Hungarian Fashion Designers

 

  Bognár Alexandra

Marketing

Illésy Lenke & Léber Barbara Designers from the contemporary  Hungarian Fashion World

Hungarian Fashion Designers

 

Bognár Alexandra

Marketing

2

  Introduction This essay is going to explore the contemporary Hungarian fashion world. Hungary and fashion? This is the first thing that can confuse people because it is not really a dominant thing. It is a hard and risky job to become a fashion designer in Eastern Europe. Having looked at the contemporary trend, the only chance or rather school is the Moholy Nagy Art School – MOME or commonly mentioned as the Applied Art University. They both studied there, what differentiates them is that Léber Barbara has been successful from the very first moment, while Illésy Lenke is still not famous.

Léber Barbara Léber Barbara is a good example for showing a path towards success. She finished her studies at the Applied Art University in 1994, she moved to Spain by scholarship for additional training in the fashion world. It was in 1999’s December when the Léber Barbara couture salon was opened and during the first half year it already became a profitable company. This is an extremely rare thing, most companies are in the red during their first year(s) since all the invested money seems a loss. However, she was in doubt if it is a good advertisement or marketing plan if she names the brand with her name - if she trusts herself that much to give her own name to the business. Now it is clearly seen that it was a good decision. The first salon was opened into the center of Budapest, on one of the most crowded roads within Budapest, the Bajcsy-Zsilinszky road. It was a classical styled construction with an upper-class interior design. Later the salon moved to Buda (close to Barbara’s home). It was only necessary  because she did not want to waste too much time on travelling and saving time is essential when her family was actually growing at that time. Now it is situated in one of the most luxurious villas on Széchényi-hill. The building itself represents the richness and elegance of the couture world, moreover the space provided is perfect for both the fashion shows and the  personal planning, thus serving for the elite by giving intimacy. (www.leberbarbara.hu)

 

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  Her philosophy says that every woman has something that can be and even has to be emphasized. Léber Barbara designs clothes for women who own eternal values, bravely undertake their effeminacy in order to take on and show Barbara’s own virtues and unmistakable style. She heavily avoids any potential dangers of ordinariness and vulgarism, she rejected orders that would her fame and image of high standard, elegance or refinement.

How is it different? Léber Barbara is said to be the master of the designing & tailoring methods of clothes which when worn seem as if it was poured onto the wearer – it forms the body so that the result is fascinating - she feels like a goddess. Sometimes, even little nuances differentiate these masterpieces from the ordinary good clothes, but this market difference holds the system of proportions which is responsible for the perfect harmony ha rmony of such a dress.

 Photoshoot – Léber Barbara collection

Besides the design, the marketing orientation is responsible for how to sell the clothes. Highstandard photoshoots, exclusive fashion shows, her style is always in vogue.

 

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 Fashion Show – Planet First Event

What does she give us? She uses Italian, French, English and Portuguese silk, taffeta and lace and by using only these materials the client is assured that nor the particular dress (nor its lookalike) will meet her on the streets. Haute Couture clothes are uniquely designed pieces which are all “un-repeatable”. If the client chooses from the actual collection than Barbara’s colleges can easily check in their system to which event(s) will the other buyer wear the same dress, thus they can avoide any inconvenience. (www.leberbarbara.hu)

Léber Barbara, as a model for the elite class, emphasizes and upholds the importance of charity. (It has always been a fashionable act among mostly Hollywood’s celebrities.) She is the “outside” supporter of the Lions Club in Budapest, she offers her clothes for dressing up the presenter of the Prima Primisima award, she sponsors the Hungarian participant of the Mrs.

 

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  Globe contest which helps on the disadvantaged status women and organizes the runway of women who recovered from cancer together with the “Magyar Rákellenes Liga” and Roche drug-factory.  drug-factory.  (www.leberbarbara.hu)

From a marketing point of view, there are seemingly tiny tots which also tempts buyers. Such an example is the VIP CLUB Card. This card can be claimed if somebody has already bought anything from Léber Barbara. The card, (as any other VIP cards) give discounts for purchase, design or other services provided by the company of Léber Barbara. Members of the VIP CLUB receive gifts regularly. Moreover they are “accentuated” guests for the Léber Barbara fashion shows or other events organized for/by her. Another example is the gift coupon. Those who are in trouble what to buy for Christmas, Birthdays etc. can claim a coupon either  personally or by post, they are available in different denominations and are valid for a year. (www.leberbarbara.hu)

In order to sell enough quantity from the fashion magazines, there are so-called fashion events about which journalists can only make reports with the help of a photographer. Readers are not interested in the actual party but the attending celebrities, the atmosphere, the brands, the champagne is what attract people. Léber Barbara was nominated for Glamour’s Women of the Year 2010 award which she did not win, but she was given the award of the most innovative woman. (http://www.bellacafe.hu)

There is such a thing as direct marketing. The best advertisement is to give the clothes to celebrities. By this method, the marketing is embedded into the appearance of a particular famous person and whenever she goes up to the stage, the audience can admire the dress.

 

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 Polyák Lilla wearing Léber Barbara on “Ketten” concert

Besides her, she was very much helped at the beginning by another celebrity, because Illényi Katica (a quite famous Hungarian violinist) used to wear only Barbara’s clothes. Now, after 10 years passed Léber Barbara can be proud of being the only one Hungarian fashion designer who even created something for Barack Obama’s relatives. Her prices are “comparable” to designer brands’, a dress from her collection starts from 180.000 Ft, a Haute Couture dress is from 250.000 Ft.

