Storytelling is essential in fashion.

In an interview for Intermoda, Luis Enrique Bolívar, a fashion communications specialist, talks about the importance of finding narratives within the industry.

Communication, marketing, branding, social media and other topics are vital for fashion. The sector, in constant movement and adding both new consumers and brands, requires key strategies to connect with potential buyers. To find out more, we approached this renowned professional:

Based on your experience in the fashion industry, how important is communication around a product or service within the sector?

"Communicational relevance is given by the fact that the business needs its market segment to know about the existence of the goods or services it offers. It is also essential to achieve the desired brand positioning, inform about innovative elements, its competitive advantage, important changes in any field, among other aspects."

Specialized marketing establishes the concept of storytelling. What do you think would be the main strategies that a fashion brand should apply to achieve this?

"You must be very clear about your identity and make sure that it is communicated effectively. Based on your philosophy, you must generate narrative lines - mainly visual ones - aligned with this and with the business objectives at specific times. It is essential to achieve an emotional and also rational connection with the consumer that results in loyalty to the brand."

In a fashion production that includes everything from a specialized photographer to the timely selection of a model and the participation of a fashion stylist, among other talents, what is your main challenge and desirable achievement?

"The essential challenge is to achieve communication that achieves an emotional connection with the audience, at the same time, aligned with consumption and/or the aspiration to improve life that the product, service and brand can provide. I could also mention that it must be taken into account that fashion is so specific that its marketing has its own rules, which do not apply in the same way to consumer goods from other industries."

Brands today are betting on increasingly digital communication. From the point of view of fashion communication, what advice would you give to established designers, entrepreneurs or businessmen who want to start distributing content on social networks or digital platforms?

"My main suggestion is to try to understand the ephemeral nature of messages on social media in order to establish strategies that allow them to transcend and achieve a wide reach within their target, as well as how they work. On the other hand, it is necessary to understand them from the perspective of the social psychology of the century and, above all, to be extremely reflective with respect to the influence that the messages we spread through fashion can have."

In addition to your professional career in the fields of branding, communication and advertising, academia has also been part of your career. Is there a new way of communicating fashion to the new generations?

"Of course! The new generations live, feel, suffer, "understand" and propose everything from an angle that, although not completely opposite, is considerably different. For us, it is essential to have an approach with these young people and try to understand their vision so as not to be left behind and try to reestablish lost values. But believe me, through questioning, they challenge you and push you to have a constant reflective exercise on the values ​​and anti-values ​​with which we, the older ones, grew up."

Finally, Intermoda 81 is approaching. What has this platform meant to you?

"Intermoda, as a space with a long history in the areas of production that surround our environment in this city and in this country, represents a source of information of great importance on the events of fashion. It is a stage where everyone, from their area, can find data and tools of great use for the exercise of their functions, as well as for the development of a real industry in this wonderful nation."