"David, are you sure the designer you're talking about is really worth our visit?" asked Park Wenhye, a little suspicious, as she twisted her head and glanced quickly at the booths on either side, "I'd be very disappointed if it was just this level." ”

Boss Huang stood a little farther away and didn't notice more details - he didn't know that the middle-aged woman next to Mr. Fu, although she had an Asian face, spoke English to him. This Korean woman dressed in black T and breeches, dressed without any sense of fashion, ordinary in appearance, and even a little stern, is in fact, a genuine, and even a high-powered fashion buyer.

Fashion buyers do not have a threshold for entry, as long as they appear in the fashion trade scene, and there is a purchase behavior, they can call themselves buyers, Baozi couple, Liao Shan and Huang Zong in a sense, are all self-employed buyers, but their purchase behavior has little impact, can only be said to be the business behavior of the clothing industry, has not yet entered the house, affecting the fashion circle. The kind of fashion buyers that are really talked about within the industry are still extremely rare in China, and it can even be said that the number is close to zero.

There is a consensus within the fashion circle: if you want to get out of the way, you must be appreciated by one of these two people - fashion editors, or fashion buyers, as long as you get one, the other will favor you sooner or later, but if you can't please one of them, then the door to the high-end fashion circle will never be open for you......

It's so high, it's not Milan, it's New York, it's always going to exhibitions, and it's always going in and out with those super celebrities in the same clothes and sideburns, just like Park Wenhye, she just left Busan Fashion Week yesterday, flew to S City, and three days later she will fly to Tokyo to attend Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo's order fair, and the annual flight miles are enough to redeem several first-class cabins, and there are five-star hotels in at least five cities, and even the doorman can call her name. It sounds enviable, but the pressure of this job is so great that it is difficult for ordinary people to imagine, throughout the spring and summer release month, fashion buyers can hardly fall asleep before three o'clock in the evening, a large number of charts and data need to be processed - yes, in fact, fashion buyers are most sensitive to numbers, followed by fashion taste, in this business, profit is always in the first place, I don't know the sales and average unit price of the same item last year, how can you determine the number of orders? Is it all based on experience and so-called intuition?

And that's not all – in addition to sourcing pieces for department stores, she also has the task of discovering emerging designers for the group, creating character cards and keeping track of new product launches: for a large fashion group, before deciding to work with a designer, it is common practice to keep watching for 2 to 3 years, allowing the market to wash away all the vanity and pretentiousness. The youth was restless, and only after the edges and corners of the stubborn stone were rounded and revealed a shining golden background did he extend a reserved hand to them and lead them into another new world.

This is an extremely mature mechanism, which can screen out designers whose talent and enthusiasm are not enough to sustain a high level, but it also means a lot of preliminary work and countless files that have been abandoned halfway, especially in the Far East market, the company does not attach too much importance to it, and there is only one high commissioner in the entire region, Park Wenhui, so her temper is very bad throughout September and October, Fu Zhan is lucky, and she can still enjoy a slightly polite treatment when she meets her at Shanghai Fashion Week- Park Wenhui has basically given up the idea of looking for emerging designers in China, and the burden is one less, if it is Tokyo Fashion Week, pull her out of the upcoming show venue, come to this kind of lo stall, she can bite off Fu Zhan's firstborn.

"Mandy—" In response to her questioning, David just showed his customary, good-looking smile, his voice lengthened, a little lazy coquettish, this playboy,* almost an instinct written in the genes, "Are you questioning my aesthetics? or my sincerity? How many years have we known each other, since I was an intern, when have you ever been disappointed?"

Mandy didn't deny that David was somewhat capable, nor did she deny that she was somewhat useful for his coquettishness, she glanced at her watch and quickened her pace: there was a press conference in forty-five minutes that she didn't want to miss, and this could even be said to be the reason why Park Wenhye flew to S City so early. "I only have twenty minutes for you. ”

"One second is enough. David said pleasantly, his chin slightly raised, and the smile on his lips deepened, "Mandy, if you could deign to look up from your little world and focus your attention for a second—"

Park Wenhui looked at his guidance suspiciously, "...... Yes. ”

From this angle, there are not many details of the exhibits, only the booth layout around the corner, the spray paintings, the lights, the main display in the spotlight - she almost instinctively scores them in her mind, of course, the booth layout is not representative of the level of design, but it can also reflect what fashion buyers value most in the field of art: taste. Talent can be honed, skills will be refined over time, but taste, taste is almost an innate talent -

She glanced disdainfully at the shops she passed by, just because she had to take them to see the road, these useless so-called independent designer brands were nothing more than the dreams of a group of tailors, who lacked both the ability to translate designs into ready-to-wear, and the basic taste, only a more or less, pathetic ability to follow the trend. In comparison, the booth layout of [yun] still has a lot of impressive points, at least it completely conveys a well-tasted image, and it is also well combined with the exhibits.

