Heritage over hype — Is this why fashion is lacking great creative directors?
We are still processing the recent news that Ludovic de Saint Sernin is stepping down from Ann Demeulemeester after just one collection. The brand itself is one known and loved far and wide by those in the fashion industry, so this short stint was relatively disappointing. A part of us feels that this is no surprise, and de Saint Sernin is just another name to add to the list of creative directors swiftly exiting houses. The one runway, which featured feather bralettes and a new direction for the brand, was cut short due to managerial differences, as reported by Business of Fashion.
April saw Rhuigi Villasenor leave one of the world’s longest-standing luxury brands, Bally, and Charles de Vilmorin say goodbye to couture French house Rochas. The life cycle for creative directors is getting shorter lived by the season. But is this because the biggest luxury houses are still obsessing over their brand heritage? Are they not making room for new visionaries whose ideas may, say, bring an element of hype to their collections?
If you are a true luxury fashion fanatic, the word ‘hype’ is almost blasphemous. Style is eternal, and stylish brands know this all too well. Take Chanel for example, who have come under fire for dressing their ambassadors (like Margot Robbie) in red carpet attire true to the brand. Fans, however, disagreed, and felt the brand wasn’t pushing boundaries to be exciting enough for the star, and started the hashtag #freemargot in response. Their recent Cruise 23/24 was headed by new creative director Virginie Viard, and if you haven’t heard anything about it, many fans were quiet on commenting. The collection was the brand’s heritage through and through (perhaps that was the issue), and though it may have been right on the technical front, many felt that design-wise it wasn’t something to write home about.
But some of fashion’s most exciting collections have been rather hype-worthy, and this is what the industry needs to understand. The likes of Louis Vuitton are trailblazers when it comes to understanding the brand and listening to their creative directors. One of the best had to have been the late Virgil Abloh, who injected streetwear and a whole new meaning into the label. Jeremy Scott, another honourable mention, transformed the Italian house Moschino into the vibrant ironic showcase it is today. He, too, is no longer affiliated with the brand, and retired after 10 years this March. This shows what an amazing creative director can do for the labels over an extended period of time, but recently, it feels like houses just aren’t willing to take a chance on up-and-comers.
There is also the flip side of the coin, with the hype to heritage arc proving you can enter the industry in more than one way. The likes of Stüssy and Palace are majorly hype-worthy and often see fans queuing for hours to get a glimpse of their latest drops. But as time goes on, these brands have become a mainstay on the lips of fashion lovers far and wide, so much so, that they are creating a heritage for themselves in the meantime – albeit a modern one. These types of streetwear brands aren’t parallel with the big French or Italian houses, but they are certainly worthy competition.
When it does come to these old luxury houses, we can sit here and pine over the days of Alessandro Michele who left Gucci last year, and beg Raf Simons for another collection – but it just won’t happen. If anything, we are on the cusp of a new wave of talent. It’s just that it feels like the brands that could solidify these burgeoning names aren’t willing to roll the dice, and we aren’t exactly in a steady financial climate where every talented seamstress can just open shop doors.
The life cycle of great creative directors is now as short as that of the fast fashion clothes cycle – quick, pointless, and damaging. How can we appreciate great design if it is gone sooner than it appeared? We have had to recently wave goodbye to some of the greats, including Vivienne Westwood and Karl Lagerfeld who passed in 2022 and 2019 respectively. But if history is anything to go by, both these names wiggled their way into the industry by means of chance. Westwood produced a collection so on the zeitgeist that her punk spirit simply spread to the masses, and Lagerfeld was hired as Pierre Balmain’s assistant after winning a coats category design competition. Brands are seeking young names with established backgrounds, and these are few and far between. They need to champion young talent and breed a new generation of great designers, or see their heritage fall for fear of change.
That’s not to say there aren’t major players in the industry doing it right. Case studies include Daniel Lee’s revival of Bottega Veneta and Maximilian Davis’ fantastic take on Ferragamo – they just haven’t stuck around long enough for us to see if they could completely flip the brand. Moreover, Prada and their little sister brand Miu Miu have proved that heritage can go hand in hand with hype. Just take a look at their belt-sized mini-skirts that became the ‘it’ girl staple, with fans eagerly waiting for each runway to drop so they can get their mitts on one of the designs. Each garment is true to the DNA but also feels as though it has a younger perspective, and that is imperative to keeping a brand moving forward. Versace is also progressing with their creative director Anthony Vaccerello, as well as a slew of collaborations including streetwear brands, other luxury names like Fendi, and most recently partnering with stars like Dua Lipa. Everything they do is so Versace, but it feels newer, and most importantly, fresher than before.
Both of these brands are still affiliated with their predecessors of Miuccia Prada and Donatella Versace but have utilised new talent so that the hype factor isn’t lost and the heritage still remains. If anything, others should be taking a leaf out of this high fashion booklet for an updated guide on how to do luxury in 2023. So as fashion may feel like it is losing its solid visionary front, all hope is not lost, and this sparse landscape just means a storm of new talent is on its way.
