Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathryn Marino.
Hi Kathryn, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Originally I was an analyst in the media industry, I had worked all facets of television, radio, newspaper and magazine before the world of Instagram and social media at large. Predictive analytics was all I did -negotiating syndicated buys, forecasting projections on advertisers and predicting the likelihood of consumer purchases by brand all based on market research myself and my team did. Little did I know that this was somehow going to segue me into the fashion world, I was a research nerd with stories to tell and proposals to build at the speed of light: media I knew was a fast-paced industry. This habitual nature of action performing under short-duration deadlines was just part of the job.
One day I became a stay-at-home mom bored of Elmo, diapers and baby talk, I realized my past work had made me one of the most impatient people for time… I didn’t want to sit around for too long I wanted to be active and stay active – the fast-paced environment, I realized was part of my nature now, and slowing down was the last thing I could do. So I took a tennis job as a Membership director for one of our local tennis clubs to get free daycare and to have adult conversations, lol and then I was offered a job to bring sponsors for the United States Tennis Association (USTA) .. that moment changed everything. In as little as 6 weeks, I was working with Southwest Airlines, Mercedes Benz and ultimately became an overnight publicist and sponsorship agency. I thought everyone performed this way. Apparently, they didn’t not under short duration. I was told it took most people 6-8 months to build and do what I do for events. So began a consulting firm to help finance events, and that became my niche. Ultimately, for approximately seven years I worked in the luxury automotive industry from classic cars to exotics and muscle cars I kept getting referred to the industry.
One day I was approached by American Express Travel, they gave me an office and a fax machine and said here, why don’t you work in our office, I was like cool but why??? lol… “cause your bringing us all these clients” is what they said. America Express Travel then followed me to New York while I saved a small accounting firm that specialized in providing services for filmmakers. They were struggling to get attendance and had three weeks left to their show, I realized I had this thing for flipping flops as the word-of-mouth of clients steadily grew. Then I was approached by Harper’s Bazaar and Orangewood Children’s Charity to host a handbag event for Donna Karan at South Coast Plaza, I was baffled and flattered at the same time. It would be the beginning of my world in fashion. When the market crashed, I built my agency to service only Aston Martin vehicle owners as an incentive agency as Aston Martin Elite, it was one of the most dynamic times of my life, I loved it and even designed a racing tour itinerary for North America Aston Martin titled ‘The Dynamic Drive’; it took three years for it to get approved and I was through the roof. Little did I know that the following year, I would be producing @ocfashionweek.
When the tour ended, I was approached by the Italian American Opera Festival in Viterbo Italy to work with them on their event at Soka for Blvgari and was flown to Italy to work out of this incredible castle I get goosebumps thinking about it to this day. I was in heaven. I had the opportunity to work with Maestro and an incredible team to bring Italian Opera music to Orange County. And we did. On my way back, I was contacted by two gentlemen, who were the founders of OC Fashion Week®, they had started it when they were in college but were struggling to finance the show. When I came on board, I learned they needed legal help and a new website, and help to create new staff; there was a myriad of challenges that dissuaded me originally from coming on board, but something happened… I received a call from an Aston Martin vehicle owner; she drove the red vanquish at our Dynamic Drive, this was right around the same time when we had down to three weeks to save the event, it was the producer of American’s Next Top Model, and she asked.. do you need models? I was like, ‘hell ya’ lol .. that was the first sign… I got out of many to rebuild ocfashionweek.com… what was the likelihood she would be on the track day.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Re-Building OC Fashion Week® was a process to start a foundation and structure, for me this meant also determining different target audiences for different brands. At the beginning, we developed microbrands to highlight categories such as Hautech: The World of Digital Fashion in 2014 was held at Vespa Newport Beach, we featured Dainese for their savvy leather moto jackets and use of digital technology to develop their collections and held one of our first panels at the Lyon Air Museum featuring the then CEO of Buy.com Neel Grover alongside other Hautech constituents. This year, Katie Chonacas re-invigorates the technology space by curating and presenting a panelists of NFT, Web3 and Metaverse constituents as guest speakers on the return of Hautech: now as the World of Fashion Technology. We also launched Sugar Rush to highlight both bikini and jeweler which ultimately became OC Swim Week®.
