Desautels Fashion Business Uncovered is a day-long fashion industry conference put together by an aspiring group of students here at McGill Desautels Faculty of Management. Speakers who work in the industry were invited, representing different brands and businesses, to speak to students about opportunities in the fashion field. Lili Lafrance, who was one of the co-founders of the conference last year, brought the FBU to McGill students for the second time this year along with her wonderful committee.
Name: Lili Lafrance
Role: Co-chair of Fashion Business Uncovered
CollegeFashionista: I found out that Jenny Bradley-Tessier and you actually co-founded this conference last year. How did you come up with this idea?
Lili Lafrance: It was actually a group of six or seven girls, and we made it happen together. We had a horizontal structure and helped each other out. We actually got inspired by this fashion business symposium the year we created FBU. The number of students who were interested in that event exceeded the capacity by far, and we realized that there is a huge demand. So we talked to our career advisor, and she mentored us into creating this event.
CF: Who were some of the speakers?
LL: This year, we had Anna Martini, the president of Garage, Yona Shtern who is the Co-founder and CEO of BeyondtheRack and Alexandra Salituri, the PR and Marketing Manager of LOVEthatBAG. There was quite a list, which can be found on our website.
CF: What was the greatest challenge you ran into putting something on such a large scale together?
LL: It was probably to structure our team so that everyone works on something he/she is best at because we do have a different committee this year.
CF: What is your own personal fashion style like?
LL: I’m very laid back and comfortable. Depending on the occasion, I like to dress a little girly but not super dressy.
Learn more: For more information about the event and the planning committee, check out Fashion Business Uncover’s website.
