Fashion branding cannot utilize only push communications — it is best as a proper balance between pull (fashyin) and push (fashyang).
Fashion brand communications should exhibit how the consumer’s concept of self-branding is a balance of “personal fashion” and “trend fashion.” My-style dressing is more evident than it has ever been since the advent of fashion designer brands, fashion product brands, and fashion store brands.
My-style dressing is based on a fashion balance that “pulls” styling from a consumer as much as it “pushes” styles from a brand. A fashion brand should now offer to make consumers glorious themselves, as well as to those people who mean the most to them. Fashion brands must strike a balance of trends and firsts in styling between the personal “fashyin” and the commercial “fashyang”.
Here we present five guidelines that a fashion brand can communicate with its target consumers:
1) Be adventurous — don’t hesitate to experiment with your style.
2) Don’t worry if a specific trend, cargo pants or form fitting suits, don’t flatter your figure – don’t adopt them for your “My-Style” choices
3) You don’t have to blaze the fashion trail – you are your own fashion master – get inspiration by balancing retro with metro!
4) Balance your fashion shopping between stores you do know and stores you should know – balance comfort with experimentation.
5) Find the most dramatic and rewarding feeling of being a self-stylist, by balancing your style sensations with your common sense.
This offers a feedback opportunity for the brand to pull ideas from the consumer in order to push the brand’s creative ideas to the fashion-buying consumer…
FASHYIN / FASHYANG
Keep thinking!
Arthur & Peggy Winters co-teach SXB 200 Brand Marketing Communications for Image & Meaning and SXR 050 Intro to Branding: The Art of Customer Bonding.