Joyce Azria Visits FIDM
Fashion veteran Joyce Azria visited FIDM this week to share her story and answer questions from students in the Premier Fashion Design Group. The former Creative Director of BCBGeneration and founder Max Azria's daughter launched her own brand six months ago in Los Angeles—Avec Les Filles—aimed at millennial women.
The 35-year-old designer grew up in the industry. Her family moved to America from Paris when she was three years old. With hard work and perseverance, her father launched his business which evolved in a dramatic way.
At eight years old, her parents took her along to look at potential store locations. They drove to Rodeo Drive to look at some real estate. When her father asked her what she thought of the location, she told him she loved it because cars drove by, which was good because people would see their name and remember it. She had intuition. Then she gained experience, learning as she was immersed in the environment.
She used to hang out in their stores watching sales reps sell. At sixteen she traveled to China to visit factories. She watched patternmakers and had the unique position to see the product development process firsthand. Full immersion. She thought that if she could contribute she could maybe one day run the company.
She saw her dad experience bankruptcy, and bounce right back. “The first thing he did was borrow fabric from a friend,” she said.
Fred Segal placed an order of pleated skirts. Then the unthinkable happened. The truck filled with product was stollen. “You put in input, but you can’t control the output.” So he borrowed fabric once again from his friend, and he moved forward in his business.
“These were my examples,” she said. “His daily passion attributed to his success.”
At eighteen years old, she was all set to start at USC but she changed her mind when her dad had a talk with her about opportunity. As it stood that day, he had a fashion business—an opportunity. He gave her the choice to go with that opportunity or go to college. She decided to take advantage of the opportunity at hand and her parents made her an intern.
At BCBG, she learned planning, merchandising, allocation, shipping, design, public relations, you name it. She kept her eyes on the prize and stayed loyal to the company, something she places in high regard today. Loyalty.
When she looks at someone’s resume, she can tell right away if she’s interested in them. She said she’d rather have someone who stayed at one place for six years who continued to move up in the company than someone who jumped around two months here and four months there. “People are the path in this business,” she said. “The core is the people.” She looks for an amazing moral compass and a sense of loyalty.
The fact that she had all that experience in all those departments makes her a better CEO. She speaks the same language as planners and allocators. “Get in the business and work, no matter what the position is,” she advised.
From 18 to 29, she worked at BCBG, and for the last six years, she evolved BCBGeneration. “I hustled and I stayed. My dad fired me ten times and I came back the next day. You have to have that grit, honesty, and loyalty.”
“Fashion is a platform to connect with others,” she said. And she decided she wanted to launch her own brand. “I had an idea about a culture.” And with that she walked out of her office and never went back.
She launched Avec Les Filles in 155 shops-in-shops. Today it stands in 700 points of sale, and she plans to double it by next year.
Categories: Fashion Design
