Alber Elbaz | Reimagining the Fashion System | #BoFVOICES 2018

[Music] you know all morning there was there were all this uh projection of donald trump and all i thought was that we have the same hair color you know i was really stressed about coming here tonight because i mean i didn't know how much i should and how much i could and you know these days it's quite hard to say or to not say and i thought maybe i should speak about the weather but even the weather is no longer funny issue so i remain with fashion fashion is always a more of a family to me than an industry a little bit dysfunctional but a great family i love fashion for years i felt i was hugging people with my clothes i thought that every dress i make will be hugging the women that is wearing it years later i received all these hugs back from you fashion people so fashion is not just about silicon and botox and alcohol it's also about workaholic people i came to see and to say thank you for the love and support imran where are you i'm really surprised actually that you invited the jobless and the homeless to the voices [Music] um when i look at myself in the photos you know i can never believe it's me because i feel i'm okay looking but in the photo it's a disaster and i always blame the camera i always blame the camera for making me look one day i realized that it's not the camera it's maybe the pizza late at night after 16 hours of work so i went on a diet and like every makeover show on tv when you lose some weight you also become blonde so did i [Applause] i have only 12 minutes so don't clap and don't laugh let me run when i was actually coming here we had a little rehearsal and i was asking the production company because i know them from paris so i had some connections and i asked them to move the camera a little bit higher so they can erase my double chin then i just put that up and you know i asked him to actually photographs me like a selfie i love selfies but then i was actually wondering what is it about this obsession of looking good how about doing good and how about being good i love selfies well cameras are changing positions you see my silhouette is changing fashion is changing my hair color is changing fashion houses become fashion brands brands with trends local become global 1 million is a billion 30 is the new 20 intelligence is artificially intelligent and i don't know if you had like dinner with people around like our industry but every time i have a lot of time to have lunches and dinners and the first thing they do is they look around to see who is there and who is listening and i say why so much fear and not enough love i always believe in this one is reset i always believe in evolution in progress giving the time i don't believe in revolutions revolution photographs well they're very photogenic they are maybe they don't travel well and they also don't last long now i believe in reset just in a slackness smartphone shut and reset evolution reset revolution maybe different words with the same meaning i was having a dinner in new york with some friend of mine my friend's son was playing with fortnite all night long we were eating i asked him how many people did you kill and his mother jumped at me and said he's not killing anyone he's just eliminating in france we say vivla difference see different words same meaning speed there is no industry like fashion no film studio is capable of producing eight blockbusters in one year no singer or a rock star can produce 14 here heats in one year in fashion yes we can in hollywood netflix and apple are taking over in music we now download but in fashion we run run run run run and we lose no calories my gym coach actually is telling me that i have a brain of an athlete unfortunately not a body of an athlete homeless i've been homeless for a few years i lost everything my studio my team my ego my dignity everything jack ma from alibaba says that the only thing that cannot be taken from a homeless is his brain i didn't work as a creative director for a few years now i didn't have a marketing meeting i didn't have board meeting i didn't have show meeting or fabric meeting i actually met myself again i became a designer i started to dream and to think i started working in the streets because they said that fashion is also very streets fashion so i moved also my studio to this street and i was just looking around it was lonely sometimes it was dark at night and it was hard some other time and anna and susie and glenda and vanessa and so many more of those good people in our industry often ask me so what are you up to out there and i know they care they were not looking for scoops but it's another thing when i get into a taxi in paris during fashion week and the driver is turning and asking me where are you i don't see you anymore in my heart i think you may not see me but i can see you that's my new job reset and reassessment looking seeing and observing thinking about what are we heading in fashion where are we going and what's next when steve jobs was pushed out from apple the company he created he said that he felt like a punch in his stomach for me it was a punch in my chest i couldn't breathe i really couldn't breathe i was crushed but i decided even though i'm a big talker you know i decided to be quiet because i'm also a gentleman master class last year i gave 12 masterclass in universities around the world from beijing to new york via london i wanted to teach but mostly to learn to try to understand what's next i met a generation of amazing kids inside out beautiful but the kids were with an overdose overdose of information that come too fast and with no efforts and i met also many many teachers who no longer believe someone is interested to listen to them because nowadays it's faster to download the info yourself glamour don't worry i'm going to recycle all of it later [Music] and you can tell that with all