The PR Guy

34:00I just remember you were very intimidating I was like I mean before I knew you you were the PR running around and And I was like, this is the cool PR person Thank you I never saw myself as intimidating I don't know No, you're not But you know I was young at an APC presentation My husband is there asking Jean-Tuitu Why his iPhone doesn't fit in his jeans And Jean-Tuitu said to my husband I'm not a nerd that's why that's very john and no no it's but apc is very me in a way like so it's normal you associate me uh to because there is a kind of a like a very french things in apc but also very open to the world or you know like um and this kind of mean minimal style like navy blue sweater and jeans is the way I dress myself so there is a natural connection between APC and me and I always love what Jean and Judith done there and how they elevate everything Jean was the first one to put olive oil in the store and the music, the disc you can buy disc there and magazine and like it was always a cultural platform with good clothes.

35:36And this is very what I deeply love, you know, like for myself. As you were building out your PR practice, how did you approach it? Especially given that it wasn't, it's sort of, you didn't come up in that world. How did you build it out in terms of who you hired and your approach to comms and storytelling and strategy? And what was sort of your intention? I know. When I started, I even didn't have any list of press. I had my friend in press because I was living in Paris and I had friends in press as I had friends in, I don't know, other field. But I didn't have any list. I didn't have any trick.

36:29I didn't have any. So I think it's what really helped me. It's that I was totally novice, new in that business. And I just done it with my natural instinct and my brain. So when I was like, because I didn't have the connection, I was thinking I can convince people with my brain. Like when something is good, you tell to people it's good. I explain why. I remember when I introduced Sakai for the first time to people, I was not that big PR when I got Sakai. I started to work with her in 2009. And nobody knew Sakai outside of Japan at that time. Even though she had a good, strong business, she was selling in Bergdorf, in Barneys and everything.

37:14But she was not known. The awareness of the name was not raised. So I remember when I introduced Sakai to the people, I remember that I used my brain. I was thinking, what if I was a journalist? what should I say about Sakai to give me the desire to come to see this presentation? Because at the beginning, I was really in the need of just making people come to discover the work. I knew when they discovered Sakai, they would love it. I was convinced. But my narrative was really like based on if I was this journalist, what I would want to hear, to be excited to come. And I always use that thing. Like I wanted to compensate my lack of connection with a convincing part of saying interesting thing about the brand.

38:09So it's kind of basic what I'm saying, but it was really useful because I never lied to people. I never. That's why I'm very, I was always, and I'm still very picky with the brand I represent because I want to be proud. when I call you and I tell you, Lauren, you have to come to see that. You will trust me because I never lied to you. And that was very my vision about this PR job. I want, and sometimes you need to do things that are maybe a bit more for money or what, you know, because we all, it's a machine, you know, I have a lot of stuff. And even when I didn't have a lot of stuff, it was even more difficult because each client was important.

38:47And really, my vision was to build a company with and making money as well, but with things we are proud of. All my brands are very different. You know, it's not that I only have like intellectual brand or crazy eccentric brand. I have that, but I also have like more approachable, more affordable brand. But if I have a storytelling, if I have a soul behind, if I can feel that I can tell something about the soul of this brand, then I do it. And that's quite basic, but the way I built it, it's this trust between me and the media. And I think my team is doing the same. And I think it's important.

39:42and when we need media, maybe sometimes it's more difficult. We have like a collaboration to push that is not so good or maybe it's not making so much sense for many reasons, internal reasons. You know, sometimes the CMO decide that this collaboration is good or maybe put his friend, you don't know, like everything that can happen in our industry, you know. And if you need help, you can ask. But I asked, I said, you know, I need help there. But I don't do that every day. But I think it's based really on trust and we are partners. All of us, media, brand, PR, communication, everyone is partners.

40:25And we have to exchange and to be quite transparent. Yes, yes. Yes. And I think because you do have taste and you are so transparent that if you send an email saying, well, you are really hoping to spread the word about this, it makes people pay attention and want to do it for you. And also open all of your emails because your team is so responsive. And so you send a lot of emails, but like Jonathan, so Sophia responded before Jonathan yesterday. I was like, Oh, someone is, someone is racing, but you know, as, as a, as I appreciated so much as someone who I love, I try to respond if I don't to the world, if I don't respond immediately, it's not, I try to, or that I'll kind of forget.

