Creative Collaboration Tips From Laura Kim & Fernando Garcia

Laura Kim is a fashion designer born in Seoul, South Korea. She became enamored with fashion during childhood; she learned how to sew at an early age and visited textile markets with her grandmother, who worked in the industry. Later, while pursuing a fashion degree at the prestigious Pratt Institute in New York City, Laura interned for the labels Donna Karan, TSE Cashmere, and Oscar de la Renta. She accepted a full-time position at the latter brand following graduation, a decision that would have a powerful influence on her career.

In 2009, Laura hired Fernando Garcia, and the two began a successful professional partnership. Following designer Oscar de la Renta’s death in 2014, the fashion house named the pair co-creative directors of the label. The two fashion designers founded Monse, a separate fashion label, together in 2015.

Fernando Garcia is a Dominican fashion designer who launched the label Monse with collaborator Laura Kim. While he grew up researching designers like Nicolas Ghesquière, Alber Elbaz, and Tom Ford in hopes of understanding their techniques and inspirations, he didn’t think he could work in fashion.

After high school, he went to architecture school, graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 2009. But his dressmaking dreams never faded. When a family friend connected Fernando with Oscar de la Renta, he leaped at the opportunity to intern with the Dominican-born designer at his eponymous brand, where he initially worked as Laura’s aide.

His childhood in the Caribbean has inspired many of Fernando’s designs. He recommends approaching the design process like an ever-unfurling story. “The collection is going to tell you where it wants to go as you develop it,” he says.

Creative collaboration is the process of two or more people working together to innovate or create. This type of collaboration, which happens in workspaces across various industries, enables several people to brainstorm and share their unique perspectives.

Within one company, creative collaboration can mean that different departments, such as the graphic design and marketing teams, work toward one common goal. A successful creative collaboration depends on teamwork and mutual respect among stakeholders.

While working with creative professionals with complementary skill sets can make the collaborative process more manageable, it’s not the only factor that matters. Here, designers Laura and Fernando, who have worked together since 2009, share their tips for managing collaborative work:

• Trust in your collaborators. Both Laura and Fernando agree that trust is critical. Laura suggests that you have faith that your team members will deliver, which Fernando says can boost someone’s performance. “It definitely allows you to have more freedom when you feel the other person trusts your talent,” he says. “If you don’t have that complete level of trust, everything else kinda falls apart.”
• Understand how your colleagues work. Within creative teams, you should know how others work. Otherwise, it may interrupt workflows. While Fernando is less of a planner, Laura, who considers herself more of a “Type A” personality, can work around these spontaneous moments. “Because we worked together for so long, I plan to deal with the last-minute chaos by planning myself to have that room to deal with,” she says about their partnership. “I guess [Fernando’s] chaos is built into my plan.”
• Be open to everyone’s opinions. From Oscar de la Renta, the duo learned to listen to various opinions during the creative process. “[Oscar] was always so open to ideas,” Laura says. “And he was dying to know what you’re thinking. He was always very curious… You have to be very open to working with your team to be able to listen to all your 20-year-old assistants and make changes to your design.”
• Make your case. During collaborative projects, you and your colleagues may not always see eye to eye. When this happens with Laura and Fernando, they gather references to help the other see the bigger picture. “When I have a vision that Fernando doesn’t understand or agree on or doesn’t like, I try to gather images and stories that will paint for him what I’m thinking,” she says.
• But remember to account for others’ views. While effective collaboration requires that people speak up, you shouldn’t force your ideas on everyone. Fernando and Laura make sure that each piece they send down the runway is representative of the two of them. “I just truly wouldn’t want to put something on the runway if she is that clear about it not representing her aesthetic,” he says. “And that’s just the level of respect we have with each other. Laura would never put [something down the runway] that I completely hate, and that’s because you have to respect your partner.”

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