"Where did you find him?" she quickened her pace, her eyes were like the most sophisticated magnifying glass, starting from the logo, the booth: leather stitching?the last time I saw this concept was a few years ago? Well, it can be regarded as a pass, the design is also great, at a glance, you know that there is enough care, so it fits the body, enough ring, this is the most important point of all fashion, he has the ability to make a very good runway, it is worth her to see. The maturity of this design has surpassed that of the graduation exhibitions of those famous fashion schools, and it may still be a bit monotonous and still too 'ready-to-wear' for the four major fashion weeks, but in China?dy's interest is really ignited, but doubts also arise: such a designer, who should not be unknown, is enough to be on the main stage of Tokyo Fashion Week, but not even a show in Shanghai Fashion Week? What is the problem?

"Do you still think I'm wasting your time?" David teased her with a smirk, "Or just twenty minutes for me?"

Mandy glanced at him, and she was completely in a state of impatient work, "David." ”

David smiled steadily, didn't eat her deep intimidation at all, and looked at her leisurely, Park Wenhui didn't have time to waste with him, and took the lead in giving in a few seconds, "Next time I go to Paris, the first drink is mine." ”

She gets a thumbs up and a flattering smile, and David doesn't joke anymore, he corrects, "It's not he, it's she." ”

As if thinking of something, his smile widened, "I met her in a way you never thought of again—an interesting story you would never believe." ”

Playful, he was always like this, he was not in a hurry at all times, as if he had the time of the whole world, which was a kind of calmness peculiar to the upper class, because they knew very well that they did have the time of the whole world. They would never understand why a working-class person like her was in a hurry, Park Moon-hye rolled her eyes, and simply didn't ask, her eyes directly scanned the clothes in the booth, leaving only a little attention to the man who greeted her: in the final analysis, designers still have to use products to speak for themselves.

With the exception of the exhibit, all the items in the store are ready-to-wear, belonging to a collection, and she glanced at it and had a rough assessment in her mind: the workmanship is excellent, the materials are of the highest quality, and the design is in the same vein as the runway model, but a lot of subtraction has been done, and the gloomy temperament of the show model has been weakened, replaced by the toughness symbolized by leather, which is very ...... commercially Very mature, almost surprising, the choices she made in each category: three bottoms, skinny cropped pants, wide-leg pants, leather-stitched knee-length skirts, accurately covering the three needs of her audience, skinny cropped pants have no leather, suitable for more sporty, more casual occasions, you can easily imagine the effect of this pants with a pair of low-top loafers, walking on the streets of New York, wide-leg pants are more romantic, more feminine, leather is shiny, with what? It's not rude to go to work, and it's not too formalistic to have a drink after work. The matte leather used in the knee-length skirt is low-key enough, but it only faintly renders a sense of toughness, which makes it more suitable for occasions with strict dress etiquette - but always without losing personality, strong women will love it, right?

These three pieces are concise and clear, complementing each other, covering the biggest occasion possible, each with a clear purpose. She could easily imagine what kind of customers they were picked up and at what price, and her doubts intensified: ho?hy?

The aura represented by the runway style, which is very common, not to the point of shocking, but translated into the subtraction of the ready-to-wear? This is the designer in the collision with the market, countless times of blood after the valuable experience can be summed up, even this high degree of thinking, the average small designer may not have, only the design director of the medium-sized brand, only those who are directly responsible for the market, began to study the market of senior designers, can taste the sense of proportion in this -

She didn't believe that this was self-taught, Yun's design did not have a sense of roughness in the middle of the house, her aura was thoughtful and sleek, she must have a professional background, but why didn't she go abroad? Such a talent, just need to sharpen it a little......

"Mr. Fu—"

As a Korean-American, Park Wenhye's Korean is not too fluent, let alone Chinese? her little fur is only enough for her to roughly distinguish the pronunciation of David's surname - she pulled her attention away from the single item that projected parameters in her eyes like a marquee, and glanced at the white girl: she had a beautiful face, wore big glasses, her hair was combed into two braids, and she was surprisingly innocent and childish, she just glanced at it and dealt with it directly as an intern, but now-

There was something in her smile, the sharpness of the dagger in her slanted eyebrows, the resonance between the skirt and these items, the wildness hidden like a beast, that Park Wenhye immediately confirmed her identity - and almost immediately guessed her relationship with David, and the expressions of the two men fully explained the relationship between them.

