Young fashion designers are not kiddin'.
We got a problem:
Bringing something fresh in an industry where
everything is supposed to be fresh, is kind of tricky.
When we first met with the founder Chrisanthi Gkourou, we found ourselves discussing something extraordinary and rather rare: a real USP (unique selling proposition).
After working for several fashion brands, Chrisanthi decided to put her curative expertise behind a company that would do the exact oposite than most mainstream fashion companies: Instead of employing experienced designers or textile curators to try to figure out what the consumers would fall for, she decided to invest on the raw talent and the as-contemporary-as-it-gets vision of young, fresh-of-the-boat, designers.
The vision is to create a fashion-forward brand that supports young designers; a platform where new designers will emerge and grow; a hub where the desire to create something current, alternative and diverse is not wishfull thinking but an actual commercial strategy.
Through seasonal collaborations with selected, new and upcoming fashion designers, capsule collections are created and signed by each talent and the brand.
Young people that would have to spent years before being able to get their own collection, now gain experience and get familiar with the creative process from day one, while the audience gets to know their work and point of stylistic view, just a few months after they leave the fashion design school!
LET'S SOLVE THIS
After a couple of meetings with Chrysanthi, we managed to pinpoint "bold attitude", "inclusivity" and "inherent sophistication" as the guiding principles for the curation of the new designers, so we decided to develop every name proposal around these values.
Aiki Diounot was the winner.
It sounds like an Asian-French name, witch instantly gives an inclusive and multicultural ring to it,
but it is actually a phonetic respelling of the phrase "i-kid-you-not", meaning that these talented kids are here to be taken seriously!