We’ve been working on a project that I’m very passionate about and I want to share it with you. It’s called Tibi Close Friends and this is the first of what I hope to be many editions that ultimately come to fruition. I’m going to describe here what the project is, the why behind the work, where the idea and inspiration came from, and where we are heading.
We love music. It is intrinsic to everything we do, everything we create, everyday. We also pride ourselves on being an independent brand fueled by a band of creatives that are driven to continual experimentation across a wide variety of mediums. So, we wanted to figure out a way to work with and highlight small artists and musicians to create unique and meaningful expressions of their work, while also showcasing the luxury, functionality, and style of our clothing. For an artist, what we create serves as a means of personal expression, whether through style, music, food, and beyond.
I discovered Bebe Stockwell in the late Fall of 2023, a few months after I joined the team at Tibi full time. After following her musical career for a bit, we reached out and pitched what would debut as our first ever Tibi Close Friends project. We chose to connect with Bebe because we loved her unique voice and we thought her aesthetic would lend itself well, in a slightly contrasting fashion, to the edginess of the collection that we would ultimately style her in. At the time Bebe had a decent following on Instagram, but this number has since grown more than ten fold. This type of growth is incredible and quite frankly extremely rare, but it makes sense, because Bebe is deeply dedicated to her craft, and this resonates with people, in the same way it resonated with me and our team.
We shot, filmed, and produced the project in our Tibi HQ at 100 Broadway, utilizing Amy’s office for one set and our showroom for the second. Rae, our visual artist in residency, designed the sets, simply and elegantly evoking the essence of the Fall 2024 collection that Bebe chose to wear.
Derek, our Director of Media, filmed the live set in black and white, Matt, our head of social media, was the spontaneous audio engineer, and I produced the project/shot portrait and editorial photos of Bebe on film during her sets. It’s the team, including many more like Emmalee our stylist and Kayla our graphic designer, that is the reason why this concept was able to be brought to life. I am also very grateful to Bebe and her professionalism on set, her flexibility, and her raw talent that we did our best to capture and give respect to.
While it is okay to love things like music, food, art, or anything for that matter, at the end of the day, we are running a business, and so it is incredibly important to also understand “the why” behind the projects we create - how do they fit into our goals as a company and what is the long term role they will play in our pursuit of a healthy, small business?
The Why:
People, humans, can better absorb and understand a message when it’s told through a multitude of sensory mediums: sight, sound, touch, etc... We know that personal style extends well beyond what is worn across our shoulders - that it’s also a way of thinking and an approach to life. And if we aren’t living this out through our actions, it’s at least something we desire: to be at ease and appreciative, but still strong and thoughtful.
I find it incredibly helpful to use questions as a guide for creating with purpose and for defining the why behind our intentions. In this instance, some of these questions were: how can we best highlight, through sound, movement, and visuals, the Creative Pragmatist mindset we share with other creative artists, no matter the industry?
In what ways can we ensure that the CP mindset will shine through and act as a through-line for future editions of the Close Friends franchise? How can we optimize the content for dissemination on as many social channels as possible? How will this more deeply entrench Tibi amongst the creative cultures that we love - and in the same vein help us elevate and expand the profiles of like-minded individuals? How can we showcase our product in a way that gives it the respect it deserves, highlights its creativity and beauty, but breathes and grows organically?
If the demand is organic authenticity, then that route is often best pursued through our real desires and impulses. I constantly ask myself how we can find additional, compelling ways to communicate with our audiences and more deeply cement relationships with people like me. And to this point, I find it important to consider, on a personal level, what makes me love brands? What engenders my trust in brands and enthuses me to enter the world of a brand?
The answers to these questions, for me, are determined by whether a brand is creating meaningful, original, and inspiring pieces of creative content. As a brief aside, I want to note that this specific perspective stems from the general, overarching context of media and content development - what are the motivations behind the content? Is it honest - or is it covering something up…trying to hide the real intentions? And lastly, maybe most importantly, does this project inspire joy and passion for myself and those around me?
I have noticed, anecdotally, that I respond most naturally and deeply with media/content that are a genuine exemplification of the care for the work being done, not clouded by intentions to convert a sale. One of the most meaningful ways to engage with customers is by creating beautiful content that does not warrant a transaction, because when the viewer or consumer is free to fully immerse themselves, the opposite affect actually occurs. Trust has now been genuinely established.
This is what I look to evoke in content creation. Create content we love, work with people we admire, do whatever we are doing because we want to, not because it will sell 100 blazers. Sure, sales and new customers will occur and be positive byproducts of the projects, but the reasoning behind the sale conversion will not be because some influencer pushed some product into your instagram feed. Instead, new customers and followers will come because of the way the project resonates with them and the deep connection it evokes. Sale or no sale, their choice, and we mean that.
For Tibi Close Friends, the idea was and is based around collaborating with like-minded individuals across a range of creative mediums. We are a small business, and want to not only stay that way, but also make it known that small is good, really good. We’re committed to living this and showing it by propping up and supporting other like-minded small businesses and creatives. We want Tibi CF to establish new, exciting, and sincere relationships, to further demonstrate/define our brand ideals and cultural linkages, and most importantly, to create inspiring and relevant contributions to the world of art, creativity, and culture.
Tibi Close Friends 01, featuring Bebe Stockwell, can be found as an editorial campaign on our Tibi Instagram, while the full, live set will be located on Bebe’s Close Friend profile on Tibi.com, and at the link below. I hope everyone enjoys this project as much as we did creating it, and I am very excited for the future that this series holds.
sick initiative, and well-written article
So well-written! Looking forward to the series.