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Ian Schatzberg
Founder at General Idea
Ian Schatzberg is a media professional with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Media Studies from Washington University in St. Louis.
He has an extensive background in founding and being associated with various organizations in the media industry.
His past roles include being an Investor / Board Member at Boy Smells, Co-Founder at SPA | Special Production Agency, Co-Founder at Reference, Founder at GENERAL IDEA, Co-Founder & President at Wednesday, Co-Founder at Nowmanifest, and Business Associate at CREATETHE GROUP.
Highlights
Proud to see Wayne Boich and his team at the forefront of sport, lifestyle and luxury. It was a privilege to design and develop Reserve with this group of athletes.
Why do brands need fashion week when we have the Super Bowl?
This year New York Fashion Week collided with the Super Bowl, creating a live case study on cultural influence and illuminating a shift in fashion that has been underway for the past decade. Fashion week has long since ceased to serve its original function of showcasing collections to buyers and editors. It has evolved into a content creation vehicle packed with celebrities, influencers and real life spectacles that compete to create viral moments for brands. Every so often we are treated to a moment of real drama. But most of the time we are wading the same standard catwalk content we have seen many times before.
The Super Bowl on the other hand, was a true carnival of entertainment.
The player walk-ins gave us fashion with an added sense of drama as the players entered the arena in custom outfits from Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren and AMIRI that wouldn’t have been out of place on the runway but were far more exciting in this gladiatorial setting. Off-White got more attention for dressing Usher for his half time performance than they could ever hope for from a fashion show. The players wives have become fashion icons in their own right thanks to the media frenzy around Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
And the Super Bowl won the ultimate test of cultural influence - where were all the famous people? Those whose careers depend on their preternatural ability to sense where the most aspirational place to be is did not spend the weekend front row in New York as Fashion Week kicked off. On that Friday they could be found at Roc Nation Sports’ Super Bowl Party where Jay-Z hosted Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Brady, and on Saturday everyone from Ice Spice to Justin Bieber to a full complement of Kardashians were at Michael Rubin’s Super Bowl Party.
If fashion is entertainment, the most astute brands know that means connecting to broader cultural moments that come with emotion already built in.
