三位小众设计师的喜与忧
British designer Olivia von Halle established her eponymous brand in 2011, focusing on luxury sleep and loungewear. Her most recent launch, the Missy, a chic silk-cashmere tracksuit, took two years to develop. The label is stocked in more than 100 retailers including Net-a-Porter and Bergdorf Goodman.
oliviavonhalle.com 英国设计师Olivia von Halle于2001年创建了专注于豪华睡衣与便服的同名品牌。她最新推出的系列the Missy是异常时尚的真丝羊绒运动套装，前后耗费了其两年心血。Olivia von Halle如今在包括Net-a-Porter与波道夫•古德曼(Bergdorf Goodman)在内的100多家零售店发售。详情请浏览oliviavonhalle.com。
Olivia von Halle We met about five years ago. I had bought one of Alessandra’s dresses on Net-a-Porter but the belt was missing so I called Alessandra’s studio and this frightfully glamorous-sounding Italian women answered and said: “Yes dahling, you must come and get it.” So I put on my coolest outfit and headed down to Mount Street. As I was walking there a seagull swooped down and tried to fly off with my hair in its mouth. Alessandra ran out, and tried to bat the seagull away with a file.
奥利维娅•哈莉(Olivia von Halle)：我俩结识于5年前，我在Net-a-Porter上买了件亚历桑德拉的裙子，但腰带却不见了，于是我给亚历桑德拉门店打电话，这位嗓音极富磁性的意大利女人接电话后说：“不过亲爱的，您得自己来取。”于是我穿上最潮行头直奔其门店所在地伦敦蒙特街(Mount Street)。走到那儿时，一只海鸥俯冲下来，想要叼走我的头发。亚历桑德拉从屋里冲出来，使劲用文件夹驱赶海鸥。
Alessandra Rich There is a seagull that attacks people on Mount Street. We called the council, but it’s a protected species. Anyway that’s how we met.
亚历桑德拉•瑞秋(Alessandra Rich)：蒙特街上有只老爱袭击行人的海鸥。我们曾给市府打过电话，但那是保护动物，不管咋说，我们俩就是这么结识的。
OVH It was a good icebreaker, and after that we became friends. And around the same time, my husband was working on a project with Jess . . .
奥利维娅•哈莉：这是算是良好的开端，我俩从此成了密友。与此同时，我丈夫也正好与杰西卡•麦科马克(Jessica McCormack)合作……
Jessica McCormack . . . and he thought Olivia and I would get on. We are all friends, but our meetings are business focused, somewhere we can share ideas, or information, or say: “Hey does anyone know a showroom in Paris?”
杰西卡•麦科马克：他觉得我与奥利维娅也会合得来。我们都是很要好的朋友，但我俩的会面只牵扯业务，有时我们能彼此互享理念或是信息，要么就问：“喂，谁熟悉巴黎的时装展厅?”
AR Or sometimes we might set up a meeting to discuss something specific, such as social media.
亚历桑德拉•瑞秋：我们有时会面谈具体事情、比如说社交媒体。
OVH We have a WhatsApp group and we are all non-competing luxury brands with women as the founders. We used to have more people in the group, but these days it’s mainly the three of us. We have also invited people to come and talk — like the head of innovation at Microsoft. There’s quite a little network of advisers, consultants and people who deal with smaller businesses, and we all go through similar HR issues. In terms of advice, the British Fashion Council look after a very particular type of brand — generally Central Saint Martins-trained womenswear designers — but we don’t fit that mould. It’s very supportive to you though, isn’t it, Alessandra?
奥利维娅•哈莉：我们建了个WhatsApp群，我们这几个女人都是彼此没有竞争关系的奢侈品牌创建者。这个群过去人更多，但如今主要就我们仨了。我们还邀请其他人参加讨论——比如说微软创新部负责人。我们还聘请了人数不多的顾问咨询人员与处理小型业务的员工，我们的招聘流程都大同小异。说到建议，英国时装协会(British Fashion Council)眷顾特殊人群————通常是中央圣马丁艺术学院(Central Saint Martins)培养的女装设计师————但我们不符合这个要求。不过时装协会对你还是很支持的，对吧，亚历桑德拉?
AR It is, but the fashion council would be more interested if I showed my collections in London. It organises interesting meetings though.
