Who walks into Barney’s in New York with a couple suit cases of clothes, and by the end of the meeting, has sold their previously non existent line to one of the largest department stores in the world? Johanna Ho, that’s who.
I interviewed Johanna and Yvonne Ro yesterday. Both are collaborating on a limited edition bag line called RO:JO, and Yvonne has her own line called RO—which produces some really nice looking men’s bags.
But I digress. Both are very talented and successful individuals, but it was Johanna’s story that blew me away.
Straight after graduating from St Martins in London—one of the most prestigious and exclusive design schools on the globe, Stella McCartney was her classmate—Johanna got on a plane with her clothes and flew to New York. I assumed she had connections in the industry, people who were passing her contacts—turns out her only contact was the phone book.
“I got into New York and started cold calling clients,” she smiled. “My contact was the Yellow Pages.”
By the time her meetings were finished, she had sold her entire clothing line to Barney’s. Not bad for a just out of school kid with nothing but her dreams in her bags.
“I’m a dreamer,” she said. “Looking back it was a crazy thing to do. But I had been so focused and I wanted this so badly. I just went for it.”
She certainly did. Within a year, Johanna’s line was up in one of the world’s largest department stores, and she would have stores open in Japan.
It’s got to be pretty rare for someone to succeed so quickly in fashion design.
On an aside, Johanna told me that while she was in school, the classmates would often model for each other. Johanna was Stella McCartney’s choice.
Way to go Johanna, barely out of school and she sells her clothing line. Not even a model; and she models with more fashionably prestigious clients than I would work for in a decade of modeling.
Professional beat down complete.
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