Vogue, 2016, and the last gasp for editorial dominance.
This was a pivotal year - and it allowed the influencers and some brands of today to flourish. Let me explain.
All this hype in social has made me look back to where Tibi was in 2016, were the industry was, and where I was as an individual. I’m triangulating my thoughts here.
Let me start here.
Present day: we started working on our Fall 26 collection last September (25). And a partner from Germany was at our studio and she mentioned that “one can never be a prophet in their own home town” - she used a beautiful French saying to communicate it. I wrote it down - there was something there that tugged hard. And ultimately, that thought turned in to a thread of a conversation that the marketing team and I pecked at - how you can never go back in time and capture a moment in its exactness. All of us know that feeling, when you’re so excited to return to a place, and then, alas, it never hits the same. Sometimes the place has completely changed. But more likely, you’ve changed. Ok, that story is to be continued, you’ll see it manifest itself in the Fall 26 runway.
My digress here was for a point. I love thinking about the past - not in regrets but in a way that helps me explain the present. History often repeats itself, but the reflection of it can change dramatically depending on the lens of the individual. That’s why I love the preservation of words and print. It helps jog my memory, separate facts from my sometimes revisioned history, connect the dots to now.
As I was looking back in my pics, googling my ‘16 runwayshows, I saw beautiful clothes, certainly the thruline of who we are as a brand today, and like any true reflection, some things I would have done differently if I’d had a full frontal business lobe.
But I also felt an unease. Not the good kind that is a healthy reminder that the gut is working and you’re forming something interesting. And I remembered why. There were two things happening in 2016:
My family was reeling in health crises. In the span of one month in early 2016, my mom, my dad, my son and myself had all been in the hospital with very serious challenges. One after another. The year is forever tainted in that way, for me.
My company (Tibi) had found a back door for building brand awareness. The fashion blogger/influencer.
Let us focus on #2.
We never had an official “influencer”. strategy. We were just creatively going about being pragmatic. We weren’t advertising in big fashion publications - not because they were out of favor, it just wasn’t financially tenable. And we weren’t pouring every resource into garnering the favor of the fashion editors - this was the heyday of the boys of American fashion: Wang, Lam, Lim, Gurung, Som, Wu, Thakoon- girls out; boys in. It was what it was. The wall around these editors was not porous.
And this approach, working with what we had and making it work, was working for us. In hindsight, I know why: it was the literal definition of authenticity. We were (still are) independent, scrappy and doing what we needed to do. This was paralleling with a group of individuals who were doing the same: the blogger/influencer. And the key word here? Individuals. These were real people, who were entrepreneurs in effect, I could talk to them, we could relate, we became friends. And before they were them, they were outsiders. And by outside, I mean outside of the fashion editor’s world.
So naturally, humans being human and all, they talk, they support each other, they can relate. And we had created a group of friends around us. Not paid sponsorships, endorsements. Just friends who talk business, a lot. In my sphere, it was Linda Tol, Leandra Medine, Olivia Palermo, Tamu McPherson, and Sherri McMullen.
And these bloggers and influencers were building real relationships with others. Doing their own thing.
And then the drama hit. The fashion brands had welcomed these people in to their doors. What they were doing was exciting and refreshing. But the old guard was not having it. This story “broke the internet” of its time.
Why do I bring this up? Because this was to impact us deeply. I’m showing you below my three main collections from 2016 and as I look at them, all I can remember is one thing: the tension, the malaise, at the fall shows was palpable.
People were walking around fashion week that year with all the energy of a funeral procession. Maybe the influencers were starting to overthink their instincts - the very instincts that had created a literal new way of showing and communicating fashion. Maybe doubt was setting in, concern that too much peacocking could risk their wings getting clipped? Maybe it was the fashion editors feeling deeply uncertain of their role in the future? Maybe it was me thinking that one of the best things that could have ever happened to us - an unsanctioned voice, a friend in the fashion world - was being taken away?
In the “social media” world of 2016, the fashion establishment drew a big line in the sand between “those who have a right to be there and those who earned the right to be there”. But luckily, people ultimately just recognized it for what it was. A line in the sand that with some smudging could be removed or just crossed over if you’re inclined.
So how do I look back on 2016? I may have felt the fissures a little heavier, given point #1 for the year. But regardless, or because of, this was the year that gave proof to my gut. I had proof of concept that taking stock of your circumstances, your strengths and weaknesses, and the reality of what is happening around you can set you on your own path. Also pausing long enough to think, if things are going really right, maybe we’re doing the right thing regardless of what others think or have always believed. I think a lot of these influencers at the time saw it too. Because as I look at that group above, all of them have stayed wildly successful - by how they define it. And none of them define it the same as the other. Yes, they may have all started out with similarities of approach, but each, with heads down, hard work and curiosity have carved out wildly different paths.
Industry rules, the safety guardrails of a large company, the comfort of an algorithm when you’ve simply no other data to rely on - these are there so people and companies can comfortably predict what is next. But the ones who do really interesting shit are highly unpredictable. So you can see how these two concepts are at odd. And therefore, the key takeaway of 2016? Stay human.