British
fashion designer Julien Macdonald has opened up on creating brand recognition
and working with department store Debenhams. Julien admits that when he first
started collaborating with the store, it was at a time when it was seen as
"degrading" to lend your name to anything on the high street. He
thinks that now the attitude has changed greatly and people like making money
from these collaborations: "When I started working with Debenhams it was
very much seen as degrading your own brand. Now, a lot of people think, 'Let's
do one of those commercial lines on the high street, they'll pay us a lot of
money, we can sit back and enjoy ourselves'. But for a lot of brands it's a
flash in the pan."
The
designer adds that he doesn't think all high street collaborations work out
well because some labels just aren't known well enough and people might not
even recognise them in stores: "You might have a name that's a trend in
fashion circles, but when you have to sell it all over Britain, especially
overseas, you're just a name on a hanger that nobody recognises."
Julien
loves hearing from people who have bought his designs and says it's a very
rewarding part of the job to see his pieces excite those who purchase them:
''When you deal with high end fashion you rarely get to meet the customers who
buy your clothes. But I've never been a designer who lived in an ivory tower.
The satisfaction of normal people saying, 'Got your dress! Going out tonight!
What shoes d'ya think I should wear?' - it's really rewarding.''
