#mickeydrexler

英雄不怕出生低，就著“出生低”來說，是造就時代英雄背後一個其中原因。而這位英雄全美上下給他的美譽響噹噹－“The man who dressed America”，’The merchant prince of retail.’ 他的設計，美國人愛到卡慘死，每件基本款衣服都能鮮活的適合所有美國人，沒有美國人不喜歡他的設計用色及創新，就算沒聽過他大名的，衣櫃裏也至少有一件他的衣服，他的服飾更是隨手抓、隨便配都完美。

J.Crew，Crew Cuts 和Madewell 的CEO及幕後推手 Millard (大家稱他為’Mickey’ ) Drexler 出生於紐約的Bronx，Brooklyn，在他那年代，Brooklyn不太適合居住，那裏和紐約市中心的環境相差十萬八千里。Mickey的父親是作長袍的，母親是秘書，他從來沒想過會和時尚沾上邊。雖然身為家中的獨子，他父親從不物質方面滿足他，他給他的是一個觀念 — “如果有想要的東西，就要自己賺錢買，因為那是「你」想要的。”他現在可以過著他想要的生活，是他的生長背景幫助了他。

波士頓大學畢業後在Bloomingdale和Macy's工作了12年，這雖然不是他心所愛的地方，但造就了他今天這個人。之後在GAP接手後，品牌在他的手上大翻轉，而現在紅遍美國大街小巷的J.Crew，在他的經營下，也有了自己品牌的個性和味道，經典大方，配色大膽且合適，美國第一夫人Michelle Obama是其品牌最佳代言人。

他不怕作對的事，當世界經濟局勢往下掉，他對品質的堅持仍然猶如當初，不許一分質量像經濟一樣下滑。他說:「如果這是很好的材質，大眾都在問為什麼現在不賣了?我們怎麼能因為原物料成本上帳，而用低品質的布料取代顧客心中的高品質?」他不欣賞人們不再要求對高品質事物的講究，許多東西好像因著大局勢而妥協: 為了應付今日居住量增加的需求，便宜又醜陋的建築林立在曼哈頓; 為降低成本，而使用便宜布料又作不出型的牛仔褲…等，他不希望在他的品牌裏看到這些現象。

2015年他的品牌和Valentino齊名，獲得CFDA Fashion Awards的肯定，他獨特的眼光甚至也讓他成為Apple公司的設計執行長。他不盲從當今潮流，不管現在流行的是波西米亞或破牛仔褲，他說他的品牌沒有跟上潮流就沒跟上，不需要為賺錢，而跟風這些稍蹤即失的流行，世界的趨勢一直據烈在變動，他其下的品牌和設計的理念在於尊重有價值的顧客，而創造出歷久彌新，韻味陳香的經典。

許多在其公司的員工，說Mickey Drexler的心都在顧客上，他甚至在J.Crew網站上傳了他寫給顧客的一封信，留下他的個人email，歡迎所有人與他聯絡。他不喜歡坐在辦公室裏大小聲指揮公司上下，他喜歡走到門市和客人店員寒喧問暖，他喜歡去義大利親自選布料、匹布料，他喜歡在辦公室裏騎腳踏車爭取時間處理事務，他關心他team裏面的員工，公喪喜慶他都要慰問參與…這就是Mickey Drexler。

曾經在一次演講裏，一位MBA學生問他，在他的工作裏他是怎麼作到如此的得心應手? 他回答他從不覺得得心應手，他每天帶著恐懼，小心翼翼的經營事業，他說，當你開始覺得你的工作很容易又輕鬆舒服的時候，也是你的事業開始下滑的時候，你永遠需要認真且帶著些許的壓力往前。

Mickey Drexler一手打造出美國穿衣文化，就像他自創品牌的名字一樣，he is such a person who is “Madewell“ for this business.

Steve Job's yacht, Venus, was christened in Netherlands on Sunday, while the next morning in Cupertino, California, Apple announced a shakeup in senior management. All this press reminded me the close relationship between Drexler and Jobs. Drexler began serving on Apple's board of directors in 1999, Jobs joined the board of GAP shortly after. Growing up in San Francisco, they were heroes who became legends. I'll return at some point to discuss their kindred spirits, but for now I'll highlight two Drexler quotations from a CNBC article:

"YOU WANT TO CONTROL YOUR DISTRIBUTION. IT WAS ACTUALLY MY CAREER LESSON." 

First was in October 21, 2011 during a Financial Times lunch with Vanessa Friedman at Pulino's, a pizzeria on the busy intersection of Houston & Bowery in New York City. He correctly predicts the shop's best seller as the classic Margherita and goes on to note that the most popular cookies are always chocolate chip, then raisin oatmeal. For ice creams, chocolate and vanilla are perennial best sellers. Questioning the waiter, his predictions are confirmed.

Drexler's first point in euphemizing fashion to food was to describe how diners and shoppers both expect consistency and familiarity in selection, but the retail / food analogy goes further. Not only do 'specials' represent the more experimental and seasonal items, but hospitality and service play a crucial part in both industries. In another interview more recently with philly.com, Drexler explains that "he uses a lot of food metaphors and compares J.Crew to a fine restaurant or hotel more than he does other retailers." 

All of this makes plenty of sense and aren't particularly groundbreaking insights, but where things get interesting is discussing all of this tangentially to the ideas presented by William Deresiewicz in his opinion piece for the New York Times titled A Matter of Taste? "Foodism has taken on the sociological characteristics of what used to be known...as culture." It requires a "sensual responsiveness...the basis of artistic sensibility."  I'm going to paraphrase a lot here: Deresiewicz argues that despite requiring knowledge and connoisseurship and encouraging its disciples to distinguish subtle differences and make fine judgements, food is not art. Although meals can evoke emotions, the range and depth of these feelings are limited. 

We hear so often that fashion can be, no is a form of art. It is narrative and referential, and at its highest echelons gives us insight to others and allow us to reappraise the world and ourselves. So trying to tie this all together, another topic frequently mentioned in Drexler interviews is the idea of homogenization in tastes and ideas. Although vocally anti-elitist, Drexler's fashion career dances the line between the elitism of cultured taste with plebeian accessibility. Does the American public's relationship to fashion inhabit an area between that of food and art?