1. Roland Mouret
“I didn’t create my name because I went to St. Martins or because I was
young or because the press supported me. I created my name because
women started to wear my clothes.”
This may appear to be stating the obvious but sometimes the obvious is
the first thing one forgets when going into business. Roland Mouret was a
latecomer to fashion, starting off at 36 years old. The dynamic optimism
that comes with youth was replaced with the focus and self awareness
that comes with maturity. This led him to build a reputation, and on it a
successful business, for designing some of the world’s most iconic figure-hugging
dresses. His trajectory has been peppered with as much success
as hardship, notably falling out with his first business partner and not being
able to use his name for 5 years. Now with the help of investment by
Simon Fuller, he has re-launched his brand with a shop in Mayfair and
extended his collections to include a menswear line. The key to his
success has been his intimate understanding of his customer, teamed up
with his constant will to push boundaries and try something new. He gave
these words of advice to emerging designers:
“Don’t focus on a customer who doesn’t exist”
Roland places huge emphasis on having a realistic target customer. “The
20 year old who will buy a dress for £4,000 from a young designer does not
exist…. the client is around you … someone you know.” This approach
has not only defined Roland’s product but the resulting insight into his
customers’ lifestyles has allowed him to reach them more effectively.
Living the lifestyle of your customer is equally important as it ensures that
your product is authentic: “you cannot be creative and buy your clothes
at Topshop. If you create a centre, you have to be at the centre,
otherwise your product is crap.”
“The customer can meet you. It’s part of the price of a dress”
Face-to-face contact with the end customer is one of the ways Roland
differentiates himself from the bigger fashion houses. He created the
concept of Demi-Couture, whereby he spends time with his customers
and adapts his styles to their body shapes and preferences. Taking a leaf
from the music industry’s book, he goes regularly on world tours hosting
trunk shows set up by his wholesale partners to meet his loyal customers.
“The customer wants to know you. Press and the internet are not
enough.” Staying in contact with the customer is vital to the longevity of
a brand.

2. “Yves Saint Laurent said it: you age with your customer”
Roland was part of a movement that saw the birth of fashion legends
such as Alexander McQueen and Tom Ford. London had become a
Mayflower for people who were not happy living in their home countries:
they came to London with nothing but their youth, creating a movement
based on sex appeal. Roland captured that era and still holds to its
values, even though nowadays the influencers are much more likely to be
Florence and the Machine than Madonna. He has kept the customer
from that era: “she is still a young person inside… but there is a moment
when she can no longer wear all the mini-skirts she wants. She will still go
to the designer she thinks is most relevant to her personality.”
“There is no point to fight with the big brands: don’t pretend you can do
everything because you can’t”
Roland’s focus was driven by necessity: he did not have the financial
resources or supplier relationships of a global fashion brand. He
pioneered the concept of a collection of dresses, which has since been
adopted by many designers, so as to adapt his creativity to commercial
and production constraints. “Women are more likely to spend £1,000 on a
dress from a young designer than £700 on a top”. A dress also costs
marginally more to make than a top thus helping to boost the bottom line.
He stressed the importance in designing a garment that was within the
production capabilities of his factories: “adapt your creativity to the
factory. Do not design a product and then find a factory to fit it.”
“Simon Cowell is not going to become Lilly Savage and come with a wig
to be different”
It’s impossible to mention Roland without referring to the Galaxy dress. Still
a bestseller six years after its first incarnation, the Galaxy is part of a
growing collection of iconic dresses that do things for women that other
dresses don’t. His critics have often challenged his new collections, saying
they were no different from his previous work. “They don’t try the clothes
on or buy them. My notion of a relationship is to define a line with
someone and surprise them all the time with small details.” Being known
for one thing, but doing that one thing very well, is not necessarily a bad
thing: this is what has kept Roland in business over the years.

3. “I like to be pushed into corners”
On his relationship with Simon Fuller, Roland likes to be challenged and to
be forced to think outside the box. Partnering with someone from outside
the fashion gave Roland the opportunity to approach fashion from a
different angle. For his first collection under this new structure, he
collaborated with Net-a-Porter, putting the collection online straight away
after the show. 70% of the order was pre-sold within 48 hours. His shop is
slightly off-pitch and has no window display but the experience you get
when you cross the doorstep is similar to going to someone’s home.
Roland likes to be challenged and appreciates the view someone from
outside his industry can bring to his business. The key to a successful
business partnership nevertheless remains a shared vision; that was not the
case with his first business partner, resulting in an acrimonious split.
“Fashion needs a Lilly Allen moment”
Roland believes the fashion industry has to go through the same change
process as the music industry did ten years ago. “Fashion is a reflection of
society. The structure of the business has to follow the structure of society
… the concept of catwalk shows is becoming irrelevant.” These are quite
profound statements but they highlight the opportunity for newcomers to
fashion to shake things up. The internet will play a key role in this pending
revolution, as it has in the music industry. By cutting out the middleman, it
offers the potential for an emerging designer to offer a decent product
with decent margins and to have a voice in a marketplace dominated by
the bigger brands.
Passion, persistence and self-belief have been key ingredients to Roland’s
success as a designer and as a businessman. “You have to believe that
you are the lucky person to succeed. When you know that, put it [and
your ego] to the side and become focused on what you need to do.”