Bognár Alexandra Marketing

Illésy Lenke & Léber Barbara

Designers from the contemporary
Hungarian Fashion World

Hungarian Fashion Designers

 Bognár Alexandra Marketing 2

Introduction

This essay is going to explore the contemporary Hungarian fashion world. Hungary and
fashion? This is the first thing that can confuse people because it is not really a dominant thing.
It is a hard and risky job to become a fashion designer in Eastern Europe. Having looked at the
contemporary trend, the only chance or rather school is the Moholy Nagy Art School – MOME
or commonly mentioned as the Applied Art University. They both studied there, what
differentiates them is that Léber Barbara has been successful from the very first moment, while
Illésy Lenke is still not famous.

Léber Barbara

Léber Barbara is a good example for showing a path towards success. She finished her studies
at the Applied Art University in 1994, she moved to Spain by scholarship for additional
training in the fashion world. It was in 1999’s December when the Léber Barbara couture salon
was opened and during the first half year it already became a profitable company. This is an
extremely rare thing, most companies are in the red during their first year(s) since all the
invested money seems a loss. However, she was in doubt if it is a good advertisement or
marketing plan if she names the brand with her name - if she trusts herself that much to give
her own name to the business. Now it is clearly seen that it was a good decision. The first salon
was opened into the center of Budapest, on one of the most crowded roads within Budapest,
the Bajcsy-Zsilinszky road. It was a classical styled construction with an upper-class interior
design. Later the salon moved to Buda (close to Barbara’s home). It was only necessary
because she did not want to waste too much time on travelling and saving time is essential
when her family was actually growing at that time. Now it is situated in one of the most
luxurious villas on Széchényi-hill. The building itself represents the richness and elegance of
the couture world, moreover the space provided is perfect for both the fashion shows and the
personal planning, thus serving for the elite by giving intimacy. (www.leberbarbara.hu)

Hungarian Fashion Deisngers

 Bognár Alexandra Marketing 3

Her philosophy says that every woman has something that can be and even has to be
emphasized. Léber Barbara designs clothes for women who own eternal values, bravely
undertake their effeminacy in order to take on and show Barbara’s own virtues and
unmistakable style. She heavily avoids any potential dangers of ordinariness and vulgarism,
she rejected orders that would her fame and image of high standard, elegance or refinement.

How is it different? Léber Barbara is said to be the master of the designing & tailoring methods
of clothes which when worn seem as if it was poured onto the wearer – it forms the body so
that the result is fascinating - she feels like a goddess. Sometimes, even little nuances
differentiate these masterpieces from the ordinary good clothes, but this market difference
holds the system of proportions which is responsible for the perfect harmony of such a dress.

Photoshoot – Léber Barbara collection

Besides the design, the marketing orientation is responsible for how to sell the clothes. High-
standard photoshoots, exclusive fashion shows, her style is always in vogue.

Hungarian Fashion Deisngers

 Bognár Alexandra Marketing 4

Fashion Show – Planet First Event

What does she give us? She uses Italian, French, English and Portuguese silk, taffeta and lace
and by using only these materials the client is assured that nor the particular dress (nor its
lookalike) will meet her on the streets. Haute Couture clothes are uniquely designed pieces
which are all “un-repeatable”. If the client chooses from the actual collection than Barbara’s
colleges can easily check in their system to which event(s) will the other buyer wear the same
dress, thus they can avoide any inconvenience.
(www.leberbarbara.hu)

Léber Barbara, as a model for the elite class, emphasizes and upholds the importance of
charity. (It has always been a fashionable act among mostly Hollywood’s celebrities.) She is
the “outside” supporter of the Lions Club in Budapest, she offers her clothes for dressing up
the presenter of the Prima Primisima award, she sponsors the Hungarian participant of the Mrs.

Hungarian Fashion Deisngers

 Bognár Alexandra Marketing 5

Globe contest which helps on the disadvantaged status women and organizes the runway of
women who recovered from cancer together with the “Magyar Rákellenes Liga” and Roche
drug-factory.
(www.leberbarbara.hu)

From a marketing point of view, there are seemingly tiny tots which also tempts buyers. Such
an example is the VIP CLUB Card. This card can be claimed if somebody has already bought
anything from Léber Barbara. The card, (as any other VIP cards) give discounts for purchase,
design or other services provided by the company of Léber Barbara. Members of the VIP
CLUB receive gifts regularly. Moreover they are “accentuated” guests for the Léber Barbara
fashion shows or other events organized for/by her. Another example is the gift coupon. Those
who are in trouble what to buy for Christmas, Birthdays etc. can claim a coupon either
personally or by post, they are available in different denominations and are valid for a year.
(www.leberbarbara.hu)

In order to sell enough quantity from the fashion magazines, there are so-called fashion events
about which journalists can only make reports with the help of a photographer. Readers are not
interested in the actual party but the attending celebrities, the atmosphere, the brands, the
champagne is what attract people. Léber Barbara was nominated for Glamour’s Women of the
Year 2010 award which she did not win, but she was given the award of the most innovative
woman.
(http://www.bellacafe.hu)

There is such a thing as direct marketing. The best advertisement is to give the clothes to
celebrities. By this method, the marketing is embedded into the appearance of a particular
famous person and whenever she goes up to the stage, the audience can admire the dress.

Hungarian Fashion Deisngers

 Bognár Alexandra Marketing 6

Polyák Lilla wearing Léber Barbara on “Ketten” concert

Besides her, she was very much helped at the beginning by another celebrity, because Illényi
Katica (a quite famous Hungarian violinist) used to wear only Barbara’s clothes. Now, after 10
years passed Léber Barbara can be proud of being the only one Hungarian fashion designer
who even created something for Barack Obama’s relatives. Her prices are “comparable” to
designer brands’, a dress from her collection starts from 180.000 Ft, a Haute Couture dress is
from 250.000 Ft.

