Issued on: 09/12/2022 – 11:58Modified: 09/12/2022 – 11:56
Paris (AFP) – The days of giant personalities like John Galliano, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Karl Lagerfeld stomping the fashion world are over. Today’s stars may still be extraordinary individuals, but it’s discretion that sells.
Recent difficulties at Balenciaga, over ads suggesting child abuse and its links to rapper Kanye West, have highlighted the risks of having a provocative figurehead.
Creative director Demna (who has dropped his last name Gvasalia) has made Balenciaga arguably the hottest brand right now, but his avant-garde approach and celebrity friends suddenly seem like a liability.
Many brands are moving away from the big name designer idea.
Louis Vuitton has yet to replace Virgil Abloh since his tragic untimely death last year, with the job now being handled by his studio.
Balenciaga’s Demna has been in hot water over controversial ad campaign and ties to Kanye West © GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP/File
That, too, will be the case for Gucci until further notice, following the departure last month of flamboyant designer Alessandro Michele, whose revamp of the Italian brand was a huge success, then not.
Other hot houses (Hermes, Chanel, Dior) are happy to go with designers who stay out of the limelight.
“The situations are different, but they reveal a trend: it is the golden age of low profiles,” said Arnaud Cadart of asset management firm Flornoy Ferri.
interpreters
The change reflects the fact that many brands are now established and don’t need a star.
“Brand identity is no longer about the designer. Designers are interpreters of brand identity,” added Julie El Ghouzzi of fashion consultancy Cultz.
When Lagerfeld passed away in 2019, his mantle passed to his right hand, who quietly continued his work.
Nadege Vanhee-Cybulski and Veronique Nichanian at Hermes, or Virginie Viard at Chanel, are little known outside of the trade.
Virgil Abloh has not been replaced at Louis Vuitton since his death in 2021 © Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP
Demna now looks like an outlier. The 41-year-old Georgian has been named to Time’s 100 Most Influential People list and has a longtime muse in Kim Kardashian.
But he’s a constant provocateur: His $1,800 trash bags seemed particularly inappropriate for a March show dedicated to Ukrainian refugees.
And his ties to Kanye, who appeared at Balenciaga’s September show in Paris, are damaging, even if Demna moved quickly to cut ties after the rapper’s recent anti-Semitic outbursts.
“It’s hard to imagine that this wouldn’t break the brand’s momentum, which was going very strong,” Cadart said.
‘A bit of madness’
The beginning of the end for big-name designers is often traced back to Galliano’s departure from Dior in 2011 after he was filmed making his own anti-Semitic outburst in a restaurant.
“The bigger the houses are, the more luxury becomes a mass market. Now they are looking for more discreet artistic directors,” said Benjamin Simmenauer, a professor at the French Institute of Fashion.
It’s a delicate balance.
Michele’s offbeat, baroque shows for Gucci drew attention, but not as many sales.
“Markets want Gucci to sell black bags and not pink ruffles all over the place that normal people wouldn’t dare wear,” Cadart said.
But that kind of safe approach, dubbed “timeless,” would end up hurting Gucci, which has always had transgression in its DNA.
“The risk is that people get bored. Fashion is supposed to entertain and ask questions,” Simmenauer said.
“You need a little seduction, a little crazy.”
© 2022 AFP
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