this technology i'm still wearing and using a pen glamour i asked myself how come technology is taking over glamour where are you francesca how does it happen well glamour is electrifying and maybe electricity is better generated by engineers they can do it faster and cheaper but we in fashion we might be not that fast and not as electrifying but we remain an industry that create dreams we do it with fabrics we do it with needles we do it with threads and we do it with one seamstress and you know what is the difference between a diff between a seamstress and a ceo of a company only one generation the mother may be a seamstress but her daughter is a big ceo google i was traveling the world as i said i met many start-up phd engineer mathematician many smart people around the world they were all wearing t-shirts and sneakers yes street works don't always follow catwalks they were also wearing headphones they were also looking at the screen but they didn't really look at each other i was visiting google here in london the ceiling i don't know if you saw it gorgeous the ceiling in the lobby was as high as the building itself metal and glass visibility power and speed i love my voice i felt like a lost baby in this lobby i was so intimidated the lobby became a temple from google being good i felt that google is being good to me then i realized the sofa i was sitting at were all in baby pink and baby blue baby colors hobbies are i was thinking was it a coincidence or was it all planned and by who later on i met my friend the mathematician the genius and i asked him about these colors at the sofa and he said that he's walking by this lobby for four years and he never noticed those colors and imagine just imagine if our two minds were working together mathematicians and colorist intuition and rationalism fashion and marketing together with love and mutual respect windmill in technology they are building windmills you know to go faster and higher in fashion we respect tradition but we also maintain yesterday in food like in fashion they're amazing oil recipe and you can say and see that i love those recipes but maybe too much butter i'm not asking to eliminate those recipe but yes maybe to cut the butter out and make them healthier therefore more relevant in fashion the clothes are always new 6 8 14 collection a year new new new thousands of items back shoes sneakers bags hats sunglasses sneakers bags long dresses short dresses sneakers bags sneakers dresses the products are always new screams in screens i always see screams is it all about provoking i love japan actually more than ever because i love the way they whisper i feel there is a virtual war here a battle between a system of yesterday and a system of tomorrow tension between tradition and digital a fight between algorithm and intuition between big and small between white and black and when it comes to human being i am colorblind there is a struggle between men and women and between women and men it's a war zone and like in any war the lawyers are the only winners we maybe need some time i heard like i guess we know what we're talking about um when when i maybe think that all we have to do sometime is just a new outlook outlook maybe to look at ourself again you know one time in laos i came to the concierge and i told him i'm so bored there is nothing to see in laos an old monk that was standing by said to me sir if there is nothing to see at laos maybe you can look at yourself i was thinking what a and then and then he continues and said if you have the courage wake up at four in the morning and you will see that at four in the morning at that early hour there are so many monks walking barefit in the poor village and everybody is giving them food and money because in laos we start the day giving and not taking i fell in love with lives instagram i have a friend that often says but everything she said is like with butt like i love this dress it's so beautiful a bit expensive but then she will be like i like joanna she's such a nice girl but and i say i love internet i love instagram but i often see all these posts you know the ones of the after show dinners and i only see tables with flowers gorgeous bouquet of flowers but the plates are empty why why do people say that once designer were better like vionet was amazing and madame gray oh my god so talented why do people say that once song and singer did a better job why today designers are good they are very very good and maybe the speed and the system trouble them a little one thing i don't really understand in the music world how come how did it happen that dj today are more popular than the musician themselves what are we doing creating or curating is it about talent or fame is it about working or networking is it about packaging or content and you know what there are many people who can do packaging that's part of the business but when we talk about content i would say designers and thinkers that's our job and in fashion once we were couturier then we became designers later creative directors and now we are also influencers beautiful alone in babylon by jane birkin that song was played this month in a fashion show in paris i love the choice and i respect very much the designer who made this choice babylon is a symbol of a mythic city in the bible a place where human beings built towers to reach good they wanted to become good and they created confusion i say yes we need to build we need to build higher and that's great but we also have to build horizontally and we also have to build deeper we can call it today social awareness and blended values the fishermen sometimes i feel like a fisherman when there is no fish in the ocean where there are no fish in the ocean sorry fishermen are busy stitching their nets and repairing their boats this i heard from you julie fishermen like designers we live in a stormy ocean of the unknown big boats