Malone Fashion

1+2=3 The Fashion Success Formula 

What a week of openings around the globe we have seen with, Lanvin for H&M, Ferrari World, Abu Dhabi and Westfield Sydney. Lets start, first with news of H&M & Lanvin and their new designer range with a new store on the Champs-Élysées by the famous French architect Jean Nouvel. Then moving to last Thursday's  opening of Yas Island's Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, once again outstanding architectural design by Mike Lewis of Benoy coupled with the luxury brand endorsement of Ferrari to create the winning formula. And finally to Westfield and the re-opening of its doors on the new Sydney Pitt Street Mall. 

Wow - Here at Malone we we have reflected and reviewed and identified the occurring key themes, naming it the fashion success formula whereby famous luxury brands + architectural design = a cool place to be,  but like all things great, its the magic in quantities which make it a fashion success.

Given the large amount of GCC patrons in attendance at the opening of Ferrari World, prove the above formula to be, perhaps true, as Ferrari World was certainly a cool place to be last Thursday night. When speaking with John Barber of Ferrari World he confirmed such suggestions, estimating that  60-70% of attendance on opening night was in-fact GCC Nationals, we asked how did Ferrari World get the message out to draw such a crowd? John answered via social media of course. Ferrari World has achieved over 16,000 Facebook fans in less than 1 year and as a company do no formal advertising. So yes the word does get out but what are the other factors in the formula of success?

We asked  Sebastien Gautier, Regional Director Sisley Cosmetics, who we met with this week at the Dubai luxury forum about social media and customer service?. He told us that when the quality is in the product and customer service is delivered by "the team in-store" then the word spreads itself -  via all media and communication channels. Its not just about being social, but instead giving the purpose to be social. 

Sisley is a luxury brand which does not focus on the traditional forms of advertising, instead its focus is on the product itself - the quality and the sales staff's passion for the product. “You can see the spirit in the staff's eyes” says Sebastien, "when you see this spirit in a staff member you know they will make money for your brand." 

So what does the 1 2 3 of success look like? Why don't we ask the worlds best developers of shopping malls? The Westfield Group (ASX: WDC) who yesterday opened the first stage of the $1.2 billion Westfield Sydney redevelopment project, six months ahead of schedule, with 130 fashion and food specialty stores open for trade, marking the re-opening of Pitt St Mall after two years of construction. 

The inside word is that even with the reputation of success such as Westfield, they too are facing a social revolution. We cant wait to check out the new Westfield development and see the latest trends in design delivery, but for now we just want to introduce  Alyce the Westfield BLOGGER. She is the leading lady who is to pilot the WESTFIELD Insider. Alice has big plans for the 21C of retail and we do too!  So stay tuned and well'll keep you updated.

Malone Fashion  ( 

your first industry retail blogger in the UAE)

xoxo