3 questions for . . .Alix Morabito, Fashion Editor des Galeries Lafayette
3 questions for … Alix Morabito, Fashion Editor des Galeries Lafayette
A Master in Management Science at Panthéon-Assas University; work as a junior art buyer at the BETC advertising agency; a two-year road trip (at 20 years old) across South America and the United States; a Master in fashion management at IFM followed by an internship with the Mafia trends agency; a buying position (women’s fashion) for Galeries Lafayette, then with Printemps (women’s designer fashion); and an appointment as Collection Director (fashion accessories and licences) with Chloé … Alix Morabito’s CV is sure to turn heads. Her latest adventure? A 2016 return to Galeries Lafayette (after a year there as Assistant Purchasing Director for men’s collections) as Fashion Editor, a new, customised job description created by the big French department store.
How does someone become the Fashion Editor of a department store? And what does the job entail?
In the United States, the title is “Fashion Director”, indicating a job that combines responsibilities for image, purchases, and all the business aspects of the same company. As Fashion Editor for Galeries Lafayette, my mission is to work side-by-side with all the purchasing managers, excepting home goods. So, for the women’s, men’s, accessories, and childrenswear collections, and for the lingerie and shoe departments, I direct the entire trends office. What is the goal? To achieve a maximum of coherence within the store by guiding purchasing. For tradeshows, fashion weeks, showrooms, etc. we help the buying teams when they’re on the field. Thanks to this operational activity, we can define the year’s major themes, choose which products we’ll promote (such as those we put in the windows), and also decide the feeling we want the season to have, introduce new talents, and promote all the creative energy happening in the style sector. Our message about brands has to have powerful images and communication. For example, when Raf Simmons took over as creative director of Calvin Klein, for over four months we negotiated nonstop for priority in putting his first collection on our store’s racks. We have to be a trailblazer. And that’s the exact definition of a fashion editor.
What’s a department store’s role today?
Above all, to be a curator. What is our vision of fashion? What feeling do we give fashion for a season or for an era? We do everything possible for our product offer to be as varied as possible and to have a strong direction. Demand is constantly evolving, and today we can have everything with just a few clicks on our computer keyboard or smartphone. So our mission is to give clients an original, welcoming, and entertaining setting. To achieve that, it’s indispensable to have areas dedicated to discovery with an increasing number of young designers and new names in the creative fields. Clients have to want to find out about the products we have chosen. Our selection of key products comprises an offer that’s as cross-disciplinary as it is surprising.
How do you see the future of department stores?
It’s becoming essential to make clients forget that they’re there to buy. Today, with the digitalisation of shopping and the sweeping arrival of social networks, there are a thousand and one ways to fill your closet. The result is that consumers are increasingly well informed as well as demanding and precise about what they’re looking for. If their only reason for coming is to buy, soon they’ll no longer push open the doors of big department stores. The pleasure factor must continue to gain ground. Exploring an exhibition, sharing a cultural event with friends, taking the time to have lunch or dinner, enjoying a drink on the rooftop – it’s this invitation to enjoy something different that’s now fundamental. It’s the “surprise effect” feeling that will make clients want to spend money in department stores in the future.