While you may not recognise her name, Hillary France is a mainstay on the New York and Los Angeles fashion scene. First off, she’s a walking street-snapped avatar of ideal self-styling. But style aside, she’s at the forefront of the buzz around contemporary labels right now. After cutting her teeth working on both the buying and sales side of brands like Rachel Zoe, Kimberly Ovitz and Diane von Furstenberg, she now has a thriving incubator assembling and nurturing a collective of the best budding designers in the contemporary space. Based in both New York and L.A., Brand Assembly also hosts tradeshows supporting designers during market week, a crucial time for designers to be seen by buyers from around the world.
It’s through working with the top dogs that she could appreciate the struggles of emerging brands, she tells me. That’s why she works with members on everything from logistics and operations to finances and cash flow too. “We teach our brands what is important on the business side so they are aware of the consequences of margins and spending and learn to speak to their business intelligently,” she explains. “With our help they don’t have to get bogged down in the day to day which can substantially decrease the amount of time a designer has to focus on the DNA of their brand.” Oh, and she puts even more in by sitting on the mentorship panel for Design Entrepreneurs New York, which supports fledging brands, too. She’s modest when quizzed about the impact she’s made on the businesses of the labels she works with but there is no doubt that France does as much as she can to help them along the way.
Arriving at Brand Assembly HQ is like walking into a perfectly edited store. Over in one corner is rails filled with jeans from that under the radar Los Angeles based denim brand you’ve never heard of but instantly fall in love with; another showcases the fresh, modern (and affordable!) evening wear of yet another brand that’s teetering on the cusp of making it big.
It comes through in Hillary’s style. Rather than sporting those obvious ‘zeitgeist’ fashion pieces, her outfits are the perfect combination of bold vintage pieces you’ve never seen before, mixed with the cool labels she works with. In fact, a lot of the brands she works with were found through her own personal research and Instagram scanning. Nikki Chasin, a Brand Assembly alum, was found on Instagram. A friend of a friend posted a photo wearing one of her vintage-y grandma print t-shirts. The rest, as they say, is history. Here she talks West Coast versus East Coast style, the barriers for emerging designers right now and her Ronald McDonald complex.
WORK
After graduating with a majors in Art History and Studio Arts, I moved to Washington DC to find a job in those fields. I ended up at Kate Spade New York working in their retail store while trying to interview for other jobs, but I fell in love with the business side of fashion. My first office job in fashion was still in DC at Hecht’s Department Stores where I went through their buyer program, which provided me with invaluable knowledge of the financial and planning side. I decided to move to New York to be at the epicenter of the fashion industry. I had jobs in sales working at Cynthia Steffe and DVF, and then moved to launch the Rachel Zoe brand globally for Li & Fung. Then, I had an amazing opportunity to run a small emerging brand called Kimberly Ovitz that I could not pass up. By managing all the departments and witnessing the struggles of an emerging brand, my business partner and I came up with the concept of Brand Assembly.
In short, Brand Assembly is an ecosystem and platform for emerging designers. We are not consultants, but rather executors. Through various divisions we help a designer with their business, give them a platform to interact with buyers, and operationally facilitate getting their product to the stores and consumer. In other words, we offer end-to-end solutions for designers to accelerate growth with minimal resources. The formula is simple: we leverage economies of scale to help small companies operate like big ones.
It’s always been important for me to shine a light on emerging designers because the industry seems set up for emerging designers to fail. Larger companies monopolize the market and archaic systems create seemingly insurmountable barriers. Consumers are getting more sophisticated through social media and other digital outlets. On one side there is a barrier for emerging designers to get their product to market, and on the other side, there are consumers thirsty for what is new and next. At Brand Assembly, we’re all about working with emerging designers to help them break down that barrier.
I launched the business with Alex Repola because you can’t start a business founded on the premise that to succeed you need a good partner without yourself having good partner. It’s not just about having a partner; it’s about having the right partner. Because Alex and I are so different in our approaches and thought processes, we are able to balance each other out. If there were two of me running the show, we might go faster but would not go further.