亚历桑德拉•瑞秋：一点没错，但我若在伦敦举办发布会，时装协会会更有兴趣。不过它组织的发布会都很不错。
OVH None of us has any formal design training.
奥利维娅•哈莉：我们都没受过科班训练。
JM I didn’t train or study, and actually that means I haven’t encountered the barriers that say how you should do something, you just do it. I’m not saying we make it up as we go, but there’s that shared entrepreneurial spirit that relies a lot on intuition.
杰西卡•麦科马克：我没有培训或是深造过，实际上这意味着自己没遇到过那些规定你该做啥的条条框框，自己做啥完全随心所欲。我不是说我们一路走来是糊弄，但创业精神很大程度上都仰仗于直觉。
OVH I think naivety is a huge advantage in setting up a business. 奥利维娅•哈莉：我认为天真对于创业而言是巨大优势。
JM Ignorance is bliss!
杰西卡•麦科马克：无知最好!
OVH If you knew what was involved you would never do it. You need to go in with your eyes shut! That worked for me anyway.
奥利维娅•哈莉：若提前知晓会历经重重困难，可能就永远不会为之。做啥事就得义无反顾!至少那样做对我管用。
AR It’s also helped us to have our own niche, our own spaces.
亚历桑德拉•瑞秋：这种做法也有助于我们创建自己的小众品牌，并闯出自己的一片天地。
JM I can’t compete with the big brands commercially, but I can put my own twist on fine jewellery, show people how to wear it. I’m motivated by encouraging women to wear diamonds in a more casual way. Everything I create I ask, can a woman wear this, when is she going to wear it?
杰西卡•麦科马克：我们在销售上难以与大品牌匹敌，但我可以凭借高档首饰以及向消费者展示如何穿戴占据有利地位。我积极鼓励女人以更休闲方式穿戴钻石。设计啥我都会自问：女人适合穿戴吗?她们啥时候穿戴?
AR It’s important for me that women find my dresses and designs wearable.
亚历桑德拉•瑞秋：我认为重要的是女性消费者觉得我设计的服装和其他东西很耐穿。
JM The female element of our group is really important. We haven’t invited Roland Mouret to join, for example, even though he’s on Carlos Place, London [where the brands are based].
杰西卡•麦科马克：我们这个群中的女性设计师元素至关重要。比方说，我没有邀请罗兰•穆雷(Roland Mouret)参加，即便他来自众多时尚品牌门店云集的伦敦卡洛斯广场(Carlos Place)。
AR It’s easier to be very honest and open with other women, you really can discuss everything, on a friendship level.
亚历桑德拉•瑞秋：与其他女性设计师在一起，彼此更容易开诚布公，与闺蜜可以无话不谈。
OVH You have to hold it together at work, I mean, do you guys ever break down at work?
奥利维娅•哈莉：工作时必须精诚合作，我的意思是，我们彼此工作期间各自为政了吗?
AR No!
亚历桑德拉•瑞秋：没有!
Brand profile: Alessandra Rich Alessandra Rich品牌简介
Italian-born, London-based womenswear designer Alessandra Rich has a showroom in Mayfair and a studio in Italy. She launched her label for Spring/Summer 2010 during Paris Fashion Week. She is particularly known for long, lace dresses that offer a modern twist on overt femininity, and her garments have been worn by Samantha Cameron, Chloë Sevigny and Alexa Chung.
alessandrarich.com 出生于意大利的女装设计师亚历桑德拉•瑞秋在伦敦定居，目前在梅菲尔区开有门店，在意大利则设立了设计室。巴黎时装2010年春夏周，她首次推出自己的时装系列。她尤以设计具有现代鲜明女性风格的蕾丝长裙见长，她设计的时装受到萨曼莎•卡梅伦(Samantha Cameron)、科洛•塞维尼(Chloë Sevigny)以及艾里珊•钟(Alexa Chung)等名媛青睐。详情请浏览alessandrarich.com。
OVH When it comes to opening up and talking about my business, which is something I am quite closed about, I feel more comfortable doing it with other women. I have experienced a certain amount of mansplaining by men. I never think of myself as different, but still, in every single meeting when the conversation turns to business, or when I’m trying to get more money from the bank, I have to remind myself, that I’m the CEO . . . My husband Hugo who is the finance director is very much “this is your brand, you are the CEO”.