41:20So, but, but I've all, I remember that when I went to an Olympia Litan show that you did in a theater. Yes. With the, with, um, the rockets. Yeah. And I remember that like thinking, and I didn't know you all and thinking these people are so responsive and so fast. It's incredible. It's just such a, and it, and it, it has helped you build your reputation. A question I have is how has, so when, when I started, I, I became a reporter in like 2006, but really started going to fashion shows in 2009, 2010 and going to show rooms. It was much more of a, like a PR agency had a big showroom and, and trafficked a lot of samples because there were way more shoots at least in America of products on pages.

42:19And they were now all those magazines will just pull a still from the brand, but they used to individually shoot every, I worked at lucky magazine for a while and they would individually shoot every single product. Um, so it was much more about sample trafficking. And also the story ideation was different because there wasn't as much imagery on the internet. So like style.com, I think really only became a huge thing in 2008, 2009. It was around for five years before that, but there was still journal fashion journalists. A lot of what they were doing was like describing the clothes and things. And now it can't just be that.

43:02How has your job changed in terms of like story placement and what media people want? It's, I don't know. For me, it was what happened during the COVID. Like when people start to say, oh, we won't need showroom anymore, blah, blah, blah. Like I was totally thinking the contrary. Like the showroom for me, the base, like sample trafficking. I always believe in it because we have clothes. we need to put them on an editorial or we need to put them on a celebrity or we need to put them on an influencer. Whoever it is, they have to pass by the showroom, pick up the clothes, try them. And I'm actually doing this from our VIP room where the people are trying the clothes because it's the best sound I found in the building.

43:51So it's funny. I have a selection of clothes ready for an influencer, I think. And so I always believe in the base of my job. The base of my job is sample trafficking, connection. And then there is new layering and there is new tool. So it's not about like exchanging the old tool or exchanging like what is new by what was there. It's more additionally. So that's why our job is kind of crazy now, because we are still working on the old world with the old tool, but we have the new tool. It's not that we switch. There is an evolution, a strong evolution. Of course, people read less the papers. But when the papers are published on an application or are republished on Facebook or republished on Instagram or whatever, then people read those papers indirectly.

44:53They were printed, but an article of the New Yorker, an article of, you talk about Katie Orin or whatever. Like you see now the cut, they're putting the quote of Katie on Instagram. they created Square with the coat of Katie like of course the most juicy and so now the media are also like evolving in a way that they know that probably their article will be much more read on the web or on social media but still they are existing in print and me when I work with big brand they need to see the print the CEO love to see four page article you know it matters to him maybe us we will read it on our phone but he will have him on his desk so it's a kind of you know different as I said layering of of information and you have to play with all of them and the success is always like the connection between all of them for when you have a show you need a good review you need a good front row you need amplification of your front row and you need that the celebrity request you write after the show to be the first one to wear it.

46:10And then you do another amplification with what the celebrity wore. And then you can also republish on your, if you like your review, you can publish your review and say, thank you so much for my beautiful review. You know, it's so... Yes. And when it's bad, it's the other one that we posted. Yes. but I mean it's like a 360 thing you know like it's what and it's based on the creativity and on the collection if the collection is not good the collection is good but sometimes people fight they think the collection was good other things the collection was not good and then creating buzz even more you know what I mean when people start to argue that's why it's interesting sometimes or people think, oh my God, there was a bad review or there was a bad verse.

47:01But at the end, it's making so much noise that you win, the noise win right now. Yeah, I agree with that. And I also think I'm talking to people about controversial collections. It rarely happens anymore where there is a controversy. So when someone cares enough about something to write negatively about it and or just disgusted in the front row, that to me means that the brand has power. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I totally agree. And it's not, but we can say bad publicity is good publicity or is publicity. Yes, it's true that also we are talking most of the time when there is not big drama, we are talking about clothes.

47:49You know what I mean? So who cares? You know, at the end, it's a it's a it's a discussion based on clothes so it's fine you know nobody will die it's it's all good the worst case scenario you don't buy it yeah you know and nobody can oblige you to buy a collection you didn't like yeah but um but it's it's interesting how people take fashion's too smooth.

