Out front
I recently read a thing about Phoebe Philo, who built a minor cult following at two fashion houses in the aughts in rapid succession, retired, un-retired, and now makes small-batch luxury pieces on her own terms. In short:
Ms. Philo knows that the usual designer trajectory is to start a bare-bones brand, show what you can do, and then get the golden ring of a big job with a fat contract. But, she said, doing it the other way around was her answer to the questions: How can I do my best work? What is my potential? How can I have the most responsive relationship to the world that we’re living in today?
She won’t articulate it, exactly, but she’s effectively trying to retrain people in how to shop and how to think about what they buy.
“She’s a pioneer,” Mr. Enninful said. “And pioneers always take the heat.”
Pioneers always take the heat. Is that fully true? It feels true? There is a frisson of discomfort when someone does something truly new, isn’t there? This seems to be broadly true in artistic & creative industries. Think the impressionists, shoegaze, latter-half Beatles, the Bauhaus, OG punk, Schoenberg. You’re not supposed to do it that way, people must think. Yes, and that is entirely the point.
You must have enough resources to receive heat. I’m sure we’re leaving a lot of money on the table here at Draft by doing things differently. But it’s also essential to the quality of the work that we do things differently. Kindred spirits come in the door and understand our mission. It doesn’t take much work to convince them. Fortunately for everyone, they tend to benefit from it.
Yesterday, I wrote “PIONEERS TAKE THE HEAT” on a post-it note and stuck it to the bottom of my monitor.