She glanced at David, David didn't hide it, she understood, and spread her hands with a light smile, "Mandy, you have to admit that her design is attractive enough." ”

This is true, it can be seen that he is also taking a quick look at those designs, and there is no doubt about his interest, but this still can't erase the fact that David is using this opportunity to fake public and private interests, Mandy rolled her eyes and expressed her indignation, but she didn't have any extra thoughts to get angry, all she was thinking about now was professional questions, just a slight mockery, "You want to be her discoverer?

"Do you want to grab it from me?" said Davi, whose lips curled slightly, as if joking.

Scold.

"I don't think it's so much that you want to worry about whether I want to, it's whether she'll cooperate—this girl's design, but it's wild and untamable," Mandy said, glancing at her watch, and the private chit-chat was over. "I have fifteen minutes left, you do my translation. ”

"Oh, that's okay," the sudden shallow laughter cut in, and the white girl held out her hand with interest, "I'm pretty fluent in English, and I don't need a translator—"

In 2007, fluent English can also add points to the force, and expatriates also have a bonus, especially in the fashion industry, several employees looked at them with reverence, not caring about their rude use of foreign languages in communication without apologies, and therefore, the girl interjected lightly, so that Mandy and David both had a sense of being caught in the air, Mandy glared at David in annoyance, although the latter's smile was more bitter and embarrassing.

She quickly adjusted her mentality, stretched out her hand and directly ignored the embarrassment just now, "That's the best, Mandy, buyer." "I deliberately didn't mention her company.

"Yun, designer. This little caution didn't break Yun's composure, and she shook Mandy shallowly.

Although judging from her age, she will never graduate for long, but her strength is very old-fashioned, and Mandy will smile: it seems that this time David has met an opponent.

She was even more curious, but time didn't allow her to hover and ask questions, so she could only get to the core, "I only saw your ready-to-wear, is this all there is to the collection?"

"Not really, but there was limited space for the catwalks, so we only put the ready-to-wear collection. Yun gave her a copy of the albums he was holding, and David stopped talking, she stared at him for a second, smiled, and handed him one tolerantly.

Mandy took it and flipped through it a little: the first half of this album is a show model, there is no suggested price, but it is intended to build a brand image, so you can also see sharper ideas - her pupils are miniaturized, but she is silent, and she finishes reading the ready-to-wear series behind, "What is the theme of this series?"

"Fire in the night. ”

"Will you put on a show?"

"There are no specific plans yet, but there will be in the near future. Yun said calmly, as if this was not a hypocritical pretentiousness - she did reveal the persuasiveness of this level, not the momentum, not the ethereal temperament, but all the details of all aspects of the booth. Joke, how can a brand of this level not have a launch event? It's really just a matter of time.

"I want to see your show. Park Wenhui said that she really needs to see her show, hard photos can't explain so much, so far, the information she has gotten is too limited, she put K into her briefcase, took out her pocket notebook to take notes, Qiao Yun handed her a business card, Mandy also found her own and gave it to her, "If you don't want to deal with David, contact me directly." ”

"Mandy—" David cried, both women ignoring him, Mandy continued, "I want to know the connection between your ready-to-wear and the subject, I know you subtracted during the transition, it's easy to see - but is it going to be too much, there's too little 'you' in this dress, is it?

Yun raised her eyebrows, which is a common expression for designers when they encounter criticism, Park Wenhui is not surprised, she is tolerant and silent, leaving her time to think: the cultural atmosphere in East Asia is not good at directly dealing with conflicts and doubts, and many designers will be a little flustered in front of her sharpness.

"Of course, there are some sharper ready-to-wear in my designs," she didn't expect, Yun's response was quite quick and calm, as if she had dealt with many skepticism, "but I eventually deleted it from the collection, after all, my designs are mainly for the Chinese market at the moment, and the show can be individual, but the market needs to mature." In the case of limited booths, I chose the exhibits that are more in line with the market and do not do ineffective information transmission, which I think is a reasonable choice. ”

"Do you think the Chinese market is not ready for more avant-garde design?" asked Park Mun-hye pointedly. "Isn't it like you're not good enough to juggle art and business?"

