season and into a season of gratitude, we want to take time to give thanks for the stories that remind us to explore, embrace and express the truth of who we are with confidence and courage. Building a three billion dollar brand is very cool, but you know what else is cool? Knowing who you are and what you bring to the table.
“He adapts everything to the modern world. It is more than fashion, it is history.”
Catching up on some of the amazing things that have been happening so far this season, we came across this inspiring article, published to the Wall Street Journal on Monday morning, October 31, 2022.
“Anthony Vaccarello Takes Saint Laurent to the Next Level” by Rory Satran (Fashion Director at WSJ).
The piece itself is designed to highlight the massive success of YSL with Vaccarello at the helm. Since his joining the team in 2017, YSL has nearly become a $3 billion brand. What stood out the most to us while reading though, is the calm, the cool and the consistency he appears to convey as a well-respected individual who has achieved such critical success in his industry. A Resplendent Display of Role Awareness with YSL Creative Director, Anthony Vaccarello.
What is role awareness?
Role awareness is a universal core competency that refers to one’s capacity for observing and understanding one's own position, potential and performance in the world or the environment they currently occupy, including any expectations one may be responsible for meeting.
Of course, we don’t know him personally, however, we can deduce from the article, as well what his colleagues and friends have had to say about him, that he has found clarity with what his unique value proposition is within the industry, and perhaps even his overall contribution to the world.
How does Anthony Vaccarello convey role awareness in his role as creative director?
Here are some examples of the things people are saying (Vaccarello included) in reference to Vaccarello and his work:
“I never think it has to be global… Everyone is intrigued by Saint Laurent because [it] has that Parisian French image. And you like it or you don’t like it.” – Anthony Vaccarello’s response to curiosity that he might feel pressured to produce fashions that are less specific to the Parisian French image, and more global. (Wall Street Journal, 2022)
“Anthony is like Yves… He adapts everything to the modern world, which is exactly what Yves did for his time. It is more than fashion, it is history.” – Betty Catroux via email. (Wall Street Journal, 2022) Betty is a former model of critical acclaim, and is known to have served as a muse for both Tom Ford and Yves Saint Laurent himself.
“He’s very resistant to any sort of pressure from the outside world when it comes to trends or what he should be doing…. He hates hypocrisy—that’s, like, his main thing. So, when he does something, it’s really because he believes in it. He’ll never do something because it’s easy to get attention.” – Anja Rubik, supermodel, muse and friend of Anthony Vaccarello (Wall Street Journal, 2022)
As we transition out of the spooky season and into a season of gratitude, we want to take time to give thanks for the stories that remind us to explore, embrace and express the truth of who we are with confidence and courage. Building a three billion dollar brand is very cool, but you know what else is cool? Knowing who you are and what you bring to the table.
Thanks Rory for this gem of an article, capturing the inspiration of the one and only, Anthony Vaccarello.
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How Tommy Hilfiger Taught the Power of A Passion
From its launch in 1985, the Hilfiger name has been a strong contender in the fashion industry… Here are a few notes he shared that shed a light on the power of a passion.
Tommy shares his thoughts on a number of topics, from fashion to business and everything in between.
Tommy Hilfiger is one of the top ten designer brands in America. From its launch in 1985, the Hilfiger name has been a strong contender in the fashion industry, closing out with an estimated $4.7 billion in revenue just last year.
In a recent article written by Chris Black for HIGHSNOBIETY, beloved designer Tommy shares his thoughts on a number of topics, from fashion to business and everything in between. Here are a few notes he shared that shed a light on the power of a passion.
Inspiration
Tommy was first inspired by a shift he saw in the world around him in his youth. “...It was a dramatic revolution in politics and fashion. That’s what prompted me to go into business... It was about making cool clothes for people who wanted to be in the groove or part of the scene.”
Balance
He survived a period of time where his passion led to an imbalance of creativity and business. He had to learn the hard way, navigating financial struggles earlier on in his career.
The key takeaway he shares from this is simple. “...If you’re very creative, but you don’t have a business head or a great partner, you won’t make it. And if you’re a good business person, but you have no creativity, you’ll fail. You need both.”
Adaptability
The Tommy Hilfiger brand rose to prominence in a time where the world worked a lot differently than today. Back in the earlier stages of the business, which was almost four decades ago, they would send a sketch of a design to the factory and wait for the prototype to be sent back to them. As Tommy recalls, this process was usually back and forth because it was very common for the factory to send the garment back with errors the first five times or so.
Today, with the power of 3D design, they are able to send a more technologically advanced rendering of the concept to the factory, which then allows for a quicker turnaround time on the prototype which is pretty much perfect on its first delivery from the factory these days.
Tommy is very keen on keeping up with the evolution of technology. “If you don’t keep up with it or stay a step ahead of it, if you fall behind, catching up is very difficult to do” he says.
Passion
The journey to success was hardly a straight and narrow for this designer, who came from a humble and largely unknown town in upstate New York. But all things are possible for those who believe. “If you follow your passion, whether you’re a musician or an actor or an athlete, you can be successful.” — Tommy Hilfiger (HIGHSNOBIETY)
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At 69 years old, Karen Bass started a new chapter in her life, and the life of the city of Los Angeles, as she assumes the role of the city’s 43rd chief executive. Not only has she made history as the first woman to become mayor in Los Angeles, she is also the second Black person to have ever been elected to this office. In our review of this remarkable feat, we took some time to reflect on a few universal core competencies that Mayor Bass has displayed throughout her career, and that are of high visibility and significance today.