Cathy‘s story, as the Visual Director at Warby Parker (a sunglasses brand), is both lengthy and captivating, as shared in Garance Dore. She offers helpful advice, discusses her unconventional career path, and shares insights into the daily responsibilities of a visual director and even a visual merchandiser’s role. While working for prestigious brands may not always be as glamorous as it appears, the effort ultimately pays off. Throughout this in-depth interview, we observe the following:
“it would be so cool to work on window displays. Then you do it and there is no magic sauce. It’s just doing it and it’s a lot more work and a lot more time and a lot more thought. Learning is an exciting time and I swear it catches up to you. You just do it and if you don’t know how to do it and there’s no one to tell you how to do it then you just try. Do it and mess it up and don’t be afraid to mess it up. I tell my team that all the time, if you get to a place where you are stuck just try something. I will be much happier with you trying it and making a mistake then being like I’m not going to finish this project because I don’t know how to. Finish it wrong, please.”
And the resume when presented to the manager:
“I’d put something in the window, and he’s like what is this. I’d be like it’s the new blah blah blah trail shoe, he’s like, all right how many colors does it come in. It comes in three colors, it’s great … He’s like, ‘what’s the pronation on the shoe?’ 25 percent. He’s like, ‘a shoe with 25 percent and you’re taking the hottest real estate in the store?! What else you got? What’s the price point?’ He really made me take all my creativity, and try this, c’mon kid, gimme some more money with that. He really groomed me to be more business oriented with how I told a story.”
The complete narrative initially released here
garancedore.fr
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