Stephanie Phair is new chair of British Fashion Council

15 May '18

3 min read

Stephanie Phair; Courtesy: British Fashion Council

Stephanie Phair has been chosen the new chair of the British Fashion Council by its board. Her tenure is for three years which can be renewed. The role will be formalised at the July 5, 2018 board meeting with key meetings commencing in June. Stephanie is the chief strategy officer for Farfetch, the global tech platform for the luxury fashion industry.

Stephanie has held the position at Farfetch since November 2016.

The role of chair will focus on governance, ensuring the organisation is able to lead the sector in a changing industry and economic environment; supporting the CEO in the delivery of the organisation’s strategy focusing on five strategic pillars: Reputation, Investment, Business, Digital and Innovation and Education; developing relationships with sponsors and industry patrons and building the profile of British fashion globally.

Stephanie is a digital fashion veteran, first starting in e-commerce thirteen years ago with Portero, the first pre-owned luxury marketplace. Following this, she moved to London where she joined Net-a-Porter as president of the Outnet.com which she launched in 2009. She also sat on the Executive Board of the Net-a-Porter Group from 2009-2015. Her career began in NYC with roles in communications, marketing and business development at Siren PR, Issey Miyake and American Vogue where she worked on initiatives such as the launch of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion fund and the annual Metropolitan Costume Institute Gala.

The British Fashion Council is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes the designer fashion sector to a global industry, supporting creative talent and businesses from education and start-up through their different phases of growth. Its core events include London Fashion Week, London Fashion Week Men’s and the Fashion Awards. Its broad base of stakeholders includes retail, publishing, design, modelling agencies, creative services, financial institutions, professional services, high-end manufacturing and government.

Dame Natalie Massenet stepped down as chairman in December 2017, following a successful five-year term in which she led the organisation to focus its activities through strategic pillars, engage in digital innovation and focus on building the global profile for British fashion.

Caroline Rush, chief executive British Fashion Council commented: “On behalf of the Board of the British Fashion Council, I welcome the appointment of Stephanie Phair as our incoming chair and we all look forward to working with her on strengthening the opportunities for British fashion talent and businesses over the next few years. Her appointment was driven by her reputation as a strategic thinker, a broad view of the sector, and her propensity to challenge the norms to create new opportunities for growth.”

Phair commented: “I am honoured and delighted to take on the role of chairman. The British Fashion Council is in a strong position following the incredible work of Dame Natalie Massenet, Caroline Rush and the team, and my role will be to build on this and help drive continued innovation and new thinking in this fast paced, changing industry. I look forward to working with the team at the BFC to engage with and support all the talented designers and teams working for British fashion today.” (SV)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

More British Fashion Council News... More Fashion News - United Kingdom...