48:20The industry itself has changed so much in the 18 years since you started your business. What is, just like media, what is the same and what is different now in the way that these companies operate? Because you work with everyone from Saint Laurent to Uniqlo and also a lot of tiny designers and and so you are doing and now you have a business in the u.s as well which is a whole different market how to you has the industry transformed um i think there is much more uh i'd say pressure because of the the industry is became an industry that is like when you see the success of lvmh or carrying richmond this company became so big so well worldwide so proeminent.

49:11So there is a bit of more pressure because there is an economic pressure, technically. Before it was like, okay, they were big, but they were not huge. And now they are monumental. In all the country, you know the name of those big brands. You can go in an island, And it happened to me. I went to an island in the Philippines for Christmas. And the girl, one girl was wearing a Jacquemus bag. And I told her, oh, I work for this brand. And she almost cried.

49:51So it's crazy, the power of the brand. So I would say that there is much more pressure. There is much more to do because of all this different tool. so now you know my team they have to work on get get the people to the show uh seated them then do a report then do a report of uh social media then do you know it's never like it's not only there is the before the preparation the stress before the preparation the stress bit during the the the event and and after the stress to deliver quickly the result yeah and uh so i would say that much pressure, a lot of more work for sure for the team, for me, for everyone involved, for the people in the house and because fashion is big and we have we are not the only one, we are not the only one in fashion to have social media, everyone like if you work for, I don't know, a car company or whatever even healthcare or whatever, everyone is using social media, you know, it's not something proper to fashion.

51:02But in fashion, it fits us so well. It fits our model so well. Yes. The social media. And also with the fact that the newspaper, the newspaper are big, but maybe the glossy magazine are a bit less important. And the social media took the power. And that's why now those magazines, their platform on social media are big. you know and and it's so everything is a bit more hysterical a bit more fast and and but also very exciting because now if you want if you are a young designer before you needed to pass through different level of validation you needed like oh Anna Wintour need to like my collection then Barneys need to buy my collection but maybe Anna will call Barneys to buy my collection.

52:00And then like this one will like my collection, can introduce me to this one. There was a lot of validation level. Now you can go straight to the people. Of course you would love to have Anna and Bergdorf and whatever. That's not the problem. But you can grow direct to people and then maybe Anna will show her. You know, it's a different way of doing. And there will be people that maybe I will find before the other one. You know, it's all the, en France, on the day, when you play the card, you know, and you mix them, you know. It's a bit that, like now you don't know the recipe. The recipe is no recipe, but there is still button to push that are important.

52:52so it's a bit but it's an amazing moment for a kind of direct democracy in the fashion because if your your instagram is amazing it's descriptive it's funny then you can be noticed by the good people of fashion and they will support you and look look what happened to becca like like Becca from Georgia. When I met him the first time, it's Clara Corny from Instagram that introduced me. I remember. He was a fan. He was doing square about me, but I was scared. I was like, who is this guy? Why is he talking about me? Now you know. No, and then I met him, and I found this guy so genuine, and his love for fashion was so strong.

53:45And so I really helped him. Like, I remember when I put him the first time on the front row and Loic Prejean came and told me, oh, you put Steinert Kahn on the front row, that's audacious. And I said, why not? Like, it was, but because he was great, you know, and I will not do for everyone. No. But I think he became a media as well. And that's the beauty of fashion because he was interested. He attracted the attention of the good people. And then he made it. There is a magic in fashion. And also what I love with Beka that he stays very positive, which for me, sometimes people complain, say, oh, he's always loving everything.

54:33For me, great, because I have anxiety with the fashion industry. I have anxiety with eight. So I'm really happy that Becca exists and bring a good vibe. I agree. As someone who is constantly bringing anxiety to people like you, I love him. I think what he has done for me is he is my main source of news in some ways. Like he is so fast. Of course, I subscribe to all the trades and I read them. but he gets the information and he does much more than anyone else. So he reports on every little thing that happens. And in on Instagram, where I spend way too much time and it makes it easier when he does a week in review, it's helpful to me.

