William Fan always knows how to throw a good event – whether that’s a show or a pop-up, the designer and his team know what’s up and what the fashion crowd wants – often before they know it themselves. I enjoyed last season’s show at the Berliner Philharmonie so much that I was almost sad the brand chose to host a pop-up instead of presenting a collection on the catwalk this season. That is until I got the details and went to check it out for myself.
Let’s take a look inside the William Fan Gelato pop-up, shall we?
Dolce Vita Amidst Fashion Week Hectic
Rushing from show to show and event to event can be quite the hustle and many (including myself) load too many things on their plate – whether that is because of work obligations or to not suffer from FOMO. It is hard to take a step back, take a breather and sometimes just enjoy the moment as we all worked hard to get to be in the room. When I arrived at the William Fan pop-up at Château Royal, I was delighted to be greeted by an ice cream stand outside – who wouldn’t be in 34-degree weather? Unfortunately, Olive was out though I would’ve loved to get a taste of this flavour, but the Jade Matcha and Strawberry were just what I needed to feel refreshed and like I was spending a classic euro summer in a coastal town.
If that wasn’t enough holiday feeling, the brand also had created its very own postcards with motifs of images William himself captured on his travels that could be purchased. Depending on the amount of postcards purchased you could also get a fortune cookie containing either a fashionable wisdom like ”No decision made in love is ever the wrong one” or the big win: the choice of a summer accessory. Upon opening my cookie I was greeted with the words:”Kindness costs nothing, but means everything”. Not the beaded bag I had been eyeing, but hey, it was a fun experience (one I have to dull down in my head or might fall victim to a gambling addiction) and something I always preach especially during fashion week.
Why was this genius on every level?
Give The People What They Need
A refreshment! It is July and fashion week was one the hottest weeks of the year so far – not only because of fire fits! Make sure, the signature ice cream is the ultimate trend flavour matcha and you will have fashonistas fighting for a scoop.
Give The People What They Want
Excitement, scarcity. If you are already sick of me diving into the psychology behind the Labubu phenomenon, I apologise (wait no, I am very unapologetic about this one), but bare with me one more time. One of the things that make Labubus so attractive (and addictive) is the element of surprise – you never know what you are getting. And if you have set your sights on a specific one, chances are you are going to keep buying surprise boxes, until you get that exact one. Same with the postcards. The want to purchase more in hopes of getting one of the fortunate fortune cookies is a given. And if you have low impulse control like me, you end up buying another round of postcards. While I did not gain one of the highly coveted summer bags, I did gain something else, arguably even more valuable: Fortune cookie wisdom and the knowledge that I should never go to a casino.
Give The People Something They Will Remember
– and casually acquire new potential clients via indirect word of mouth aka postcard. Postcards are hung up on corkboards, fridges or kept in pretty boxes with bows and glitter (at least in my case). In the event of the former happening, not only will have the recipient read the brand’s name, but also everyone visiting their apartment might catch a glance of it and get curious about the slightly unconventional motifs (a depiction of garbage, a “caution, wet” sign etc.) I am a postcard child, growing up always watching my dad write them on family vacations and receiving one from every single one of his business trips. Whenever I am in a different place, the number one activity on my agenda is finding pretty postcards, a quiet moment and a nice cafe, preferably with a scenic view to write them. So writing a postcard from fashion week was the perfect combination of my nostalgic side and my fashion life one.
Entschleunigen
“Entschleunigen” translated into English is “to slow down” or “to decelerate”. Depending on the context, “to unwind” or “to relax” can be used as well. But for some reason the German “entschleunigen” resonated more with me in this case and so I won’t be using a translation here. Fashion Week can be incredibly hectic and so I appreciated the chance to “entschleunigen” by taking a seat in the conservatory, licking my ice cream, writing to my loved ones and letting them take part in my experience. It gave me the chance to reflect on what all happened for me to be in this exact moment and how a few years ago running from show to show, making pit-stops at pop-up-stores and beauty lounges while documenting my experience was the ultimate dream. And now I have gotten a good chunk closer to it.
So thank you William Fan and team for gifting me a moment of ultimate presence, reflection and gratefulness. And also thank you for stamping and sending the postcards yourself so I don’t have to keep reminding myself to stop forgetting to go to my Späti and send them off.
