To begin my research I first looked into a selection of industry professionals. Overall I chose to look into four industry professionals, exploring their roles and how they became so successful.

The first professional I explored was Maureen Chiquet.

Maureen Chiquet is a fashion businesswoman who was CEO of Chanel for 9 years.

Chiquet began her fashion career after graduating from Yale University in 1985. Following her graduation, Chiquet found herself working in the marketing department at L’Oréal Paris. Her role in the marketing department involved assisting to the manager and marketing team by helping with the production of marketing materials and literature ranging from web content to brochures and press releases. The role allowed Chiquet to put a foot into the industry by gaining both experience and contacts. Following her position at L’Oreal, Chiquet went on to work for the marketing and merchandising teams at The Gap and Old Navy before bagging a role as president of Banana Republic.

After gaining years of industry experience and increasing professionalism Chiquet now found herself in 2003 and with a position in Chanel, one of the biggest luxury fashion houses. The job was as president of US Operations. This role involved overseeing day to day tasks that contribute to the growth of the brand as well as strategic planning within the company and goal setting in order to push the company into achieving its goals; these goals could range from meeting successful turnovers, whether annually or quarterly to launching a new product well.

After gaining 22 years of experience it was now 2007. Following five years as president of US operations, Chiquet was now offered the position of Chanel’s CEO. The role of CEO is the highest ranked executive position in a company. The job has many responsibilities starting with making major corporate decisions, managing the overall operations and resources of a company as well as acting as the main link of communications between a brands board of directors and corporate operations. This role is what made Maureen Chiquet so highly known in the fashion industry and opened the doors to her eventually being able to publish her book.

After 9 years as the CEO of Chanel news broke that Maureen Chiquet would be stepping down. Chanel released a statement, following Chiquets dramatic departure mid-way through Paris Fashion Week, admitting that Maureen Chiquet had stepped down from her role “due to differences of opinion about the strategic direction of the company”. In the aftermath of this statement, many rumours began to hit the circuit claiming Chiquet was fired however none of this was ever confirmed.

After leaving Chanel, Maureen Chiquet went on to publish her book ‘Beyond the Label: Women, Leadership and Success on Our Own Terms’. The book charts Chiquets unlikely path from literature major to global chief executive, giving guidance to readers on how she built her career and how they can discover their own paths and leadership values.

 

CEO JOB TITLE – What is a CEO?

A CEO is the highest ranking executive position in a company or organisation.

The role involves making major corporate decisions, acting as a link between company directors and corporates as well as keeping on top of the company’s in house departments such as marketing and financing in order to better the brand and ensure it has a positive growth. The role can be very demanding and requires a great deal of experience and professionalism.

Why I chose this professional? – The links to my project.

I chose to research Maureen Chiquet as one of my industry professionals because she is a very successful name within the fashion industry and her direct links to the business sector work perfectly within my project. Her role as CEO worked within many areas of fashion business allowed me to gain an insight into how a brand is successfully run.

Maureen Chiquet also worked in merchandising and marketing prior to being CEO at Chanel. Given merchandising is my main focus in my project, I decided researching someone who worked within the industry would work perfectly.

 

The next industry professional I explored was Paolo Cigoginini.

Paolo Cigoginini was a fashion marketer who rose up the career ladder to eventually become Alexander McQueen’s Worldwide Marketing Director.

Paolo Cigoginini began his fashion career at Dolce and Gabana as an e-commerce director. An e-commerce director is responsible for collaborating with cross-functional partners in order to manage all aspects of the ecommerce business including developing business plans, creating content strategies’as well as developing promotional campaign’s and other online marketing mediums such as web designs, web analytics and web technologies.  The role allowed Cigoginini to develop his marketing skills and enhance his experience within the fashion industry. As well as running the ecommerce sector of the brand, Cigoginini also worked alongside the worldwide communications and marketing teams.

Cigoginini also had a role as Communications director at Bottogea Venta. This position acted as a pathway to his position at Alexander McQueen because it is owned by the same company; French Conglomerate Kering.

Paolo Cigoginini got the job as worldwide marketing director at Alexander McQueen at the end of 2016. He was the first to be employed by Mcqueens new executive chief, Emmanuel Gnitzburger.