奥利维娅•哈莉：说起创业与开拓业务，我已经准备充分。我更愿意与其他女人合作干。我经历了不少“男人说教”(mansplaining，形容男人对女性喋喋不休解释后者早已明了的事情)。我从没觉得自己与众不同，但每次会面聊及生意、或是想办法从银行贷更多款时，就得提醒自己是公司掌门……我老公雨果(Hugo)是财务总监，他老说“这是你自己的品牌，你是老大”。
JM You read about the pay difference and the different treatment women get in the workplace, but I just assumed that I could do whatever I want. The diamond industry is very male dominated. I have heard people say: “Oh, she’s a girl, she won’t last five minutes”, but I wouldn’t let that impact me. For working mothers, like Olivia and I, it’s nice to have that support network, and be able to say I’ve got a problem with my nanny.
杰西卡•麦科马克：诸位都知道女性在工作中薪酬与待遇与男性有差异，但我认为自己做啥事能做主。钻石行业基本上由男人把控。我常听到这样的话：“哇，她是个女人，撑不了多久”。但我根本不以为然。对于我与奥利维娅这样的职业妈妈来说，有家庭后盾支持是幸运的，可以说说最近与家里保姆闹了点别扭之类的话题。
OVH I went back to work two months after having my son, just three or four hours a day. And it was great. For a lot of women that’s really shocking so I really appreciate having these two women who completely understand that I can’t just put my business on the back burner because I’ve had a baby. I have an opportunity at this time to create a future, and I have to capitalise on it. The fact that I am also of childbearing age and have to have my children now is neither here nor there, I’ve got to do both.
奥利维娅•哈莉：我生完儿子后两个月就回来工作了，每天就干3、4个小时。这种感觉真是棒极了!很多女人会觉得难以置信，我真得很感激这两位闺蜜完全理解我没有因为有了孩子就把工作退居次要地位。此时此刻我有机会开创更广阔天地，我必须充分利用好。我到了生儿育女的年龄以及必须养育孩子，这并不是非此即彼，我必须两者兼顾。
JM I always say that my jewellery business is my first baby. I nurtured and grew it, you take your eyes off it for a minute and it’s being naughty. You aren’t going to let that go.
杰西卡•麦科马克：我总说首饰店是我的第一个孩子。我抚育它慢慢成长，稍不留神，它就会出点状况，所以自己就得时刻盯紧。
OVH This last year I have been really lucky in being able to choose how to make the business work for me. I don’t get in until 11, I try and leave at 5. I work in the evenings, but I have found it very free. The business has doubled in the past year. I was thinking this has been a crap year, let’s just get through it but actually it’s boomed.
奥利维娅•哈莉：就在去年，我有幸找到了适合自己的工作方式：上午11点上班，一直干到下午5点才回家。我晚上也工作，但我发现这非常自由。公司去年的销售额翻了一倍，我当时觉得这一年肯定完蛋了，就凑伙着过吧，没想到却是个大丰收年。
JM We have had double-digit growth this year so even though I’m pregnant I think “don’t make me leave”, I just want to keep going.
杰西卡•麦科马克：我们今年销售额是两位数增长，所以即便身怀六甲，我觉得“不能逼自己离开”，得继续坚守阵地。
OVH When Brexit happened we were so worried about the future of the brand and how it would affect us. The pound bottoming out against the dollar had a huge immediate affect; outstanding debts to our supplier increased by 30 per cent and our products became 30 per cent more expensive for us to buy since we manufacture 95 per cent of our production in Shanghai and pay in dollars. The flipside was the UK became the cheapest place in the world to buy luxury goods and as our products became more affordable in other countries we saw a huge surge in export sales through our own e-commerce site, especially from the US; the US is now about to take over the UK with 38 per cent of all our e-commerce revenues coming from the US. Ultimately most of our customers are UHNWIs (ultra-high net worth individuals) who haven’t been affected by Brexit — if anything I think it has made them richer, so our sales have continued to grow worldwide and are set to double profits again this year and increase our turnover by 50 per cent. When you decide to set up a pyjama brand you don’t expect to be on xe.com every day checking currency changes.