move slow remember that speed boats are speedy i dream about a fisherman boat like a digital yacht made of titanium a yacht with sensors to fill the waves and the wind because only when we feel those wind and waves and the windows are open we can catch a golden fish in the ocean master of improvisation in an article once suzy mancus who i adore love and respect and susie if you see me i love you she wrote that i was a master of improvisation i think that today more than ever more than ever we have to go and be masters and we have to work on improvisation because life is full of codes formulas database and algorithm and overuse of all of those can kill intuition and intuition is the essence of creation this is the essence of life itself thimble do you like it so far [Applause] thimbles i received a thimble from a woman i adore it belonged to her mother her mother was a seamstress in auschwitz she was the best seamstress in the camp that is what saved her life and it's always a reminder for me that if we excel no one can harm us and you know this is the symbol of this lady that her daughter gave me and you know what's the finger we put the thimble right this is really the one 21 century i read an article written by an economist and analyst he said that the 19th century was dominated by europe the 20s by usa and predicted that the 21st century will be led by asia but did anyone anyone any analyst predicted that the 21st century will also be led by women yes women around the world empowering women equal rights for women i love that i always say and i say it again that if i was a producer in hollywood the new james bond would be jane bond she doesn't have to be an x model and she doesn't have to have too much silicone on her but yes she could be an executive in silicon valley she would be a real beautiful and smart woman and no need to hide her age meryl streep who presented me with a superstar of fashion award in new york city said that i never tried to transform her but i helped her to be a better version of herself i believe that that was what fashion does best it's dreams but it's no longer just dreams it's also about solutions it's also about solving problems with a dream all i did the last two years was thinking thinking what do people want what do they really really want and i know it sounds like the spice girls i always think that i'm not good enough you know this is my motor this is my drive this is why i work so hard this is why i'm a workaholic you know when i joined saint-laurent i was the first one actually that mr san luong chose to be his his daughter and i remember calling my mother and i said to her you know i signed we have the contract and she said to me um that's good and i said aren't you happy she said albert there is one thing that will make me happy for you to get married so you see this is where everything starts never happy enough but one thing i know i'm good at one thing i'm very proud of that in every place i ever worked i first created love among people this is more important to me that one more beautiful dress or one more great collection tango love tango is a sensual dance in tango we close our eyes and we let our partner lead so tango is also about trust sometimes we love but we don't trust so love doesn't last but when we trust we always love and love brings love food for thought i'm almost over a fashion ceo told me once that today we must produce only for the millennials they are the future indeed we do if saint laurent once told me that a woman under 30 doesn't really need designers only after 30. i love millennials my niece maya is a millennial my neighbors are millennials as well i'm fascinated by that generation today we cannot sell them anything anymore because today they decide what where and when and hallelujah for that a fashion insider ceo told me that in 2024 there will be 600 million millennials only in china and that's the future millennials and i'm not a math genius but for every millennials there is there is also one set of parents two sets of grandparents a sister a brother a neighbor a cousin an uncle and an aunt so on 600 millennials 600 million millennials sorry there are billions of non-millennials no sure you know i don't want to like ignore those statistics but i'm not talking about statistics i'm talking about people not about markets i'm just talking about people people who need clothes and people who needs people now i sound like barbara streisand i was told by another ceo that today we must we must work only with young people i'm not talking about age discrimination you know that's another thing but i say that if we combine the vitality the energy of the young with wisdom and know-how of more experienced people we can get and create the perfect team i love ceos really i do when they are good they are our best partner because they are the dream makers of the creatives the best success stories in fashion and in every industry we know and i know is when there is a dialogue between creative and the management my dream is to find sometime this guy or girl maybe a girl that i can dance the tango together time is ticking imran i know and i must go but one more thing for a finale love is maybe the most important word but respect is even more important respect respect respect your loved one respect your partners respect your ceo respect your mother and father don't forget to call them respect your wife and respect your husband respect the universe but last and not least respect yourself and maybe aretha franklin said it and sang it better ladies and gentlemen aretha franklin

Channel: The Business of Fashion

Views: 27,491

Rating: 4.9806294 out of 5

Keywords: insider, Creative Directors, Alber Elbaz, Luxury, business, Fashion, fashion, BoFVOICES, The Business of Fashion, BoFVOICES2018

Id: qdpjzHXrf2A

Length: 24min 25sec (1465 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 03 2018