The world has been a flurry of fashionistas for the past month. New York, London, Paris and Milan have each been home to alluring runway shows and lavish after parties for one wonderful week showcasing the most exclusive collections by the most talented designers. Christopher Kane, Missoni and Marc Jacobs were just a few of the names gracing the cities and telling the fashion world what we should be wearing.
In addition, awards season has been upon us with the Baftas, the Brits and the Oscars all drawing attention to the star’s sumptuous outfit choices, often with more focus on who sashayed down the red carpet in the best dress rather than who picked up each award.
While this may all seem worlds away from us students at Nottingham (whose shopping trips involve hitting the Victoria Centre the day our loan comes in) a little touch of glamour is not beyond our reach. On Monday, everyone’s favourite cocktail bar Cocotang hosted Nottingham’s very own fashion show, ‘Through the Looking Glass’. This annual charity event is held by the Fashion Society and was a stylish showing of the cities finest models and designers as well as famous brands, whilst raising money for Breast Cancer Care.
This time round, a new brand, Pour Les Garcons, was one of the fresh names to join the catwalk. Started up by two second year students right here at Nottingham, the company is just beginning to take off. I spoke to one of the managers to ask him what inspired the company and how they juggle it with uni work.
What prompted you to start up your brand and what inspired the image of your product?
I was looking to develop a new clothing range and at the same time, my friend showed an interest in clothing and brought forward the idea of Garcon. Having been friends for so long, it was an obvious choice to collaborate and combine our various ideas. The image came as we both had a very specific vision of what we felt we wanted, the designs are meticulously thought out, and so are the colour ranges.
Do you have any previous experience of working in fashion? Or any other business experience?
I started a clothing range in fresher’s, selling t-shirts and I have started a couple of other small enterprises. My co-worker is quite entrepreneurial as well and has started small businesses before in London to earn a bit of holiday money.
We obviously have a lot of time at uni when we are not in lectures, do you find it is enriching for your time here or can it distract you from uni work?
It is brilliant for filling spare time, and was why we initially got started. We try to keep it as much a hobby as a business and to not get carried away with it. Having two of us is a massive help and being good mates means we know when we can spend time on it and when we should be doing uni work.
How do you work together and delegate roles and jobs so that it works for you?
Working together is very easy; we both always know exactly what is going on and talk through any decisions we make. It is very much a team business, but we both focus slightly on some areas more than others, whether it is design or sales.
Do you feel the brand is progressing and what would you like it to become?
Yes, we think it has been progressing, this is hugely down to support from our friends. We would like Pour Les Garcons to become widely known across the country, and to continue to provide high quality clothes that students can still afford, as that has always been our motive. We are currently looking to develop our summer range.
What advice would you give to anyone thinking of starting their own business at uni? Or any warnings?
Give it a crack. We started with next to no money in the pot that we saved from our student loans. I’m not saying our business is going to be the next big thing, but as far as we are concerned it’s a success and everyone else out there can do it. You need to be driven and devote a lot of time and effort though. And remember, you need your mates to help you over the first hurdle.
So there you have it, some words of wisdom for anyone thinking they have what it takes to start their own company, be it in fashion or any other field. You can check them out here: https://www.facebook.com/pourlesgarconsclothing