Clemente Hernández, CEO of the jewelry firm Aristocrazy, said at the University of Navarra that design "is the key to the fashion business, and jewelry must adopt its habits, mentality and experience" to adapt to the reality of the market and approach the younger generations, the coveted 'millenials', those born in the last two decades of the twentieth century. "Jewelry can last forever, but it has to change with fashions and seasons," he has defended.

Clemente participated as a speaker at the X International Fashion Conference Fashion on the move: rethinking design. His lecture, The impact of design on the fashion business, brought the audience closer to luxury from the perspective of a specialist in finance: "What is the reason for buying fashion? Or design, or brand. And how do you make a brand? By heritage, which takes time, or by design, which is the key. Design is the most important thing when it comes to buying things that we don't need, that are not essential," he said.

Aristocrazy was born five years ago - "it was crazy, perhaps the worst moment of the deepest recession" - to dedicate itself "to quality, exclusivity and excellence. We wanted to introduce design in jewelry," explained Hernandez, who stresses that for Aristocrazy "design is our religion, and that's why we design all our jewelry".

That philosophy has led them to create iconic products, such as the snake, but "the cross is the product that sells best. The design is that we place it horizontally instead of vertically, as we are used to seeing it". Aristocrazy has opened 85 stores in 5 years: 65 in the Iberian Peninsula and the rest in Mexico, Chile, Miami and Guatemala. 

Rethinking design

The X International Fashion Conference, organized by ISEM Fashion Business School, the School of Communication and the School of Architecture of the University of Navarra, was inaugurated last Wednesday, April 20, with the intervention of Tomás Gómez-Acebo, Vice Rector for Students of the academic center, and Teresa Sádaba, Director of ISEM Fashion Business School. Sádaba stressed that one of the aims of the Congress was to rethink design "because fashion is always in motion and we need to think together".

The first round table, entitled "Design the future: future of design studies," was moderated by Thomas Handley, professor at Parsons The New School for Design. Miguel A. Alonso del Val, director of the School of Architecture at the University of Navarra, explained that design "is no longer simply an activity aimed at creating objects, but is a knowledge that, through creative thinking, is changing the way we understand culture and organizations. A new frontier of the 21st century society that is committed to quality over quantity". For her part, José Teunissen, director of the London College of Fashion, predicted that the future of design would be linked to the development of craftsmanship.

This was followed by a conversation between John Vizzone, creative director of the men's brand Cifonelli; Marva Griffin, curator of the Salone Satellite of the Salone del Mobile in Milan; and Enrique Loewe, honorary president of the Loewe Foundation.

Vizzone explained that his mission as Cifonelli's designer is to modernize a European brand with more than 130 years of history. Griffin pointed to the need for governments to support young designers through training programs. Enrique Loewe also stressed that the ecological issue is decisive at this time: "We live in difficult times and we are being overtaken by events; the important thing is not so much to run as to think".

Next, Valentin Valhonrat, curator of the Museum of the University of Navarra, introduced Teresa Mulet, a multidisciplinary artist, who gave a performance in which she reflected on the language of fashion.  

The revolution in men's fashion

In addition to the lecture by Clemente Hernández, the second day featured presentations by Debbie Smith, director of new projects at Condé Nast, and Hugo Jacomet, founder and editor of Parisian Gentleman. Debbie Smith analyzed the relationship between fashion and art through the historical covers of Vogue, with photographs by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Caravaggio and Edward Hopper.

Hugo Jacomet described the revolution that men's fashion has undergone in recent years and stressed the importance of the street in fashion: "The idea of the front row does not exist, everyone is part of the front row".

During the X International Fashion Conference, more than 45 papers were presented by researchers and professionals from 14 countries, including India, Mexico, Turkey, Brazil, Canada and Italy. They analyzed the current situation of design and its relationship with culture, communication and business.