Sergio Hudson Creative Director Sergio Hudson joins Yahoo Finance Live to talk about navigating the pandemic as a luxury fashion designer and why he wanted to bring bright colors and joy to this year’s New York Fashion Week.
Video Transcript
– All right. Well, since we are in the midst of New York Fashion Week, designers watching their creations hit the stage, hit the runway for all to see. Our next guest is one of those designers with the big show this past Saturday filled with lots of bright color. Sergio Hudson, creative director of Sergio Hudson Collections, is with us now in studio. You brought the bright colors to us. We love it. Sergio, congratulations on your most recent show. Just set the scene for us just in terms of this year’s Fashion Week and how it’s compared to what you’ve seen in the past.
SERGIO HUDSON: I think this year with a looming recession everyone was very conscious of that. And I think what we came to realize is I wanted to change the tone of what was happening. Like, OK, you’re thinking so dark and gloomy. Let me give you something really bright to look at. And we always go through recessions. But we always come out of them. So I feel like I just wanted to give people some kind of joy as opposed to giving them what they’re feeling.
– Thank you. We like that. We need a little brightness. How do you think, if at all, the COVID pandemic changed fashion? I know a lot of us just wanted to be comfortable in COVID. And a lot of the men at least have maintained that priority out of it. Have you noticed a shift in fashion?
SERGIO HUDSON: I think it’s very interesting. If you look at the first part of the pandemic, a lot of us designers had to make a shift. A lot of us started making masks and pajamas and shifting into home, which I did in the beginning. And then there was the shift like, OK, people were like, OK, I’m ready to put clothes back on again. And if you check the main store, a lot of them had their best years on records in 2020 and 2021.
So it was like the shift. And people ran back to fashion. And they really wanted to spend a lot of that money that they had been saving in the beginning. So people had the money. And they’re like, OK, I’m ready to shop again. And now we’re looking at probably the reverse of that. But I think it was very interesting the ups and downs of luxury fashion during the pandemic. A lot of brands saw their– my brand really took off during the pandemic. But, of course, that was attributed to us dressing First Lady Michelle Obama during inauguration. But that’s when my business really became profitable.
– That certainly does help. So you’ve dressed Michelle Obama. You’ve also dressed the likes of Beyonce as well. When you talk about dressing those types of big names, where do you draw that inspiration, but then also have it be a brand that so many people can relate to at the same time?
SERGIO HUDSON: I think when I’m dressing those women– look, at the end of the they’re are real women that want to look beautiful. And that’s who I cater to. And they are drawn to me because of the clothes that I put out there. So a lot of times when I dress these women, it’s just something that I would normally design. Take the First Lady Michelle Obama’s outfit. It was directly from my collection that I had shown the year previous. So it’s kind of just like if they’re drawn to you, they’ll wear your clothes because they’re women at the end of the day. And I think that’s what people have to remember. If a woman likes the clothes, she’s going to wear them, whoever they may be.
– And to that point, how do you design for Michelle Obama and Beyonce and then have a line at Target, obviously a very different demographic and perception?
SERGIO HUDSON: Well, I mean, the thing about the Target collaboration– we worked very closely with them to come up with something because, at the end of the day, I’m a luxury brand. I can’t reach everyone. And there are people out there that will never be able to afford my clothing. But they supported me from the very beginning. But they can shop at Target and they can have afford their price point. So it’s really a gift that Target gave me to be able to reach those people because, at the end of the day, when you’re a luxury brand, it’s a lot easier to reach those customers than it is to reach the masses because it takes a lot more money to own a Target than to own a brand like mine.
– And what was it like working with Target to create this line? And do you have plans to maybe expand that line in the future?
SERGIO HUDSON: Well, it was amazing working with them because their access is so great and vast. Any idea that I brought to them and they came back at me with their idea. It was just a great collaboration. But they could do anything. I was shocked at the quality of the work that they did and how fast they could get it out there. At this moment, it was just a collaboration. They do this every year. They pick certain designers. So I don’t know. I’m open to it in the future. But as of right now, it was just a one time thing.
– Sergio, you recently won an award at the Fifteen Percent Pledge Gala. What is the pledge? Why is it so important to you in your particular industry?
SERGIO HUDSON: I think the Fifteen Percent Pledge is important because during the pandemic, the founder, Aurora James, she came up with this idea that, OK, we as Black people in America, we make up 15% of the population, but we take up I think it was like less than 2% of the shelf space in the stores. We should at least have 15% of the shelf space. It was kind of like a duh moment.
– Seems common sense.
SERGIO HUDSON: It’s like, OK, that’s cool. We take up this amount of population. But you would not believe the amount of kickbacks she got for just saying it and asking people to pledge to it. But she’s done an amazing job of getting it out there. And the award was they have come up with this way to give grants to brands because we are self-funded. I dress all of these people. And people assume that we have some big juggernaut behind us. But it’s really us. So it’s just a grant to help us keep going.
– And Sergio, real quick before we let you go, we know the fashion industry obviously so competitive. If you could give one word of advice for those out there that are trying to break into the fashion industry or start their own line, what would you tell them?
SERGIO HUDSON: Be true to yourself and believe in yourself because if you don’t know, nobody else will, for sure.
– Good tip. Sergio Hudson, appreciate you being here.
SERGIO HUDSON: Thank you for having me.
– Thanks so much. Want to mention Yahoo is an official sponsor of New York Fashion Week.