55:24I don't need him to critique a show or give me the behind the scenes of why this thing was a mess. I don't care. I just want the information and he's very good. and smart and sharp about delivering it. And I don't think he can be a little too favorable, but generally I think he has a little bit of an edge of that he brings a cleverness to the writing. And I'm a huge fan. And I think the like, whenever there's backlash on stuff like that, The person just needs to, to, uh, kind of live through it. And then soon enough, he will be, I think of Brian boy, a lot who started as a live journal blogger, who's now a huge authority in the industry.

56:15And every time he posts on Instagram, I read it because I I'm interested in what he said, but it, it takes people like you to recognize that. and Eva Chen at Instagram or Clara at Instagram to recognize someone like Becca and say, okay, this is someone we need to engage with because it's going to make the industry more fun and better known outside of so many people I know follow Becca who don't work in fashion. And that's so valuable. It's one of the people that now make you win followers. Like when he posts about you, you win followers. and there is not so many and the winning followers is the only currency that matter now but it's what I wanted to say about Beka is also really fact check and that's amazing there is very few mistakes in his post, if I check it works a lot so it's interesting because digital is supposed to be fast and furious and to say like things as they come and it's doing the is fast and furious but they're also fact check and that's the key of a good journalism somehow that's very very true and it's also i've never thought about it because it's but it is a key is incredibly rigorous and you can see that i'm not shocked that for you to say that he he checks everything very closely because it I've never once gone on there and thought oh that's not true yeah no no you really do we exchange a lot he exchange with my team he asked of course the press release but after he asked again things sometimes I learned things about my brand through him because I have to dig into things like which he had started which here they change this, which is like really like is amazing for that.

58:20He's really taking that seriously. And people should pay tribute to that because it's time. Yes. It's not a due. You know what I mean? Because the level of exigences on digital is low. Yeah. So, yeah. I wanted to just say something about Brian Boy because I was always amazed. as he always embraced new things and become relevant in the new, like as you said he started with a blog, then he became influencer when he was good to become influencer then he did TikTok and he was big on TikTok then he became editor-in-chief of Perfect and mixing the regular press to the digital world and then, and now he's a star and you know he's always like so um uh right on time with things that it's kind of a of really amazing it's people like him and becca would have been i mean he is brian is an editor-in-chief but they would have been sort of at suzy lao is similar she's a really good thinker they would have been fashion director of the times of London or a magazine editor in a different era, but because of the way Leandra Medin is like this too, like she could have been the editor in chief of Glamour magazine in 1994, um, or Harper's Bazaar or what have you, but because the world has changed, they have this way to be more direct.

59:59And it is a credit to people like you and Kate, like a Katie grand who embraced the new and allow those people to become establishment in a different way than existed when you were working at Saint Laurent in the couture offices. Like it's, it's the establishment still exists, but it's shifted and it required people who were part of the old guard to not to say you're old, but you know what I mean? To embrace that new guard. I love the old guard. You know, you have to accept that you're, it's, it, you cannot stay cool all your life. At one point, you need to become a reference. It's true. It's true.

1:00:42Yes. So this idea of being established this past year, you sold your company to a bigger group called The Independence, which is this sort of very well-backed consortium of businesses that work in events and marketing and PR and strategy. and it's almost like a, for people outside of the industry, like a WPP, but for fashion and it's private right now, who knows in the future, but I'm sure they're going to buy more businesses. And I'm always very interested in, you know, everybody has an exit strategy now. I think 20 years ago, that wasn't the way people thought, like you just did your business and you did it forever and then maybe you closed it when you were done or or or you but it wasn't like everybody now everybody wants to sell their business eventually but you did it and it would and what made you decide to do it and what was like what do you see the future of pr looking like is for your you and your team inside this bigger group but then also just generally yes um so it's what you said is totally right like because for me it was the case i never think i would sell my business because i was thinking my business would never interested people you know because it was my name on the door like very like um personal way of doing things of course with my team that and but we were really like uh i mean and and then i think the independence before they buy me they changed the deal you know when they decided to give to our job strains because for me it's what they done they were the first one to regroup our job of services in luxury and fashion and they give this idea that finally those company could be profitable could be powerful could be nobody was treating us like that before you know they give us just really the strains for me and now there is more and more people that do like them and it's great because there is many opportunities and of course the independents cannot buy everything so it's great that they will be like i think they really create when they left asia isabel and olivier they are the founder of the independence and they bought carlao too and then they bought uh betac and it started like that they really like show that those company could be interesting for business and not only like people who serve the others.

