Hungarian Fashion Designers

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Bognár Alexandra Marketing Hungarian Fashion Designers Illésy Lenke & Léber Barbara Designers from the contemporary Hungarian Fashion World

description

I compared two Hungarian fashion designers from a marketer's perspective.

Transcript of Hungarian Fashion Designers

Page 1: Hungarian Fashion Designers

Bognár Alexandra Marketing

Hungarian Fashion Designers

Illésy Lenke & Léber Barbara

Designers from the contemporary Hungarian Fashion World

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Introduction

This essay is going to explore the contemporary Hungarian fashion world. Hungary and

fashion? This is the first thing that can confuse people because it is not really a dominant thing.

It is a hard and risky job to become a fashion designer in Eastern Europe. Having looked at the

contemporary trend, the only chance or rather school is the Moholy Nagy Art School – MOME

or commonly mentioned as the Applied Art University. They both studied there, what

differentiates them is that Léber Barbara has been successful from the very first moment, while

Illésy Lenke is still not famous.

Léber Barbara

Léber Barbara is a good example for showing a path towards success. She finished her studies

at the Applied Art University in 1994, she moved to Spain by scholarship for additional

training in the fashion world. It was in 1999’s December when the Léber Barbara couture salon

was opened and during the first half year it already became a profitable company. This is an

extremely rare thing, most companies are in the red during their first year(s) since all the

invested money seems a loss. However, she was in doubt if it is a good advertisement or

marketing plan if she names the brand with her name - if she trusts herself that much to give

her own name to the business. Now it is clearly seen that it was a good decision. The first salon

was opened into the center of Budapest, on one of the most crowded roads within Budapest,

the Bajcsy-Zsilinszky road. It was a classical styled construction with an upper-class interior

design. Later the salon moved to Buda (close to Barbara’s home). It was only necessary

because she did not want to waste too much time on travelling and saving time is essential

when her family was actually growing at that time. Now it is situated in one of the most

luxurious villas on Széchényi-hill. The building itself represents the richness and elegance of

the couture world, moreover the space provided is perfect for both the fashion shows and the

personal planning, thus serving for the elite by giving intimacy. (www.leberbarbara.hu)

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Her philosophy says that every woman has something that can be and even has to be

emphasized. Léber Barbara designs clothes for women who own eternal values, bravely

undertake their effeminacy in order to take on and show Barbara’s own virtues and

unmistakable style. She heavily avoids any potential dangers of ordinariness and vulgarism,

she rejected orders that would her fame and image of high standard, elegance or refinement.

How is it different? Léber Barbara is said to be the master of the designing & tailoring methods

of clothes which when worn seem as if it was poured onto the wearer – it forms the body so

that the result is fascinating - she feels like a goddess. Sometimes, even little nuances

differentiate these masterpieces from the ordinary good clothes, but this market difference

holds the system of proportions which is responsible for the perfect harmony of such a dress.

Photoshoot – Léber Barbara collection

Besides the design, the marketing orientation is responsible for how to sell the clothes. High-

standard photoshoots, exclusive fashion shows, her style is always in vogue.

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Fashion Show – Planet First Event

What does she give us? She uses Italian, French, English and Portuguese silk, taffeta and lace

and by using only these materials the client is assured that nor the particular dress (nor its

lookalike) will meet her on the streets. Haute Couture clothes are uniquely designed pieces

which are all “un-repeatable”. If the client chooses from the actual collection than Barbara’s

colleges can easily check in their system to which event(s) will the other buyer wear the same

dress, thus they can avoide any inconvenience.

(www.leberbarbara.hu)

Léber Barbara, as a model for the elite class, emphasizes and upholds the importance of

charity. (It has always been a fashionable act among mostly Hollywood’s celebrities.) She is

the “outside” supporter of the Lions Club in Budapest, she offers her clothes for dressing up

the presenter of the Prima Primisima award, she sponsors the Hungarian participant of the Mrs.

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Globe contest which helps on the disadvantaged status women and organizes the runway of

women who recovered from cancer together with the “Magyar Rákellenes Liga” and Roche

drug-factory.

(www.leberbarbara.hu)

From a marketing point of view, there are seemingly tiny tots which also tempts buyers. Such

an example is the VIP CLUB Card. This card can be claimed if somebody has already bought

anything from Léber Barbara. The card, (as any other VIP cards) give discounts for purchase,

design or other services provided by the company of Léber Barbara. Members of the VIP

CLUB receive gifts regularly. Moreover they are “accentuated” guests for the Léber Barbara

fashion shows or other events organized for/by her. Another example is the gift coupon. Those

who are in trouble what to buy for Christmas, Birthdays etc. can claim a coupon either

personally or by post, they are available in different denominations and are valid for a year.

(www.leberbarbara.hu)

In order to sell enough quantity from the fashion magazines, there are so-called fashion events

about which journalists can only make reports with the help of a photographer. Readers are not

interested in the actual party but the attending celebrities, the atmosphere, the brands, the

champagne is what attract people. Léber Barbara was nominated for Glamour’s Women of the

Year 2010 award which she did not win, but she was given the award of the most innovative

woman.

(http://www.bellacafe.hu)

There is such a thing as direct marketing. The best advertisement is to give the clothes to

celebrities. By this method, the marketing is embedded into the appearance of a particular

famous person and whenever she goes up to the stage, the audience can admire the dress.