Illésy Lenke

The next designer is a perfect example of how a relatively talented artist with a really bad idea
and marketing plan can waste a lot of time for not being successful at the end. Illényi Lenke
who even had to teach drawing at a high school because she had financial problems (that is the
connection thanks to which I know her…) tried to design innovative maternity-clothes from
2006. Later, because it brought no fame to her she expanded her collection to kids, than to

Hungarian Fashion Deisngers

 Bognár Alexandra Marketing 7

women and finally to men, also. Now, having stated that all members of the family officially
can find something among her clothes it seems obvious that sooner or later she will sell the
whole collection. But this is not the actual case. Léber Barbara designs dresses for mostly
weddings and balls and she was able to reach even the distant target markets. So it was not at
all necessary for Lenke to expand her portfolio but rather to think over the marketing plan.
(www.ille-olla.hu)

The first mistake is its name – she named it Ille-Olla (from the first two letters of her name).
Well, apart from that she wanted to make unique clothes for the everyday life, it seems rather
shoddy or chintzy. Although people prefer short brand names (because that can be memorized
easily) this name rather makes fun of this term. Nobody would take this brand seriously as it
was the case.

Photoshoot of Illésy Lenke’s collection

Secondly, the photoshoot done was not a product of a good marketing plan. There were tries by
brands like Dove that showing not supermodels but ordinary women is a good choice but later
they had to realize that the campaign was rather pushy and horrifying. Having looked at the

Hungarian Fashion Deisngers

 Bognár Alexandra Marketing 8

photoshoots the first thing coming into the viewer’s mind is that these pictures can not be put
into a fashion magazine of high standard.

Instead of an advertising website, she thought that writing a blog (http://ille-olla.blogspot.com)

is beneficial because by a blog the buyers can understand her philosophy towards design. This
was a really bad induction, nobody is interested in the philosophy behind a dress just the dress
itself, its form, the material, the size and the price is what matters.

She does not have high prices for her clothes. In fact, she lowered the prices to nearly the
minimum. A normal skirt costs about 7.000 Ft, a T-Shirt’s price is not higher than 3-4.000 Ft.
Additionally, this means that even though she is cheap – nobody is interested.

As time passed she just hived the bad decisions except for one – she found a partner for the
new 2010/11 collection. Together with Esztány István (with whom she met at the Applied Art
University) they say that they can express their values better if they work together and
“complete” each other. (http://minok.hu/cimke/illessy-lenke)

Since they have been working together, they opened

another blog (http://esztille.blogspot.com), so their concept
about philosophy did not really change. They named this
brand Eszt-Ille (with the beginning of István’s name) –
seriously?! They got huge opportunities for jumping onto
the path towards fame – they could participate in the
Design week in Budapest in October 2010.
(http://designhet.hu/okt/5)

They could open their own store in the 5th district which
was also named “creatively” Esztille.

Hungarian Fashion Deisngers

 Bognár Alexandra Marketing 9

Finally, they ordered a webpage for the brand. (www.ille-olla.hu). This site is available also in
English which is a positive feature – it symbolizes that they would like to reach the whole
world, not just Hungary. Lenke, when interviewed has already mentioned that her aim is to
become famous in Western Europe. Besides that there are translational problems, in Hungarian
there is a menu called “Philosophy” which was translated into English as “About us” the site is
pretty much easy to use but not at all easy to read (the chosen font is illegible).

Conclusion

Whatever the future brings to Illésy Lenke, it is obvious that even the success/fame shall be
deserved, if she continues to make the same mistakes which cast a shadow onto her image she
will fail over and over again. Talent is not the only requirement for an artist. Talent is just a
matter of luck but has no connection with success. It is only about marketing how you sell
what you have. No matter what you sell, but how. And Léber Barbara’s approach is brilliant.
No further proof is needed, she is successful, she is famous, she is rich and she has got a happy
family… which is again a rare thing for businesspeople who work that much. Léber Barbara is
all about sleekness and sophistication in fashion. Her graceful, cosmopolitan, lighter-than-air
persona is so unique that she will definitely remain one of the most difficult of all fashion-stars
to pin down in words.

Hungarian Fashion Deisngers

 Bognár Alexandra Marketing 10

Bibliography

Illésy Lenke

Talks with Illésy Lenke

Ille-Olla the Hungarian Design, Official Website, accessed on 24th November, 2010:
http://www.ille-olla.hu/filozofia.swf
http://www.ille-olla.hu/english.swf

Ille-Olla’s blog, Google Blogger, accessed on 24th November, 2010:

http://ille-olla.blogspot.com/

Esztille’s blog, Google Blogger, accessed on 24th November, 2010:

http://esztille.blogspot.com/

“Mi Nők”, Minők.hu hálózat, accessed on 25th November, 2010:

http://minok.hu/cimke/illessy-lenke/

Interview with Illésy Lenke, Csutka Mano site, accessed on 23rd November, 2010:
http://www.csutkamano.hu/magnoliaPublic/csutkamano/sztarok/illessylenke.html

Léber Barbara

Léber Barbara official website, Léber Barbara, accessed 22nd November, 2010:
http://www.leberbarbara.hu/

Glamour Women of the Year 2010, BellaCafé, accessed on 26th November, 2010:
http://www.bellacafe.hu/2010/03/22/glamour-women-of-the-year-2010-–-ordog-nora-es-ruzsa-
magdi-a-legjobbak-kozott

Hungarian Fashion Deisngers