Illésy Lenke The next designer is a perfect example of how a relatively talented artist with a really bad idea and marketing plan can waste a lot of time for not being successful at the end. Illényi Lenke who even had to teach drawing at a high school because she had financial problems (that is the connection thanks to which I know her…) tried to design innovative maternity-clothes from 2006. Later, because it brought no fame to her she expanded her collection to kids, than to

 

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  women and finally to men, also. Now, having stated that all members of the family officially can find something among her clothes it seems obvious that sooner or later she will sell the whole collection. But this is not the actual case. Léber Barbara designs dresses for mostly weddings and balls and she was able to reach even the distant target markets. So it was not at all necessary for Lenke to expand her portfolio but rather to think over the marketing plan. (www.ille-olla.hu)

The first mistake is its name – she named it Ille-Olla (from the first two letters of her name). Well, apart from that she wanted to make unique clothes for the everyday life, it seems rather shoddy or chintzy. Although people prefer short brand names (because that can be memorized easily) this name rather makes fun of this term. Nobody would take this brand seriously as it was the case.

 Photoshoot of Illésy Lenke’s collection

Secondly, the photoshoot done was not a product of a good marketing plan. There were tries by  brands like Dove that showing not supermodels but ordinary women is a good choice but later they had to realize that the campaign was rather pushy and horrifying. Having looked at the

 

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   photoshoots the first thing coming into the viewer’s mind is that these pictures p ictures can not be b e put p ut into a fashion magazine of high standard.

Instead of an advertising website, she thought that writing a blog (http://ille-olla.blogspot.com) is beneficial because by a blog the buyers can understand her philosophy towards design. This was a really bad induction, nobody is interested in the philosophy behind a dress just the dress itself, its form, the material, the size and the price is what matters.

She does not have high prices for her clothes. In fact, she lowered the prices to nearly the minimum. A normal skirt costs about 7.000 Ft, a T-Shirt’s price is not higher than 3-4.000 Ft. Additionally, this means that even though she is cheap – nobody is interested.

As time passed she just hived the bad decisions except for one – she found a partner for the new 2010/11 collection. Together with Esztány István (with whom she met at the Applied Art University) they say that they can express their values better if they work together and “complete” each other. (http://minok.hu/cimke/illessy-lenke)  (http://minok.hu/cimke/illessy-lenke) 

Since they have been working together, they opened another blog (http://esztille.blogspot.com), (http://esztille.blogspot.com), so their concept about philosophy did not really change. They named this  brand Eszt-Ille (with the beginning of István’s name) – seriously?! They got huge opportunities for jumping onto the path towards fame – they could participate in the Design week in Budapest in October 2010. (http://designhet.hu/okt/5)

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They could open their own store in the 5   district which was also named “creatively” Esztille.

 

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  Finally, they ordered a webpage for the brand. (www.ille-olla.hu). (www.ille-olla.hu). This site is available also in English which is a positive feature – it symbolizes that they would like to reach the whole world, not just Hungary. Lenke, when interviewed has already mentioned that her aim is to  become famous in Western Europe. Besides that there are translational problems, in Hungarian there is a menu called “Philosophy” which was translated into English as “About us” the site is  pretty much easy to use but not at all easy to read (the chosen font is illegible).

Conclusion Whatever the future brings to Illésy Lenke, it is obvious that even the success/fame shall be deserved, if she continues to make the same mistakes which cast a shadow onto her image she will fail over and over again. Talent is not the only requirement for an artist. Talent is just a matter of luck but has no connection with success. It is only about marketing how you sell what you have. No matter what you sell, but how. And Léber Barbara’s approach is brilliant.  No further proof is needed, she is successful, she is famous, she is rich and she has got a h happy appy family… which is again a rare thing for businesspeople who work that much. Léber Barbara is all about sleekness and sophistication in fashion. Her graceful, cosmopolitan, lighter-than-air  persona is so unique that she will definitely remain one of the most difficult of all fashion-stars to pin down in words.  

 

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Marketing

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  Bibliography Illésy Lenke Talks with Illésy Lenke th

Ille-Olla the Hungarian Design, Official Website, accessed on 24  November, 2010: http://www.ille-olla.hu/filozofia.swf   http://www.ille-olla.hu/english.swf   th

Ille-Olla’s blog, Google Blogger, accessed on 24  November, 2010: http://ille-olla.blogspot.com/  http://ille-olla.blogspot.com/  th

Esztille’s blog, Google Blogger, accessed on 24  November, 2010: http://esztille.blogspot.com/ http://esztille.blogspot.com/   th

“Mi N!k”, Min!k.hu hálózat, accessed on 25  November, 2010: http://minok.hu/cimke/illessy-lenke/   http://minok.hu/cimke/illessy-lenke/ rd

Interview with Illésy Lenke, Csutka Mano site, accessed on 23  November, 2010: http://www.csutkamano.hu/magnoliaPublic/csutkamano/sztarok/illessylenke.html  http://www.csutkamano.hu/magnoliaPublic/csutkamano/sztarok/illessylenke.html 

Léber Barbara Léber Barbara official website, Léber Barbara, accessed 22 nd November, 2010: http://www.leberbarbara.hu/ http://www.leberbarbara.hu/   th

Glamour Women of the Year 2010, BellaCafé, accessed on 26  November, 2010: http://www.bellacafe.hu/2010/03/22/glamour-women-of-the-year-2010-–-ordog-nora-es-ruzsamagdi-a-legjobbak-kozott   magdi-a-legjobbak-kozott