Lynne McCrossan: Learning tricks of the trade is a real eye opener

It’s nice to go behind the scenes and see how the mechanics of fashion really work.

I’m not talking about the madness of fashion week where everyone flaps from show to show, inevitably succumbing to fashion flu.

I’m talking about infiltrating the places that make us part with our pound. The retailers.

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In the quest to quench all my questions on what labels do to be successful, I managed to pin down a woman who has straddled fashion’s holy trinity: public relations, editorial and retail.

Paula Reed, the new group Fashion Director of Harvey Nichols, was a prime candidate for brain picking while I am creating the capsule clothing collection, with a breadth of knowledge which spans two decades.

We discussed the head spinning amount of jobs a designer must consider, the collection being the starting point of a spider’s web of work.

Embracing the online world seemed to be at the forefront of her mind in her new role and something she felt designers must grasp.

The internet has made the industry accessible to everyone and this thirst for a little luxury while the economy goes to the dogs has served the lux market well in recession.

The shopping sphere is shifting as online retailers and editorial begin to mirror one another and it’s this shift that fascinates Reed.

“We’re definitely in a cycle change, both in the way collections are being designed and how people want to shop,” she said.

“Magazines have the power to sell out an item of clothing on the high street in an afternoon, but they don’t get a penny of that.

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“We’re going to see that change relatively soon and that’s down to the internet.’

It was an eye-opening chat that left me feeling inspired for the next leg of the journey.

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