PARIS – Mumi Haiati is a fashion person. He fashion-pairs utility shirts and bucket hats with a Serpenti ring and Cartier watch, and knows how to fashion-cajole designers, artists and press to appear in the right place at the right time (i.e. where he and his clients need them to be): with a broad smile, air kisses and the promise of a good time.
But his interests — and relationships — stretch well beyond fashion. In Berlin, where he founded his public relations company Reference Studios in 2017, Haiati has positioned himself as a sort of connective tissue between fashion brands, art institutions and the creative class of a city prized for its counter-culture, underground vibe.
The company describes its services as a “holistic” and “purpose-built” approach to “navigating contemporary culture and modern luxury.” Clients include major brands like Rimowa, Supreme, Gucci and Carhartt WIP, as well smaller labels like Our Legacy and Stefano Pilati’s Random Identities, which come to him for communications, events, showrooming and more.
Since expanding to Milan last year, Reference has sought to replicate the same mix of chic et choc, repping institutions like Florentine fashion academy Polimoda and heritage brand Ports 1961 as well as more recent initiatives like Slam Jam’s Spazio Maiocchi event space and the young labels Magliano and GR10K.
Now Haiati has his sights on Paris: He’s currently in the process of renovating a former post office in the city’s tony 7th arrondissement to serve as Reference’s showroom, as well as a stately, long-windowed apartment where the agency plans to host “salons” and presentations. He also plans to live there while getting the French outpost up and running.
A Paris presence will bring in new clients, he says, in addition to helping to transition some of the brands he currently reps in Germany or Italy into global contracts.
“It feels like the right time to articulate and elevate what Reference is — free, liberal, cultural and subcultural — here in Paris,” Haiati says. “Paris used to feel so conservative to me, now there’s more of a vibe.”
In addition to fashion and nightlife, the city sports new museums and a revamped annual art fair (rebranded Art Basel Paris). It’s increasingly cementing its place as the capital of art as well as fashion, Haiati notes.
Reference’s director of creative strategy and communications Tim Neugebauer — the key “translator” of Haiati’s ideas — is also moving to Paris to assist with the launch.
In Berlin, Reference has sought to be bigger than a fashion PR agency: the company operates a brand incubation programme as well as putting on an annual festival that aims to connect fashion, art, music and nightlife through a series of talks, exhibitions and events.
In 2022, Swiss curator and art critic Hans Ulrich Obrist brought his “Brutally Early Club” salon series to the festival. The salon was followed by a run organised by sneaker brand On; Obrist also animated a talk with London-based menswear designer Martine Rose.
“With Mumi and Reference, there’s a kind of ad hoc energy that feels fresh, a quality that everything isn’t so planned months in advance,” Obrist says. “There’s a lot of young people in Berlin; it’s interesting to connect these designers and artists, emerging talents … And that’s what’s happening in the world right now — the boundaries are more porous between disciplines.”
During Milan Fashion Week last Thursday, Haiati helped to organise a massive aftershow rave for Prada, where friends of the brand including Marina Abramovic, K-pop’s ENHYPHEN and American poet Amanda Gorman brushed arms with local club kids and artists. “We tried to bring out the creative class in Milan, people who could bring some life to the party with a more inclusive and interesting mix,” Haiati says.
Seeing him running the list at Prada’s sprawling art foundation, Haiati comes off as a true fashion insider. But it wasn’t always that way: Haiati grew up as the child of Iranian parents in Dusseldorf, Germany. He embraced the local club scene, but the institutional German fashion world, dominated by stalwarts like Hugo Boss and Birkenstock, wasn’t an obvious fit.
He got his first fashion job in Paris, by doorstepping Kuki de Salvertes’ PR agency Totem, which represented Raf Simons and Walter Van Beirendonck during a high point for Belgian fashion.
Back in Berlin, Haiati’s influence grew alongside the rise of the German capital as an international hub for counter-culture and clubbing — and brands were looking for a way to tap into the city’s cool factor, a world apart from more conservative centres like Munich, Hamburg and Frankfurt.
In Paris, the agency plans to play with the contrast between youthful creativity and the city’s tradition-soaked fashion system. “With the right sensibility and respecting certain codes, we can bring something unique,” Haiati says.
The agency is already on its way. In March, Reference worked with Kering-owner François Pinault’s Bourse de Commerce art museum to organise a sold-out 3-night residency for DJ Arca. The agency plans to keep working with the museum to ramp up its programme of concerts and events.
The brand is also launching a six-week residency at Dover Street Market Paris’ perfume antenna in partnership with fragrance start-up EveryHuman, which uses algorithmic technology to concoct and manufacture one-of-a-kind, personal scents. Shoppers will be invited to personalise “merch perfumes” linked to partnerships with upstart denim brand No/Faith Studios (during Paris Fashion Week), artist Bjarne Melgaard (during Art Basel Paris) and the rock band Korn (during Paris Photo).
Reference Studios is one of several boutique PR agencies to open in Paris in recent months, even as Karla Otto-parent The Independents leads a wave of consolidation in the sector. Youssef Marquis, a longtime PR executive and celebrity wrangler for Givenchy and Louis Vuitton, opened a namesake communications advisory last year with support from LVMH. In September, Karla Otto vice president Julien Duffour announced he was leaving the PR conglomerate to create a new agency, Spread the Word. Meanwhile, Lucien Pagès, the city’s leading port of call for independent fashion, has increasingly nudged in on big PR firms supporting institutional labels like Gucci and Chloé in recent seasons.
The shifts reflect, in part, the sheer scale of the Paris opportunity (even amid a global slowdown in demand for luxury goods). It’s home to the industry’s biggest fashion week, busiest fashion calendar (6 seasons per year across womens, mens and couture) and luxury fashion’s two biggest conglomerates, LVMH and Kering.
But when it comes to PR, bigger isn’t always better. “People love an ultra-personal approach,” Haiati says.