奥利维娅•哈莉：英国脱欧(Brexit)后，我们对前景甚感忧虑，担心脱欧洲会严重影响生意。英镑兑美元的汇率跌至谷底后，影响巨大：我们欠供货商的货款涨了30%，我们的产品价格贵了30%，因为我们95%的产品在上海生产，而且都用美元支付。但另一方面，英国成了全球奢侈品售价最便宜的地方，而且随着我们的产品在其它国家更趋便宜，我们自家网店的外销额出现了大幅飚升，尤以美国消费者为甚。占公司网店全部销售额38%的美国即将取代英国成为公司第一大市场。归根到底，我们的消费者多为超高净值人士(UHNWIs)——这些人并不受英国脱欧影响，真有影响的话，我认为英国脱欧反而让他们的资产升值了，所以我们在全球的销售额持续增长，今年有望实现利润翻番，销售额则增长50%。诸位如果决定创建一个睡衣品牌，每天盯着xe网站的实时汇率并不现实。
JM Our phone was ringing off the hook with our American clients placing orders, which was great!
杰西卡•麦科马克：我的电话响了，这是美国客户在下订单。真是太好了!
AR We produce everything in Italy. We pay everybody in euros and sell in euros, so we haven’t experienced any changes.
亚历桑德拉•瑞秋：我们所有产品都在意大利生产，所以收支都用欧元结算，因此没有任何变化。
OVH I have personal concerns about Brexit, and the safety of Europe, but I don’t really have business concerns. I started Olivia von Halle in September 2011, even though it was an absolute low point in the recession and I was selling a luxury product that no one needed, but I think a recession can be good for creativity. The positives of Brexit could be very exciting. If we were able to get a free-trade agreement so our customers didn’t have to pay really high taxes and duties when their goods landed it would make a big difference.
奥利维娅•哈莉：我个人对英国脱欧以及欧洲安全感到担忧，但对公司业务没啥担心。我2011年9月创建了Olivia von Halle品牌，即便当时是经济衰退的最低谷，自己的奢侈品也无人问津，但我认为经济衰退于创新大有裨益。英国脱欧的好处多多：若英国能与其他国家签订自由贸易协定，进口对方国家产品时，我国消费者就不必再支付高额关税与税率，那影响该有多深远!
JM Shipping to America is the worst. It’s so expensive.
杰西卡•麦科马克：出口到美国最为糟糕，费用太贵了。
OVH If the US dropped its import duties that would be amazing. The Chinese are now big customers and seem to hold the spending power that the Russians and Middle Eastern customers did a few years ago. Our Russian and Middle Eastern customer base used to be huge but it’s reduced a lot . . .
奥利维娅•哈莉：如果美国降低进口税，那就太好不过了。中国人如今是消费主力军，购买力酷似几年前的俄罗斯以及中东客户。昔日的俄罗斯与中东消费群体很庞大，但如今已大幅缩减……
AR Because of the drop in oil prices. They have also started to pay taxes in Saudi Arabia . . . And then the rouble bottomed out. But you can’t worry about the future though, it’s impossible to second guess what will happen where.
亚历桑德拉•瑞秋：原因是油价下跌。沙特消费者买东西也开始付税了……卢布对美元的汇率也跌至了谷底。然而诸位无需担心未来，因为无法猜测哪里后续会发生什么事。
OVH You don’t expect macroeconomics to affect a little brand like ours, but it does.
奥利维娅•哈莉：不要指望宏观经济会影响我们这样的小众品牌，但它的确有影响。
Brand profile: Jessica McCormack Jessica McCormack品牌简介
Jeweller Jessica McCormack grew up in New Zealand and in 2013 opened her Mayfair boutique, where she designs and oversees her creations. Her business partners are Rachel Slack, a member of the Oppenheimer family, and art collector and diamantaire Michael Rosenfeld. McCormack’s designs include Party Jackets, surrounds that make a simple ring more dramatic.
jessicamccormack.com 首饰设计师杰西卡•麦科马克在新西兰长大。2013年开设了伦敦梅菲尔精品店，在此设计与监督旗下产品。她的商业合伙人有Oppenheimer钻石家族成员Rachel Slack以及收藏家兼钻石经营巨擎迈克尔•罗森菲尔德(Michael Rosenfeld)。麦科马克设计的首饰包括了Party Jackets，这种围饰风格能让简简单单一枚戒指变得楚楚动人。详情请浏览jessicamccormack.com。