Cigoginini’s new role involves overseeing the production and development of campaigns, merchandising store layouts and web designs, branding new products in order to increase sales as well as working closely alongside communications to keep on top of press releases, investor relations and PR.

Marketing Director Job Title- What is a marketing director?

A marketing director in the fashion industry is in charge of the brands development and implementation, this is controlled by the production of business plans and creation of brand strategies. Along with overseeing marketing strategies such as campaigns, event planning, digital marketing and PR. The role is very important in a fashion house as the way a brand is marketed greatly impacts the company’s turnover by determining whether a product sells.

Why I chose this professional? – The links to my project.

I chose to use Paolo Cigoginini as my second industry professional because he works directly in the marketing sector. This meant learning the skills required for his role could help me to gain an insight into marketing and understand the skills I will need to apply to the marketing side of my project. I think Cigoginini is a very interesting professional that has a very important position in the fashion industry which also linked to my project because it allowed me to gain an insight into the different roles within fashion marketing.

The next industry professional I chose to look into was Tomoko Ogura.

Tomoko Ogura is known worldwide for her role as fashion director at Barneys New York.

Ogura began her career studying Economics at Dartmouth College. Following her graduation, she managed to gain a role on Barneys fashion merchandising team as a merchandising assistant. As her skills began to develop, she quickly climbed the career ladder and at just 29 found herself becoming the huge, New York stores director.

Ogura’s directing role involved her choosing which stock would appear in store by attending fashion shows and presentations as well as looking through portfolio’s and attending fashion fairs. The important executive role also required her to develop the stores private label collection whilst also keeping on top of monitoring the stores sales to help determine the type of stock to launch in store.

Tomoko Ogura left her position in Barneys. After four years in the position, it is said Ogura exited in order to take on a new opportunity.

Fashion Director Job Title – What is a Fashion Director?

A fashion director is in charge of managing the entirety of a store. They decide what stock is launched and how the store is merchandised. They are also dependant on monitoring sales in order to understand which stock is selling. A fashion director is the top spot in a retailer – the position is responsible for the daily running of the store as well as the other tasks mentioned prior.

 

Why I chose this professional? – The links to my project.

I chose Tomoko Ogura as my third industry professional because her job allowed me to pick apart the different roles within a retailer and really understand what each one is responsible for. I also gained an insight into the role of a fashion director and how again the fact she started out as a merchandiser meant I had direct links to the basis of my project which allowed me to collect information on skills I can take forward with me into the production of my work.

 

The final professional I researched was Blogger and Influencer Sarah Ashcroft.

Sarah Ashcroft is a UK Fashion and Beauty Blogger.

Ashcroft began her Fashion career following graduating from FRA London. Seeking a job in PR, Ashcroft launched her blog ‘that pommie girl’ as a source for her interviews as she was regularly being asked by employers if she had one.

The blog which was created purely to help Ashcroft gain a position in PR, dramatically grew and Ashcroft found herself running it as a full time job. Upon reaching 200k on social media, Ashcroft found herself with floods of brands contacting her to promote their products with sponsored photos and collaborations.

After her blogs dramatic growth, Ashcroft then went on to create a YouTube channel in order to connect more directly with her followers.

After her massive growth on social media, Ashcroft then went on to collaborate with several different brands ranging from Missguided to Pretty Little Thing. These collaborations put her name on the fashion map and lead to her landing her own clothing line on etailer In The Style.

Ashcroft went from PR enthusiast to Social media star to designer in the shortest amount of time.

Blogger and Social Media Influencer Job Title – What is a blogger and influencer?

A social media influencer and blogger is someone who collaborates with brands in order to promote them and encourage people to buy products from the brands. The job is one that is dependent on having a secure following on social media platforms such as Instagram. The role requires posting sponsored photos and videos reviewing products.

 Why I chose this professional? – The links to my project.

I chose Sarah Ashcroft as my final professional because of her position within the media. Social media is such a major platform today and I knew that I would need to apply the media to my final project therefore by researching Ashcroft I was also able to research social media and how the platform works to help brands market and promote themselves.