Does the fashion system truly need new creative directors?

In the last ten years, the role of the fashion creative director has changed profoundly. In fact, looking at the careers of John Galliano for Dior, Alzer Elbaz for Lanviv or Nicolas Ghesquière for Balenciaga we could see how the fashion system has moved away from the historical iconic director.

The market and consumers’ needs have changed and the multinationals, such as LVMH and Kering perceived it. It became clear that it was necessary to replace the role of the idolized creative director with new talents in order to avoid producing predictable items that risk to become ordinary.

If we were to trace map of the designer’s commitments when leading an important maison, we would discover that such a prestigious job lasts only two or three years: a period of time too short to be able to effectively develop a new image for a brand.

Clare Waight Keller for Givenchy, is the perfect example. The fashion designer has been at the head of the French brand for only three years. In spite of her minimal job, so perfectly in line with the maison’s founder Hubert vision, she is today exclusively remembered for Meghan Markle’s dresses, created in occasion of the Royal Wedding with Prince Harry. Replacing Keller was Matthew M. Williams, the other face of creativity, who brought a wave of innovation into Givenchy, in accordance to the streetwear view of fashion.

As you may have noticed, the problem is somewhere else. Every day, browsing on the Internet reading fashion news means to be witnesses to what it seems like a battlefield where many lose and a few survive. The creative director seems only a temporary leader. In fact, Alessandro Michele, for example, in charge since 2015 at Gucci appears like a Guinness World Record. The Kering group, which checks the brands’ movements, doesn’t seem worried about Michele’s job, not even after the 2020 decrease of 10,3% in income.

Let’s take another example, in total opposition to the first one. LVMH, which is the French multinational to own the most important maison of the fashion system, such as Fendi, Celine and Louis Vuitton, doesn’t want to end the “game of musical chairs”. Among the multinational’s ‘missions’ there is the aim of achieving remarkable profits, also comparing the individual brands’ earnings.

After a gold three months term and a growth of 32%, the two creative directors of Kenzo, Felipe Oliveira Baptista and of Berluti, Kris Van Assche, were hopeful. They seemed to have shed a brighter light on the two brands, but, unfortunally, wasn’t enough. LVMH, looking at the incame of the first trimester of 2021, which recorder an excellent performance of Louis Vuitton and Dior, realized that the brands Kenzo and Berluti didn’t keep up with them.

After halting the two collaborations, LVMH found itself in a dilemma: to appoint another creative director or not. In the Berluti case the decision was clear: no creative designer for the brand that prefers to focus on a less structured seasonal calendar and on a greater number of collaborations. In the case of Kenzo, the multinational instead seems to be oriented towards appointing Charaf Tajer, founder of Casablanca, as new director.

Since the death of its founder, Kenzo has exclusively survived thanks to its role as “premium brand”, showing good results mainly proposing branded items such as the popular and well-known t-shirts-with-tigers created by the designer’s duo Humberto Leon and Carol Lim, in charge until 2019.

According to reliable sources, Charaf Tajer would confirm LVMH’s general strategy to choose designers with a lot of visibility on the mediascape. On the other hand, the brand, in a very short time, has proved to be a promise in the fashion system and so for Tajer it shouldn’t be difficult to lead it from its current reality to the stars. But, why bet on a new designer instead of extending its predecessor contract?

One answer could be what Robert Burke on ‘Vogue Business’ said: “The constant change of a designer causes a great deal of stress and fatigue in a brand. The less frequently it happens, the better”. It’s true that a relaunch of the brand is necessary, but it’s also true that this continuous “game of musical chairs” risks to generate a checkered mechanism that could cause wide financial losses.

Last year, the data company Bernstein after observing the financial movements of large luxury companies, published a report showing that the maximum period for the creative director’s career is 5 years to truly be able to improve a brand’s performance. So why they terminate a contract early?

Once again, the answer is in the sales, which especially in this pandemic period do not provide many escape routes. When multinationals don’t see positive answers from consumers to the new creative direction, they think that the only solution is to change person, but that’s not always the right way.

Another example is Glenn Martens at the direction of Diesel. Last year, the Otd group by Renzo Rosso chose to reposition the brand in the luxury segment of fashion and for now the new collaboration seems to be going well. Thus, keep your eyes on the first Diesel’s fashion show scheduled on June 21th in Milan to see how it will turn out.

To sum up, the assignment of a creative director appears too often hanging by a thread and a risky move, by contrast, not very daring can mark his career forever. This is the reason why many designers prefer to remain in the shadows of fashion. It will be interesting to see how this ‘pivotal’ role can change in the next ten years, but, above all, if the time ever comes when genius and creativity are put before mere profit.

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Priscilla Cafaggi

Priscilla è una fashion editor laureata in storia della moda. Ama il vintage, il minimalismo… in poche parole una persona eclettica. Infatti, se dovesse scegliere due persone per andare a cena fuori sarebbero Jil Sander e Alessandro Michele.