Appointment: Stephanie Phair Made New Chair of British Fashion Council

The role will be formalised at the 5th July 2018 Board meeting with key meetings commencing as early as June. The tenure is for an initial three years, with the option to renew. Stephanie is the Chief Strategy Officer for Farfetch, the global tech platform for the luxury fashion industry, a position she has held since November 2016 and will remain in.

The role of Chair will focus on Governance, ensuring the organisation is able to lead the sector in a changing industry and economic environment; supporting the CEO in the delivery of the organisation’s strategy focusing on five strategic pillars: Reputation, Investment, Business, Digital & Innovation and Education; developing relationships with sponsors and industry patrons and building the profile of British fashion globally.

Stephanie is a digital fashion veteran, first starting in e-commerce thirteen years ago with Portero, the first pre-owned luxury marketplace. Following this, she moved to London where she joined NET-A-PORTER as President of The Outnet.com which she launched in 2009; she also sat on the Executive Board of the NET-A-PORTER Group from 2009-2015. Her career began in NYC with roles in communications, marketing and business development at Siren PR, Issey Miyake and American Vogue where she worked on initiatives such as the launch of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion fund and the annual Metropolitan Costume Institute Gala.

Stephanie Phair commented: “I am honoured and delighted to take on the role of Chairman. The British Fashion Council is in a strong position following the incredible work of Dame Natalie Massenet, Caroline Rush and the team, and my role will be to build on this and help drive continued innovation and new thinking in this fast paced, changing industry. I look forward to working with the team at the BFC to engage with and support all the talented designers and teams working for British fashion today.”

The British Fashion Council is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes the designer fashion sector to a global industry, supporting creative talent and businesses from education and start-up through their different phases of growth. Its core events include London Fashion Week, London Fashion Week Men’s and The Fashion Awards. Its broad base of stakeholders includes retail, publishing, design, modelling agencies, creative services, financial institutions, professional services, high-end manufacturing and government.

Dame Natalie Massenet stepped down as Chairman in December 2017, following a successful five-year term in which she led the organisation to focus its activities through strategic pillars, engage in digital innovation and focus on building the global profile for British fashion. 

Odgers Berndtson were appointed by the organisation in December 2017 to undertake a robust search for Chair, gaining insight from industry to support the next phase of the organisation’s development. Anya Hindmarch and David Pemsel, Non-Executive Board Directors, British Fashion Council led the search with Odgers Berndtson with input and consultation from Dylan Jones, Menswear Chairman and Non-Executive Director British Fashion Council and Caroline Rush, Chief Executive British Fashion Council.

Caroline Rush, Chief Executive British Fashion Council said: “On behalf of the Board of the British Fashion Council, I welcome the appointment of Stephanie Phair as our incoming Chair and we all look forward to working with her on strengthening the opportunities for British fashion talent and businesses over the next few years. Her appointment was driven by her reputation as a strategic thinker, a broad view of the sector, and her propensity to challenge the norms to create new opportunities for growth.”