The Evolution of Ramy

Your brand is all about a really confident, sexy attitude. Does that translate into your own wardrobe as well? Yeah, absolutely! Everything I put on my body really needs to make me feel good about myself. Feeling sexy, for me, makes me feel good, and everything I put on my body has that feel. You released a second campaign with Martha Hunt and Sebastian Faena. What was it like working with them again? We always planned to work with them for two seasons, one in the fall and one in the spring. I love working with both of them. Martha is stunning and beautiful,

and so great to work with. We’ve become friends— I really like her as a person. The fall and holiday campaign is spectacular, and she’s amazing in it. Sebastian’s incredibly talented, and he could shoot anybody, anywhere. We have a nice dynamic, the three of us. Why were you finally ready to do a national ad? I’ve been in business since 2010. It took a couple of years to get our footing and understand the market, how everything evolved, and business in general. It just seemed time to launch something bigger and national. Where are you hoping these campaigns will push your brand? I still want strong brand awareness. Through the campaign, I want people to associate the brand with women getting dressed to feel good about themselves. And if people go shopping and think, “I have a party, I need something during the day and it needs to take me into night,” I want them to think “Ramy Brook.”

How are you trying to combine the IRL experience with the online experience? I want it to be the same. I want people who shop on my website to feel the same experience when you go in my store. If you buy online, you can return in my store; if you go into my store and you saw something online that’s not available, we’ll ship it to you. So I want the customer to have a seamless experience, both online and in the store. The brick-and-mortar will definitely follow the lead of our online presence as well. How has social media changed your brand? Social media, and working with social media influencers, is important for us. Brand awareness, working with all different types of age groups, models, and influencers…it’s become something that is really just part of our whole plan. It’s all part of our marketing experience. In 2010, I wouldn’t have even considered that part of our marketing budget—now, it’s a big part of it.

How do you choose influencers to work with? Some of them come to us. They really love the clothing, and they want to wear it and promote it. Others are [picked] by their followers: How many followers [they have], how well they’re known. We have more than 45 employees, so we speak to them often to see who they like, and who they’re following. How have your customers’ needs evolved since you first launched? The customer’s needs, I feel, are the same as my needs. They are active, they don’t have a lot of time, and they need to feel great in their clothing. They want to look good. I think the biggest change is that everyone is multitasking. It’s not just about wearing one outfit to one thing—you really have to think ahead. What I find with our customers is we’re growing up as a family. A lot of mothers and daughters wear the brand. The girl [who started shopping Ramy Brook] in her late twenties or early thirties is now a mother. So she dresses differently, but it’s still appropriate, and then, as the daughter grows up, she can wear the same clothing. Our brand is just constantly evolving. Do you ever see yourself starting any sort of offshoot brand? We talk about a secondary line, and it seems to totally make sense. I definitely see it happening somewhere down the line, but it’s not something that’s on the top of my mind. We’re also working on denim; I want to learn that market. When I started, it was all about a sexy top to go with my jeans. I want to learn how to do [denim], and I feel like I could do it in a novel, great way, and have a great fit. What was it like going into your first-ever trade show? Oh, my God, my first trade show, I had no idea what I was doing! I got a 10’-x-10’ booth, and I did it because one of my friends knew the owners of the trade show at the time. She said, “I’ll give you a good spot.” I’m like, great. I literally knew nothing. Everything has changed now. We’re more efficient, and operationally, we’re on point. It’s easy to take orders, to reorder, to show things. That’s what’s been fun about starting this business not too long ago—I’ve learned a lot! Do you ever see yourself holding a show during Fashion Week? Yeah, I would like to do that. I think for my first show, I would probably do a presentation. But I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Let’s discuss your Spring 2019 collection. What can we expect? It starts delivering in February, so it’s colors that are appropriate—that take you out of the cold weather and bring you into spring. So that’s exciting, and a little bit of a change from the past. As we go to March and April, the prints get bolder, the fabrics are slightly different, and we add a lot of bright colors. Who do you think most embodies your label? There are so many celebrities I could probably name, but the truth is, if I set up at a café in New York and I watch stylish women walk by, so many women embody this brand. These are women who are fashionable, they’re smart, they work, or they’re moms in the neighborhood. To me, that’s who embodies this brand. Any dream celeb models you’d love to work with? Well, I love Gisele [Bündchen]! She would be the ultimate to me. I love Gigi and Bella Hadid; I think they’re amazing. And I would also love Cindy [Crawford] and Kaia [Gerber] to do something together. I think that’s totally brandappropriate, and they would both look amazing.

Such a chic mother-daughter duo. Do you ever encourage your daughter to experiment with fashion? No, I like her to wear age-appropriate clothing. I wouldn’t say she’s a “little girl”—she’s 14. That’s an age between an older teenager and a younger teenager. But I definitely like her in age-appropriate clothing, and so does she. At least we’re on the same page! Does she approve of your style choices? I think she does, most of the time! Sometimes she’ll say something is too short, or a top is too low. But I think for the most part she really likes it.

BY ARIA DARCELLA