1:03:32And so I was really happy. First of all, that's why I joined them because I love this philosophy that they respect our job of services and that they protect us somehow in giving us strength. For me, it was a long journey because I know them and I speak to them since maybe five years. And so I went through a process, you know, and there was some discussion in the past where I was too small. It was not interesting for me at that time. So I wait, you know, I was not desperate to sell. You know, I wanted to do it. It's something that you do once in your life for me, in my case. So because I'm not an entrepreneur that has having several businesses and stuff like that, you know, I had my company and that's all.

1:04:17And I sold it. So it's done for life, you know. so it was really important for me that I do it well and of course there was a personal aspect that I knew the founder and I respect them and we share the same value and as well I need it because the world is changing so fast and I need it I need it personally I need it for my mental health to be with people next to me after 18 years of operation of lonely entrepreneuria you know and I'm so happy that we can share with people who knows our job issues, hope, problems, problem solving, best practice. Like this is what is the independent and then after there is the synergy with the other people of the group.

1:05:05But that was for me, in fact, quite natural because I was already working with their production company. And I even can work with Carlao too because, you know, now we are working on bigger, bigger scale event And sometimes one agency is not enough. And I was already working with Carla O'Toole on several projects. Like, for example, we do shows where I do France and UK and they do the rest of the world. Or when it's in Paris, sometimes I do front of the house and they do a specific country. Or it can be the same in New York, it can be the same in Italy. As it is with KCD or other offices, you know, we always collaborate with other press offices.

1:05:44Like the client creates his own way of operating that can include different agencies. So for me, the synergy was already existing. And I think there will be more interesting in the future because I think we can pitch globally on some project. And after, I mean, it's very selfish, my decision. I don't need to protect my company and to look at the future with less pressure. But I think the way our jobs are evolving is truly in that direction. But maybe it will create space for even more niche agency, because in general, it's what is happening when there is things that are becoming big. and of course it's creating a space for something.

1:06:39It's what happened to me. I arrived and I was very boutique and I was niche and that was the key of my success. So maybe the fact that us were becoming bigger, maybe create space for someone smaller and it's great. Everyone has this own agenda in life, is a different age. I'm turning 50 this year. You know, my life is not the life of a young guy that starts in fashion. You know, I have a different agenda. And also, after COVID, I think a lot of things changed because our jobs were particularly affected. In France, we had a very, like, really great help from the government. We have to be clear.

1:07:25and we didn't suffer that much because they were paying the salary at our place. But a lot of clients ask for discount, most of them. Some cancel the contract. So always things like, I would have been very happy to have the independence with me at that time. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's a pragmatic choice and it also just shows your outlook on life and the way you view the industry and the way you view the business is that it changes and you have to change with it. Yeah, and also, to be honest, nothing really changed for me. As their name said, they really respect the founders. They want the founders to...

1:08:10You know, they are not stupid. If they buy you, they want you to be there and to do what you do as the best. And for me, it's PR. So they want to leave me, do my job at its best. And it looks a bit normal, what I'm saying, but I'm seeing that in other fields, and it's not the same. People buy company and it destroys them. So I'm very lucky that I'm with people who understand what is entrepreneurial, what is being a founder, and what is the industry of luxury. Well, they're very lucky to have you. Lucien, thank you so much for taking the time. This was such a pleasure. It's so great to work with you.

1:08:52I love our conversation. It was like being with a friend at the coffee, you know? It was fabulous. It was really, really fun. You're the best. Thank you for everything. Thank you, Lauren. Fashion People is a presentation of Odyssey in partnership with Puck. This show was produced and edited by Molly Nugent. Special thanks to our executive producers, Puck co-founder John Kelly, executive editor Ben Landy, and director of editorial operations, An additional thanks to the team at Odyssey, J.D. Crowley, Jenna Weiss-Berman and Bob Tabador.

1:09:49Thank you.