business assignment

Alexander McQueen

September 26, 2017

Page 3

Jenna Brown

Brownberry and Co

6205 Market Street

San Francisco, CA 94132

September 26, 2017

Alexander McQueen

Founder

Alexander McQueen

London, United Kingdom

Dear Alexander McQueen :

It is with great pleasure that I write this after admiring your latest line on Vogue; much of the praise you received is well deserved. As London Fashion Week comes to an end, it is exciting to conceptualize potentially what next year’s theme might be. The proud Alexander McQueen brand treasures in being fashionably unconventional. I propose that a joint collection merging my Brownberry designer line, to your next show, will ultimately highlight, inspire, and redefine London as a highly notable epicenter of cultural fashion.

Due to the striking undertakings of natural disaster worldwide, an initiative for fashion that promotes environmental sustainability is of the highest necessity. I’ve conducted much research on the impact of socially conscious consumerism and as a result, have concluded that business catered to the safe practices of environmentally friendly processes in factory work reach greater profitability and brand loyalty. Still, it is important that we mold and hold true to the individualistic brevity of the United Kingdom. The people ultimately want something that balances both sophistication and eccentricity and uniqueness.

I invite you, Alexander, to afternoon tea to openly brainstorm and discuss ideas as to how we can bring about new, innovative, and striking fashion to prepare for next year’s London Fashion Week. With both our passions for innovation, I look forward to what ideas may come into fruition.

Sincerely,

Jenna Brown

Head Designer of Brownberry and Co

Reflection

In the research I conducted, I found that London is highly ambiguous in the business setting. When introducing yourself as someone new, it is important to be both polite and direct. In building relationships, its also important to connect with people on a very surface level. Because of this, I opened my letter with a compliment, and directly lead into London Fashion Week-something we could both take particular interest in. This was to both satisfy politeness that wasn’t too forceful and yet didn’t linger for too long-getting to the point is important in the London culture though it is rude to come off as rushed. Additionally, I reiterated and acknowledged the pride and that people form London have. I spoke of praise as the culture suggests that they do not openly discuss criticism of any sort—this makes conducting business difficult as they are often hard to read. They like to keep things private and what is personal at home. In London, as a people, they regard themselves as well-mannered and so I maintained a relatively professional tone throughout. It is important to not make oneself too comfortable and divulge too much. Also, though their power distance is relatively low, they still hold a class-consciousness about them. Because of this, I noted that the designer brand holds much prestige (this also underlies the high individualistic rating as well in which London culture is very much grounded in being the best and self-motivating and achieving and distinct). With a low uncertainty avoidance, I used words such as “potentially,” “might be,” “ideas,” and “may” to leave possibilities open. They enjoy not having hard set schedules/plans and I wanted to take note that this potential venture would be more explorative.

Bibliography

1. “Geert Hofstede.” The Hofstede Centre, geert-hofstede.com/united-kingdom.html.

2. Grotts, Lisa Mirza. “Doing Business in the United Kingdom: Cross-Cultural Etiquette.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 1 Mar. 2014, www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-mirza-grotts/doing-business-in-the-uni_b_4881472.html.

3. “The UK.” Business Culture, businessculture.org/northern-europe/uk-business-culture/.