对GogaAshkenazi来说，在2012年接管传奇时装品牌Vionnet，是实现孩提时代的梦想。但在康泰纳仕国际奢侈品会议首日，这位女企业家也告诉Suzy Menkes，接管品牌的过程并非一帆风顺。
“起初，每一天都充满了挑战，因为执掌Vionnet这样历史传承丰厚的品牌责任实在太过重大……我的确是在准备不足的情况下面对每项挑战的，但这也是冒险的美妙之处：你必须对迎面而来的事情一一作出反应。一开始在没什么支持的情况下，作为时装业的门外汉，并用如此不同的方式做事，我确实走过弯路，也学到了很多，并且借此我才明白了Vionnet在今天意味着什么：手工技艺、典雅优美以及打造永恒的时装：用心的时装。”
Ashkenazi表示，另一项迎面而来的挑战是行业内的性别鸿沟，该品牌在这一问题中扮演了举足轻重的角色：“不仅在时装行业，其他行业内的女性也同样经受着巨大的挑战……男性依然掌握着更大的权势。对于身处时装界的女性而言，不论我们接受与否，我们都是弱势的一方……我们得理解，并非所有业内男性都接纳我们。Vionnet夫人作为女性扮演了非常重要的角色，而身为女性的我也有同等的重要性。”
如今已身居帅位的她非常清楚自己将要带领品牌去向何方。“我不想把Vionnet做成一个盛极一时继而辉煌不再的短命品牌，”她微笑着说道。“我正在尽力将Vionnet夫人1912年创立品牌时建立的品牌文化延续下去。”
Goga Ashkenazi, Chairwoman and Creative Director of Vionnet, in conversation with Suzy Menkes at the third Condé Nast International Conference in Oman
InDigital.TV
For Goga Ashkenazi, taking the reins of the fabled fashion house Vionnet in 2012 fulfilled a childhood dream. But, as the businesswoman told Suzy Menkes on the first day of the CNI Luxury Conference, adopting the house was not all plain sailing.
“Every day was a challenge at first, because it is a huge responsibility carrying a heritage brand like Vionnet … I certainly was not prepared for every challenge I had to face, but that’s the beauty of taking a risk like that – you have to react to things that come up. Not having much support at the beginning, being an outsider to the fashion world, and approaching it in a different way, I’ve made mistakes and I’ve learned from them and I know what Vionnet means today: craftsmanship, elegance and creating fashion that is timeless – mindful fashion.”
“It’s a huge challenge to be a female in the fashion industry”
Another ongoing challenge is the industry’s gender divide, one in which the house has an important role, Ashkenazi says. “It’s a huge challenge to be a female in the fashion industry and in other industries … Most powerful people are male. For women in fashion, whether we like it or not, we are the minority … There comes an understanding from being a woman that is not open to all of the men. There is the importance that Madame Vionnet was a woman, and there is the importance that I am a woman.”
Now that she has established her position in the driving seat, she is clear about the direction she wants the house to take. “I don’t want to make a short-lived brand that is going to have a heyday,” she smiled. “I am trying to continue the culture that Madame Vionnet established in 1912 when she started her brand.”
