I think this is just lazy because in the end you should have also a strong voice or urge to express its like Demna ripping everything Margiela but he been there just a short time ....for me this is not legacy its parasitic behavior approach to design.... it can't be cloths and photographer and stores etc etc all same things concept where is the need to be different or push things forward then as a creative ?
it's almost arrogant way to think you can out master the master at his or her own game by being lazy even Phoebe left stella and build her own world and daniel was not at Celine from the start so for me he joined a establish concept & approach to design.
I prefer types like Michelle then .....that being at Gucci so long he did his own spin like it or not !!!!! once he got his chance or Nicolas he did work for JPG you can see some JPG time to time in his work but his voice is his own even when he assables from so many great designers past work items. pillati same same you can see prada color and fabric obsession shared commonality but most is his own obsessions.
I must say that Demna is different tho. He is a bit of a fraud for me tbh, because he wasn’t part of the legacy he copied.
The real heir of Margiela is Lutz Huelle to be totally fair.
Demna went and appropriated a story that helped him to copy everything.
That being said, I think maturity in design comes with time too. Phoebe Philo at Celine was 10 years but also a pure aesthetic evolution. Daniel Lee like Matthieu Blazy is part of that last alteration.
In the grand game of fashion, Daniel Lee’s voice hasn’t had the time to fully mature yet. Alessandro Michele joined Gucci in 2002 and became a CD in 2015. He had enough time to mature his taste in that long time.
I think it’s also a question of strong fashion POV in the houses those designers are taking. Nicolas Ghesquiere started at Gaultier, worked with Corinne Cobson, did Balenciaga, did Callaghan, had probably images that build his sensibility.
When you look at all Nicolas’s alumni it’s clear that they are part of that school and it’s only with time that you clearly see the differences.
I don’t know, for me it’s not shocking. It’s actually something that I enjoy in terms of career evolution.
But I find it rather interesting that Blazy and Lee are perpetuating that kind of « naturalist » aesthetic they had, that is linked with Phoebe’s Celine…When for example Blazy could have had the intellectual Vanderperre approach,
