Third Wave Fashion

Fashion Icon Friday: Robert Verdi

He is the embodiment of the idiom, ‘jack of all trades,’ and probably is probably one of the most sought after personalities in TV and entertainment.  Robert Verdi seems to have done it all.

Born to a dressmaker and chef, no one knew that Robert would launch his career as a trained goldsmith.  With his vivaciousness, engrained business savvy and eye for beautiful things, he received a degree from FIT and allowed his life to take him into Manhattan’s most cherished fashion retailers — Bergdorf’s, Bloomingdale’s, Barney’s, and Bendel’s.  In the 90s, Robert set his sights on a career in TV with such shows as Full Frontal Fashion, She’s Got the Look and Surprise by Design, expanding his skills into interior design and the greater fashion realms.  He even starred in a self-titled series, The Robert Verdi Show.

Today, you’ll find Robert continuously intersecting fashion, events, and social media through his company Robert Verdi Inc.  Here he’s created one of today’s hottest spaces for the creative crossings called, ‘Luxe Laboratory’ where brands go to throw parties, grow connections, and make an impact.

Tech Crush Thursday: Kevin Systrom

With over 100 million users (as announced Tuesday), Instagram has grown from two young guys renting desks, to a record breaking acquisition with Facebook. Although Instagram was launched a little over two years ago, we can’t help but be impressed by the company’s growth and success (not to mention we are more than slightly addicted to the app). 

Welcome, Kevin Systrom, CEO and Co-founder of Instagram, to the TWF Tech Crush Thursday hall of fame! After graduating from Stanford University, Kevin got his first taste of the startup tech world as an intern at Odeo, which later became Twitter. He also worked at Google where he worked on a number of product as well as their corporate development.

In 2012, Systrom and his Co-founder, Mike Krieger, sold the company to Facebook for an announced $1Billion. Although the sale went through, Kevin made sure that Instagram would continue to operate outside of Facebook. He also retained quite a bit of control over the photo-sharing company, allowing him to continue to make important decisions. For example, Kevin decided to remove Instagram photos from Twitter’s news feed, not at the request of Facebook, but to bring users to Instagram’s new website.

Yes, there have been some controversies surrounding the app and recent changes, but with 100 million users in just 28 months, it looks like the man behind Instagram knows what he’s doing.

Tech Crush Thursday: Sophia Amoruso

Everyone at our office owes a huge ‘thank you’ to Sophia Amoruso for founding our favorite online retailer for trendy but inexpensive fashion, Nasty Gal.

Started as an ebay store for vintage clothing in 2006, Sophia has grown Nasty Gal into a top selling online retailer. What we like even more about her is that she made Nasty Gal successful mainly using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram rather than traditional marketing. Her story is inspiring: she raised capital with no experience in the area, and she admits she didn’t even know how to use Powerpoint to make a presentation. Her passion for the idea is what has gotten her this far, and what continues to keep the Nasty Gal brand growing!

It’s been a big year for Nasty Gal, too, with over $128 million in sales. This month during New York Fashion Week, the site will launch their own bi-annual magazine, Super Nasty. Alongside the magazine, Nasty Gal is launching their own label for Fall/Winter 2012!  We can’t wait to check it out!

Check out this video of Sophia Amoruso sharing her story of Nasty Gal, why she loves her customers, and where the name Nasty Gal comes from.

Tech Crush Thursday: Angela Ahrendts

Our latest tech crush is Angela Ahrendts, digital innovator and CEO of luxury brand Burberry.

In 2006, giving up her title as Executive Vice President at Liz Claiborne Inc., Angela became CEO of Burberry. While she does not have an educational background in technology, Angela saw that to help the British brand grow and reach the younger generation, she would need to implement a digital initiative. Angela had a vision she wanted to see come true: anyone who wanted to touch the company could have access to it. Since she arrived in 2006, she started reinventing the Burberry image, making it more appealing to a younger and more global consumer. This makeover proved to be a good move with sales having more than doubled.

Angela has been working closely with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff to form a technology strategy using Facebook, Twitter, and other social media outlets, as well as software from Salesforce and SAP. Employees are encouraged to use social media throughout the day.

Despite the past aura of exclusivity at Burberry, Angela saw that the way to grow the company was to take them into the future digitally. Burberry is considered one of the top technology-forward companies in the luxury fashion industry. They have high rankings in Facebook and Twitter followers, as well as an impressive and easy to navigate website and great video campaign ads. It all makes sense, as half of their media budget goes to digital.

Watch this interview with Angela to learn more about the Burberry digital initiative and check out some of their films.

And of course, on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.