Luxury Fashion Brand Management: an online course by London College of Fashion

What's the best way of understanding how top international luxury fashion brands increase their trust and influence on new customers worldwide, with a long-term and strategic approach to business? For those who have never worked inside the sales, marketing or communication departments of the Gucci's and Versace's of the world, the best way would be to enroll in one of the many specialized master's degree programs in the top fashion capitals of the world, like Paris, Milan, London and New York or maybe even emerging cities like Shanghai, Singapore or Shenzhen. This individual commitment to the fashion and luxury industry typically carries a heavy financial burden on families, but from my modest experience (and also based on feedback of colleagues in education), nothing is better than receiving firsthand information directly and face-to-face from knowledgeable and experienced professionals in the management, retail or creative fields.

What about the smoothness of touching silk fabrics by Ratti, the smell and feel of real leather inside a Bottega Veneta store, trying on a jacket at the tail end of the brand experience in Moncler's fitting rooms, combining appropriate bags, shoes or sunglasses to a new Miu Miu outfit, seeing the colors of the season reflected on Lake Como, drinking an espresso at Pasticceria Marchesi above the Prada store in Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele or enjoying a piece of chocolate at the Bulgari Hotel? There's nothing like feeling the passion, warmth, strength and eye-to-eye contact in a real world environment, in the classroom or on the street.

But what if one can't manage to hop on a plane and spend minimum 12 months room and board to live and learn in one of those magnificent above cities? What if the desire to learn and experience the wonderful and hard-working luxury fashion industry outweighs any other possible solution? Well now, luckily, and thanks to advances in technology (and acceptance), there are alternatives for those living in far off places or having modest budgets. Or perhaps one is not sure yet whether to commit to the glossy world of Luxury Fashion. How does one carefully manage a niche Brand in the long-term and make it unique, desireable and exlusive? The result, an online course, beamed straight to your home, focused on the industry that you love or would love to love, could be the solution.

Quite frankly, at first, as I'm now accustomed to do, I was skeptical. Since I was hailing for the last 25 years from Milan and Italy, a touchy feely land of external looks and style, where any minimal mindset doubts are quickly overcome by a warm handshake or an emotional connection between people firsthand. What value was I to place on a course where my students were small bleeps on a screen and perhaps munching on Cheetos while multitasking on Twitter?

But I'm intrigued by Millenials, by GenZ, by China, by the power of Apple, by the Here Comes Everybody approach to marketing, and how companies need to continually evolve and stay transparent through an omnichannel experience, an ePresence, so I said: Yes, Let's Do It, let's become truly part of and connect with the new generations of future managers and creatives coming from Moldova, Bulgaria, Turkey, the Middle East, etc. and who knows where else. I'm curious and proud to share my inside fashion company experience, my international luxury project consulting advice and my streetside retail eyes and ears through electronic means with students, focusing on the direction the real world is taking us.

For more information, read my Interview with the London College of Fashion, the 6th rated Fashion School by Business of Fashion and see the details of my new online course sessions in Luxury Fashion Brand Management, starting from end-January 2017.

Stay connected, see you online! PGDS