Her moves were sharp enough, but they were not overwhelmed, and she smiled with ease, "What art is there in the market? Mandy, you are a buyer, you know better than me, art exists in the show, the market? There is only money in the market." ”

She's right, of course there's only money in the market — it's just very much out of line with who she is, and a little girl like her should be vibrant, ambitious, and even angry, ambitious to be that rule-breaker — in fact, Mandy does taste this emotion in her designs, but at the same time, she's so realistic and sophisticated, she doesn't have the slightest illusion about the market. In the final analysis, this sense of self-restraint is what surprises her the most, and it also makes her want to tease her dignity even more, "I can see that you compromise for money, but the problem is that even after compromise, it's not perfect for commerciality, of course it's a good item, you're targeting the upper middle class and the rich class, you can see it from the workmanship and pricing, but the problem is, in my experience, there's a gap between this kind of pricing and this kind of design, and your design is good- But not enough for this list price, this T-shirt will sell for $400, and it will either contain more brand premium or more character. ”

This is the truth, if this design is branded with LV and Hermes, it can be sold for four or five times the price in a blink of an eye, and the values, recognition and quality assurance represented by the brand itself are all intangible assets carried by clothes, but for emerging designer brands, it is too modest, whether it is Paris, Tokyo or New York, emerging brands need a sharp spirit, that kind of intimidating beauty, people will be caught at once, dy does not deny Yun's opinion, her design is no more and no less for the Chinese market, but she is a buyer of a multinational company, she thinks about the global market, for the global market, her ideas are still a little bit unqualified.

"I agree with you," she was ready to anger the other party, but unexpectedly, Yun agreed with her without hesitation, and there was even a smile in her eyes, "In fact, any 300 euro T-shirt must include a brand premium - so, this is my short-term goal, to make the brand worthwhile to the customers who buy it." ”

"Your short-term goals. Park Wenhui chewed on Yun's attitude for a while, couldn't help but laugh dumbly, talking to her, she has a constant sense of stumbling, it is undeniable, she is a surprise, a mystery, but this self-confidence? Does she know that this price also belongs to the second-tier luxury level in the world, do you know how long it has been since there has been a new mass luxury brand in the circle? Even Alexander Wang, even Alexander McQueen, these cutting-edge designers who are active in New York and London, their starting pricing has never been so high, she? A little girl in China, who has no overseas study experience, and can't even show at Shanghai Fashion Week?

This is the kind of absurdity that can be laughed at, but her quiet self-confidence, the mystery around her, makes this absurdity turn into a deeper curiosity, Mandy looked at her watch: the job of a fashion buyer had actually been done a few minutes ago, and the question just now was already a point to satisfy her personal interests, and she could no longer indulge herself.

"Let me see your show. She said, taking the quotation, carefully folding it, stuffing it into her briefcase, and glancing at David, "Are you coming?"

David smiled apologetically, and Mandy gave him the last two eye knives.

"I'll leave him to you. She said to Yun, "Don't be too polite to him. ”

The joke softened the professional atmosphere just now, Yun smiled, her eyebrows were lit up by a smile, at this moment it was almost the same as the long dress, wild and beautiful, she and Mandy squeezed each other's eyes, conveying a sense that only women understand, "You can rest assured." ”

Mandy waved goodbye to her, turned and quickened her pace to sprint, thinking as she ran: yes, her price is too expensive, but if she can cut another quote...... Maybe she can make small purchases to test the market's reaction, and she needs more data comparison for the same period last year...... What she can negotiate, that price, will be a little difficult, judging from the girl's character, but she has just done the foreshadowing, and she can negotiate......

Yun, she chewed on the name as she looked at her watch: she was fed up with her place within the group, because her ethnicity was assigned to the boring region of Northeast Asia, which was invisible racism, boring and repetitive day after day, knowing that she would return empty-handed and having to dig in vain again and again, she longed to be more important, she needed to be more important......

Yun, Mandy pulled her file to the front of her mind, and even more so before the designers of the next show, wondering if she would meet the organizers of Shanghai Fashion Week later......

It was as if those details were still playing back in front of her eyes: a striking bevelled patchwork, a perfect blend of leather and velvet, her smiling eyes, a looming wildness and aura...... This girl has a story in her eyes, which is good, she is not perfect yet, but it doesn't matter, the market will make her more mature, and Mandy has enough patience to wait.

She just didn't know enough, she wanted to see more, to know more before she put her chips on it...... She wanted to see her show......

Mandy smiled to herself.

She'll see her show. 166 Reading Network