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Polyák Lilla wearing Léber Barbara on “Ketten” concert

Besides her, she was very much helped at the beginning by another celebrity, because Illényi

Katica (a quite famous Hungarian violinist) used to wear only Barbara’s clothes. Now, after 10

years passed Léber Barbara can be proud of being the only one Hungarian fashion designer

who even created something for Barack Obama’s relatives. Her prices are “comparable” to

designer brands’, a dress from her collection starts from 180.000 Ft, a Haute Couture dress is

from 250.000 Ft.

Illésy Lenke

The next designer is a perfect example of how a relatively talented artist with a really bad idea

and marketing plan can waste a lot of time for not being successful at the end. Illényi Lenke

who even had to teach drawing at a high school because she had financial problems (that is the

connection thanks to which I know her…) tried to design innovative maternity-clothes from

2006. Later, because it brought no fame to her she expanded her collection to kids, than to

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women and finally to men, also. Now, having stated that all members of the family officially

can find something among her clothes it seems obvious that sooner or later she will sell the

whole collection. But this is not the actual case. Léber Barbara designs dresses for mostly

weddings and balls and she was able to reach even the distant target markets. So it was not at

all necessary for Lenke to expand her portfolio but rather to think over the marketing plan.

(www.ille-olla.hu)

The first mistake is its name – she named it Ille-Olla (from the first two letters of her name).

Well, apart from that she wanted to make unique clothes for the everyday life, it seems rather

shoddy or chintzy. Although people prefer short brand names (because that can be memorized

easily) this name rather makes fun of this term. Nobody would take this brand seriously as it

was the case.

Photoshoot of Illésy Lenke’s collection

Secondly, the photoshoot done was not a product of a good marketing plan. There were tries by

brands like Dove that showing not supermodels but ordinary women is a good choice but later

they had to realize that the campaign was rather pushy and horrifying. Having looked at the

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photoshoots the first thing coming into the viewer’s mind is that these pictures can not be put

into a fashion magazine of high standard.

Instead of an advertising website, she thought that writing a blog (http://ille-olla.blogspot.com)

is beneficial because by a blog the buyers can understand her philosophy towards design. This

was a really bad induction, nobody is interested in the philosophy behind a dress just the dress

itself, its form, the material, the size and the price is what matters.

She does not have high prices for her clothes. In fact, she lowered the prices to nearly the

minimum. A normal skirt costs about 7.000 Ft, a T-Shirt’s price is not higher than 3-4.000 Ft.

Additionally, this means that even though she is cheap – nobody is interested.

As time passed she just hived the bad decisions except for one – she found a partner for the

new 2010/11 collection. Together with Esztány István (with whom she met at the Applied Art

University) they say that they can express their values better if they work together and

“complete” each other. (http://minok.hu/cimke/illessy-lenke)

Since they have been working together, they opened

another blog (http://esztille.blogspot.com), so their concept

about philosophy did not really change. They named this

brand Eszt-Ille (with the beginning of István’s name) –

seriously?! They got huge opportunities for jumping onto

the path towards fame – they could participate in the

Design week in Budapest in October 2010.

(http://designhet.hu/okt/5)

They could open their own store in the 5th district which

was also named “creatively” Esztille.

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Finally, they ordered a webpage for the brand. (www.ille-olla.hu). This site is available also in

English which is a positive feature – it symbolizes that they would like to reach the whole

world, not just Hungary. Lenke, when interviewed has already mentioned that her aim is to

become famous in Western Europe. Besides that there are translational problems, in Hungarian

there is a menu called “Philosophy” which was translated into English as “About us” the site is

pretty much easy to use but not at all easy to read (the chosen font is illegible).

Conclusion

Whatever the future brings to Illésy Lenke, it is obvious that even the success/fame shall be

deserved, if she continues to make the same mistakes which cast a shadow onto her image she

will fail over and over again. Talent is not the only requirement for an artist. Talent is just a

matter of luck but has no connection with success. It is only about marketing how you sell

what you have. No matter what you sell, but how. And Léber Barbara’s approach is brilliant.

No further proof is needed, she is successful, she is famous, she is rich and she has got a happy

family… which is again a rare thing for businesspeople who work that much. Léber Barbara is

all about sleekness and sophistication in fashion. Her graceful, cosmopolitan, lighter-than-air

persona is so unique that she will definitely remain one of the most difficult of all fashion-stars

to pin down in words.

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Bibliography

Illésy Lenke Talks with Illésy Lenke Ille-Olla the Hungarian Design, Official Website, accessed on 24th November, 2010: http://www.ille-olla.hu/filozofia.swf http://www.ille-olla.hu/english.swf Ille-Olla’s blog, Google Blogger, accessed on 24th November, 2010: http://ille-olla.blogspot.com/ Esztille’s blog, Google Blogger, accessed on 24th November, 2010: http://esztille.blogspot.com/ “Mi Nők”, Minők.hu hálózat, accessed on 25th November, 2010: http://minok.hu/cimke/illessy-lenke/ Interview with Illésy Lenke, Csutka Mano site, accessed on 23rd November, 2010: http://www.csutkamano.hu/magnoliaPublic/csutkamano/sztarok/illessylenke.html Léber Barbara Léber Barbara official website, Léber Barbara, accessed 22nd November, 2010: http://www.leberbarbara.hu/ Glamour Women of the Year 2010, BellaCafé, accessed on 26th November, 2010: http://www.bellacafe.hu/2010/03/22/glamour-women-of-the-year-2010-–-ordog-nora-es-ruzsa-magdi-a-legjobbak-kozott