It wasn’t easy building a luxury brand in a market with an insatiable taste for luxury. However, I knew that there were things I knew that not the average event planner knew, I have to credit my work in market research for knowing and understanding that Orange County was no ordinary suburbia, it was statistically recognized by the OC Register and through our own market research of statistical spend as Southern California’s Wealthiest Market. In fact, Orange County super-ceded most fashion capitals in retail spend on the indices.. however.. no one was really talking about it. So I was perplexed why the story wasn’t out. As I was prospecting sponsors at the beginning I was wondering why was more difficult and why did it require more backflips to get consideration. So I did further research, and in 2013 I called up Vogue to ask them .. “How are you ranking fashion capitals?” There was an executive at the time I spoke with who said, “Kathy, you couldn’t possibly think that Orange County is a fashion capital, do you? Listen, I enjoy a spirited debate.. but Paris, NY, London those are fashion capitals.” But then I asked her, “in terms of spend? I’ve done dozens of rank reports, in fact that’s all I did was rank reports based on spend — on consumer expenditures, isn’t that how fashion capitals ranked – by spend??” and then there was this awkward silence with a response about ‘cultural influence, heritage and history and this blend of popularity…
Intrigued, the nerd side of me wanted to get the story because that is what I was good finding the research story that revealed the numbers, the statistics.. getting to the heart of what the consumer was missing… to reveal the target audience and which brands would vy for them. .. so I did what any research analyst would do, is find their source. What I discovered at that time was Vogue was sourcing “The Global Language Monitor” for the results of their Fashion Capital Ranking – they were technically not a market research firm. What they explained to me over the phone was the Global Language Monitor was a Search Engine Optimization company specializing in ranking the fashion capital reports based on SEO not on retail spend. Hmm, I thought that was an Intriguing approach. (Today, ironically, predictive analytics are built into our media and used daily to affirm consumer spend. We live in a digitally and statistically transparent world where sales are required to be and stay in business with the right target audience.)
So that challenge was, how do we convey to Fashion Designers that despite the size of the Orange County market: not a city, not a state and definitely not the size of a country, that Orange County had the spend of a fashion capital. So that began my first challenge… to get the story out, all the while building a production with little resources and financial backing. We had to have market clout to be discovered, while other fashion shows laughed because we didn’t have 1,000 people in the audience. However, I recognized we had a buyer’s market and that our market wasn’t built on hype but spend, and our dynamic consumer audience are some of the world’s most coveted buyers so much so that we have become an incubator for brands to launch and prevail here, and then take their work nationwide.
Over time, as our show grew and our audiences expanded, consumers began shopping the designers, and funny some of our designers bought homes and alongside shopping for vehicles, watches and wedding gowns right off the runway. That’s when I realized the new challenge was getting these new emerging fashion designers to put prices on their gowns and ready-to-wear. The new challenge became are you ready-to-sell to Orange County?
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Kathryn Marino is the Executive Producer of Orange County Fashion Week® the luxury market of California a one world symposium for fashion designers, and master stylists with unique international supplier programs for business retail tourism. This 5-Star destination site highlights the OC luxury lifestyle and offers strategic digital and broadcast media campaigns, meetings, rewards, and event incentives that bolster business, community relations, and long-lasting international alliances.
OC FASHION WEEK® is a new addition to CFDA Connects and recognized as the California official Associate of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and is also an international delegate for the Trade Show Global Sources in Hong Kong. Marino Guest Starred in Bravo TV RHOC that aired in October 2019 for her contributions in the reality arts which resulted in the Bravo reality show receiving their highest rated and viewed show of the season/decade according to the NY Vulture.
Marino believes that successful corporate and civic partnerships must be equally beneficial to the venue, the sponsors and the community at large. Only then is an event a true success and our mission complete. OC Fashion Week® dedicated to supporting emerging designers worldwide, an advocate for diversity, inner beauty awareness and supporting leaders in retail whose business models are distinguished for making a world of difference.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Amidst many lessons learned, there is one thing about me after over 338 events according to Eventbrite, is that Orange County is a dynamic market, an incubator for the luxury brands and for brands to win that we couldn’t exclude the consumer market because they are just as viable as an employed corporate retail buyer at a department store. Part of their consumer spend represented approx $42.5billion according to the U.S. Census. When I compared our numbers pre-pandemic, London was projecting $40 billion in the next five years… I realized we are already there. So why isn’t anyone acknowledging this… So I ask, in this day and age what is a fashion capital? Is it primarily a cultural index and historical tributes or can it be based on consumer spend? At the end of the day, doesn’t it come down to the bottom line to be in business for fashion.
“I spoke with the Vice President of Global Logistics for DHL and shared my numbers with him, and he said ‘that sounds about right cause we do show in e-commerce inbound shipping Orange County is #1 is luxury apparel and beauty cosmetics in the United States.” This would also go alongside other #1’s as South Coast Plaza leading international shopping destination in the U.S., Jimmy Choos located in SCP also #1, Sephora SCP also #1 and then of course, Aston Martin Newport Beach, who is the official car of the Catwalk here in Orange County, #1 Dealer in the World. That sure is a lot of #1’s to ignore… statistically speaking.
I guess if I were to say there were lessons learned, it’s truly the same story as usual: if fashion is a language, style is what we speak – discover the world you’ve been missing, discover Orange County, and speak your truth, because at the end of the day – it’s all in the numbers.
Contact Info:
- Website: ocfashionweek.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/ocfashionweek
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/ocfashionweek.tm
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ocfashionweek
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/ocfashionweek
Image Credits
Photo by Mirriam Serrano at Kathryn Marino owner and operator @ocfashionweek at Noguchi Gardens
