Don’t miss out on the chance to hear about life inside the fashion world when Brittany Hampton visits Dubai Mall on October 29 and 30.
Hampton, the winner of the first season of fashion reality show House of DVF, is in Dubai this weekend to meet fashion lovers at the third annual Vogue Dubai Fashion Experience.
Hampton won the show in 2014 to become the first brand ambassador for the New York-based Diane von Furstenberg label; since then she’s travelled the world to showcase the strong-female-focused fashions first created by von Furstenberg 40 years ago.
But she’s not simply the “face” of the brand, Hampton told tabloid! at the Armani hotel in Burj Khalifa on Thursday. Wearing a resort-collection twist on the famous DVF wrap dress — with an a-line georgette skirt with pockets — she revealed that she travels the US not only bringing attention to DVF, but also training staff in stores on how to advise customers.
“I am an actual employee of the company,” says Hampton, who spent Wednesday at Bloomingdale’s - Dubai training DVF staff there. “I eat, sleep, breathe DVF. I think that’s what [von Furstenberg] wanted, a girl who was able to be in the family, but actually work. I actually get my hands dirty.”
Hampton will be meeting fans at Bloomingdale’s - Dubai atrium, The Dubai Mall, on October 29 and 30 from 5-7pm at the OSN E! lounge, where there will be makeovers, manicures and photo opportunities, as well as a Q&A session. Ahead of her appearance, we learned more about her life at DVF, working with von Furstenberg and her tip for the winner of the second season of House of DVF.
Q. You won House of DVF. What do you do now?
A. One of the things Diane wanted to do as global brand ambassador wasn’t just to bring a face onto the brand, unlike any other global fashion brand who bring a model instead of a young woman that loves and adores and wants to be in fashion. What she tends to do is drop me off in different departments of the company. I’ve worked a lot with the marketing and PR team and the social media department. We also do photo shoots at least three times a month. I also go into each and every store in the states and Los Angeles area and we do training with the different retail teams on the collection we’ve just done and the shipments they are about to get.
Q. How would you describe the brand?
A. She’s been around since the 1970s. In 2015, it means youth, the new age of the company, her not only as a brand and as a woman but as a legacy. She has so much going on. We’re continuing the legacy.
Q. How often do you interact with Diane?
A. All the time... she is like another mother to me. I mean that on a very personal level. If you’ve ever read Diane’s book, The Woman I Wanted To Be, she goes deep within herself to talk about beauty, self-esteem, confidence, to talk about what it’s like to grow up in your 20s. To be that age, being 26, I need the most advice possible! I constantly talk to her about my boyfriend, my friends, issues with my mum. Even if it’s a text that says ‘Brittany, I love you’, it’s so powerful. I talk to her very frequently.
Q. Why do you think you won House of DVF?
A. To be honest, I don’t know. The girls I was on the show with are amazing girls. The only thing that may have gotten me further than the rest of them maybe was my faith. I was blood bred into this industry and I think this was the Lord saying to me, ‘this is your time. You need to be under a woman like Diane to understand what it is to be the next her, the next Diane, the next fashion mogul’.
Q. Do you aspire to be an entrepreneur like Diane?
A. Yes, definitely. Ideally a fashion designer, that is why I did start to build my own brand. That’s been the toughest road. I went to school for design but then I was a junior booker at Ford modelling agency, and then I was a stylist at Nickelodeon. But I still sewed, still sketched, but I was always afraid to start my own brand. As you know, these young designers struggle. And I am very scared of struggle — I will say that. That’s my only fear in life. But then i realised, these are just designs. Just do it.
Q. Who would you put your money on in season two?
A. You’re on about episode three. The girls are different than we were — they are a lot older, more confident, more open to speaking up about what it is that they love. I think my personal favourite is Leigh [Fidler], the youngest of the girls. I think she has a lot to offer and her fashion sense is divine. She wears DVF with confidence, trusts herself and is willing to learn. I tell the girls all the time, you have to have strong skin and be able to take criticism, take advice and learn from it.