I started playing tennis at five years old on top of other childhood activities. When my parents started to put me into tennis competitions/tournaments I was hooked! It took a lot of discipline, focus, and practice both on the tennis court and off the tennis court. I loved the competition and the fact that the outcome of the match depended solely on me. When I got to college, college tennis is a team sport, so depending just on myself was not an option. Collectively all six girls had to win the match. The team camaraderie was even more attractive to me than going it alone, and taught me that in order to succeed it is important to have a team and community with the same goals!!
My week is a balancing act around managing all the different aspects of our business. No day is the same. I have to switch gears quite often and still be able to execute daily for our clients. We have a team of 5 full-time employees each focusing on a specific area of our business, plus we have all of our “members” in the Brand Assembly Square. One day can see me meeting with my team, printing UPC stickers for our back office clients, scouting emerging brands on social media, fixing the printer, moving furniture, acting as a therapist, and strategizing with Alex and the team on Brand Assembly’s next steps.
When building the community of designers we work with in our Brand Assembly Square, we look for community members who understand and see the benefit of being part of a concept like this. It is not for everyone, but I see a shift more toward brands working together to be successful. We have an amazing group of designers as well as freelancers that all work together and get along. It is quite unique. My favorite days at work are when the Square is bustling with activity and all of our members are working at the same time. It is amazing to see that everyone is so collaborative to achieve the same goal. The industry has changed so much since I started 13 years ago. There are so many amazing brands and only so many stores.
STYLE
I would definitely say my style is a mix of a uniform and more distinct pieces. Everyone on my team could identify what a ‘Hillary’ piece would be! My style has definitely evolved over the years, but I have always liked to take risks. On the weekends I have more of a uniform, which is what I call “cozy country” and consists of jeans and either a comfy sweater, a flannel or chambray button up, or a T-shirt. I believe I have settled into my style over the years. I am also more relaxed in what I wear day to day. There was a time where I wanted to make a statement or wear something new every day. I would even layout my outfit the night before. My day to day is a more casual, but when we have markets, press days or meetings, I love to wear amazing pieces from the emerging designers that we support. I have to thank my stylist for my hair. He transformed my blonde hair to red about 9 years ago. I definitely try to wear colors that compliment my hair and skin tone: olives, mustards, and burgundies in fall, and pink tones and sky blues for spring. I try to stay away from anything too bright yellow. It gives me a Ronald McDonald complex.
Going back and forth from East to West has become so much of a routine for me that it has become more of a commute than traditional travel. I would say that my wardrobe stays consistent when I’m in the West Coast. I always make adjustments for weather of course, and often go a little more relaxed for LA. Again, to show support for our LA brands I do try to rotate their pieces in my outfits when out West. I also refuse to check luggage, so everything I pack has to fit in a carryon. It is quite impressive what I can fit in one bag!!
Obviously I love finding emerging designers, so some of my recent finds have been Delfina Balda, Where Mountains Meet and Ohlin/D, Nikki Chasin. For stores, I like to shop Concrete & Water, Mr. Larkin, Myrtle, and Ten Over Six. I do like to shop vintage for jeans, and always visit the more relaxed stores on Abbott Kinney when I am in Los Angeles. Thinking about emerging brands, I really love Ashley Rowe, Jesse Kam, Courtshop, WHIT and Silvae right now.
I have so many pieces in my wardrobe I cherish and will keep forever. I have a denim trench coat that I wear pretty much every day during the warmer months. Also I have a vintage army field jacket that is my go to in to the winter months that I layer with a fur vest underneath to stay warm. I am obsessed with coats and toppers in general. My closet literally is overflowing with them. Generally I mix a lot of high and low when it comes to my everyday outfits. If I find a unique piece that epitomizes my style but it can also make a timeless statement, I see that as an investment. What I tend to go to the high street for are less expensive basics or one season fast fashion trends; stores like H&M, Zara, Free People (if that is considered high street), and even NastyGal. No matter where I go, I’m always looking for a piece with flair. I’m always on a mission for the special and unique. Whether it is a print, a pop color, embellishment or an overstated sleeve, I am all over it!
Women that take risks always impress me. Fashion is a form of personal expression and creativity so why not have fun with it! I really like Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchet, Tilda Swinton (not just for the short and sometimes red hair), and Diane Kruger as my go to risk takers. Going back in time, my style pin-ups are a combination of Ali MacGraw, Jane Birkin, Lauren Hutton and Diane Keaton.