Text: Dodi Espinosa
Published @ Metal magazine #17
Image Courtesy of Zorana Janjic for NJAL.

Diane Pernet, sober well known fashion icon and Amanda Lepore, the explosive muse of Monsieur Lachapelle. At first sight it seems to be almost impossible to listen to both names together in the same text, and then we are not only finding them in the same sentence, but also begining with Robin Schulié (Head buyer of the iconic Maria Luisa store), a promising list of curators for the new NOT JUST A LABEL project, “THE SHOP”, with two brothers as the original founding faces, Daniel and Stefan Siegel, two more persons at the core team, three fashion interns and approximately fifteen people distributed around the world scouting and reporting for them at the office based in London.

The operational person, Stefan, a guy from a little town called Meran in Northern Italy, in between mountains, cows and skiing slopes, tell us that After studying International Economics in Vienna, doing bips and bops, modelling for 3 years, dj’ing and working for some advertising agencies, the brilliant idea finally became truth. “We saw an important number of young aspiring fashion designers facing enormous hurdles at the beginning of their career; we wanted to provide a stage where designers could showcase their collections at no costs. The goal was to formulate and implement a vision; linking designers with the fashion industry”.

Unfortunately Entrepreneurial life is not easy, showing up at work around nine in the morning and working until midnight most of the days during week, the NOT JUST A LABEL project is nowadays thanks to all that hard work and smart vision, one of the most respected internet fashion platform with about thousands of visitors each day, especially now with the new online curated shop, because they are convinced that despite the ongoing financial crises and the implications for the economic climate, brands focusing on “authentic luxury” will continue to grow and prosper, resulting in one of the greatest creative opportunities in decades.

More than ever identity is the best tool for survivors, especially when individuality has become a statement for luxury. “The desire and demand for alternative and sustainable production is predominant across sectors such as food, hospitality, lifestyle and fashion. Young designers recognise the responsibility in creating sustainable fashion. By applying artisan craftsmanship they are known to create products that have classic values with longer lasting qualities and we hope that consumers and buyers will soon recognise this (investment) opportunity.” On the other hand the fashion industry needs to slow down, consumers will have to actively think about their purchases and realise that an item they can keep for more seasons can be more valuable than frequent purchases from the high street, and of course believe more than ever in new names.

Staying tuned with big big plans and even more exciting projects happening soon, as the upcoming blog, the NOT JUST A LABEL proyect continue growing as a tree day by day and giving fruits with extremely new flavours, forms, textures and colors.