With all of these new platforms and content being pushed out at us constantly it makes me wonder when is it time to stop consuming? And how does all of this consumption affect creatives in the industry? For today's post I wanted to get a creative working in the industry's take on how they consume social media and how it affects their creativity and career.
I interviewed Liz Giardina, the Vice President of Design at Proenza Schouler for her take on this. Giardina is from Saint Louis and received her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Sculpture in 2002 from Washington University in Saint Louis. She still serves as the co-founder and co-chair of WU Fashion Connects, an group for alumni in New York City. After graduation from Washington University she then was a textile design visiting scholar at the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland, an apprentice with Anthony J. Hewitt Tailor on Savile Row in London, and then began her career in the industry at Polo Ralph Lauren and Zac Posen. She was the head designer at Halston and created the Halston Heritage collection and then moved to Derek Lam 10 Crosby. At Derek Lam 10 Crosby she served as the Vice President of Design for six years before moving to Proenza Schouler. She has been with Proenza Schouler for the past four years where she designs their White Label, which is their ready to wear and more contemporary line.
What's a typical day like for you as Vice President of Design at Proenza Schouler?
"That's a tough question to answer because not only do I wear a lot of hats, but the way that my work works I am in different segments of the process constantly and sometimes there is overlap. For me everything starts with research and concept. So there are periods where I'm spending a lot of time online, going to bookstores, going to vintage stores, rummaging through archives, and immersing myself in information. And then there are periods where I go into sketching and concept development. After that I go into the parts where I'm dealing with people in the business from the CEO, Head of Sales, Head of Merchandising, etc. on presenting the product. After that fine tuning, fitting, and then communication with people on the business side and do it again. After that I prepare my samples for sales and then it starts again. Currently I just spent my week fitting pre-spring and starting for concepts for spring."
See below for one of Giardina's latest designs
What fashion media do you consume on a daily basis?
"I feel like I'm probably not going to give you the answer you want. I feel like I do consume a lot on Instagram, but honestly I'm trying to curb that and I've gotten way better. I've gotten kind of tired of Instagram in a lot of ways. Besides that I really try not to overwhelm my visual information with social media. I feel a little bit like as a designer everyone is looking at the same stuff. I will see what other people are doing or if its brands that I'm interested in. What I like about Instagram are these weird little vintage stores in North Carolina or Missouri, where there's some kooky owner and she has a collection and shes modeling it. I find things and I'll buy it or I find it inspiring how someone styled something. I get a little nervous when I'm on Pinterest, Instagram, Vogue, particular blogs I like, or Tumblr because everyone is looking at the same thing. That starts to freak me out a little bit.
For me social media is important. But an honest dialogue with myself about what it is I want to wear, who I want to be, and what I want to project to the world is way more important than looking at what everyone else is doing.
I also feel very connected to our customer. I very much feel like the Proenza Schouler customer is me. Even with models when we style them they'll wear my jewelry, etc. So what do women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s really need and what makes our lives more fabulous but a little bit easier and more functional? When we have hard earned money what do we want to spend it on? And I don't feel like that information is always coming from social media."
How important do you feel it is for your job to keep up with fashion media and where it is moving with different formats like Youtube.com/Fashion, Tiktok, etc?
"I do, but I find it a little overwhelming. I do keep up with it, but I feel like it's good to distance yourself a little bit. There are certain brands that I want to know what they're doing so I'll keep up with them. Bigger brands or smaller brands. Especially like Bottega Veneta right now. Or Loewe a few years ago. I will look at that and some influencer culture. So it's important to me, but I also feel like it's good to be oblivious. It's important to know what's going on, but not be too influenced by it."
Where do you gather most of your inspiration from?
"I would say most comes from people that I see, interiors, my own life, women that I find inspiring, and really filling the voids that are in our wardrobes. I describe a very specific sense of style and presentation where I feel like clothes should make you feel more beautiful but they shouldn't require a lot of effort. I think that's because that's how I feel about my own self presentation sometimes things that are very Instagrammy looks look like you're trying to be photographed at a fashion show. And sometimes I love that and think its fabulous, but other times because of my own sense of what is style is more important than what is fashion.
I'm forever photographing people on the streets, the subways, everywhere. I'm also really trying to be the opposite of hyper focused in terms of social media. I've been watching the Fran Lebowitz documentary on Netflix and she said in it I just watch people in New York and everyone is on their phone. So I'm really trying to be more engaged with actual reality."
In your career in fashion over the past nineteen years how have you seen fashion media change?
"Oh my god. The whole thing has changed. Editors are still important, but now people are able to self create themselves as tastemakers. And that's been really interesting to watch. When the whole blog thing was blowing up ten to fifteen years ago, it was crazy that these people that created huge online presences were sitting front row at fashion shows. When before it was major buyers, celebrities, and big editors. I kind of think that's fun though to have multiple people having seats at the table.
The whole paradigm of fashion and the fashion magazine has changed. People are able to create really interesting brands and personas around themselves. I think that is really cool and exciting. That sort of thing I love to look at, but I get nervous about it infiltrating my own creative too much. "
How have those changes in fashion media changed the way you approach your career in fashion?
"I don't think that it has. I became interested in fashion because I was always interested in style. People always want stylish clothes and that's never going to go away, even if you're wearing sweatpants or a sequin dress. And every kind of garment is interesting to me whether its a $2,000 garment or a Hanes tub sock. I think that great creative people need to be making clothes at every price point and more engaged with our consumer and to me that's the most important thing."
Where do you see the future of fashion media moving? "You're so asking the wrong person this question. I think it's going to become even more democratic. I think some magazines will stay valid. Now that I'm thinking about it I haven't bought a magazine in way over a year. I actually flew in June and I definitely didn't buy one at the airport and that's where I always buy one. I think the magazine's presence is definitely more valuable online than anywhere else now. But I think more and more it's about people creating their own content. The speeding train that is social media is not going to stop. Certain people are great at creating content and that will continue. I think some people will rise through the ranks of fashion media by being content creators.
I don't use TikTok because I'm scared i'm going to be so obsessed with it. I won't be able to stop. It combines so many things that I like into one. Like style, fun, music, dance. It sounds like too much fun for me.
I feel like TikTok feels more feel good. Which is encouraging to me, because with Instagram it's hard for me to look at it because people I've followed before have content right now that is very tone deaf. Which makes me feel horrible about society.
For all the things that are bad about social media, having more voices and diversity in fashion media is so positive."
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