Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne Tapped as DKNY Creative Directors

[poison84]

DKNY Aims to Modernize With New Creative Directors and an Image Officer From Apple

Since its inception in 1989, DKNY has been about the style on the streets of New York. But with the streets warranting less attention from New Yorkers whose noses are buried in their phones, checking e-mails and Instagrams, the brand has lost direction. In an effort to reconnect with the wants of a young generation of New Yorkers (and global customers—50 percent of DKNY sales happen overseas, according to LVMH Fashion Group’s Pierre-Yves Roussel), DKNY has hired Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne as its new creative directors, effective immediately. The pair is famous for their menswear line Public School, which won the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2013 and includes unisex, utility-inspired clothing for women.

“We both grew up in NY, and DKNY has always been a part of the landscape of this city in our formative years as designers and as New Yorkers,” Chow and Osborne said in a release. Their vision of culturally cool womenswear varies dramatically from the brightly colored, festive clothing DKNY has been offering for the past several seasons under the guidance of Jane Chung, who has been its designer since the label’s launch. Still, looking at the trends of the season and on the street, Chow and Osborne’s streamlined, clever garments feel more in line with what a modern consumer might want. (DKNY poster girl Cara Delevingne would look more at home in a Public School bomber jacket than the striped midi dress she wears in the brand’s Spring ads—and with models and celebrities becoming more accessible on social media, that disjointedness is becoming evident to DKNY’s fans.)

Chow and Osborne won’t be going at the new DKNY alone, either. The brand has also hired Hector Muelas as chief image officer, a new position custom-made for the former creative director of worldwide marketing at Apple. At DKNY, Muelas will be responsible for “all areas of brand image, marketing, and creative services…as well as all digital platforms and e-commerce,” according to a release. So if you thought the Apple Watch’s rollout was particularly exciting, you might expect to find some of that suspense around new DKNY’s shows, campaigns, e-commerce, and social media launches.

The introduction of a new creative team to the LVMH-owned brand comes after much whispering in the industry that changes would be coming to Donna Karan International. It’s also in line with LVMH’s changes of late to infuse excitement into its storied houses, from Nicolas Ghesquière at Louis Vuitton to Raf Simons at Dior to Jonathan Anderson at Loewe.

style

 

[nataliaapple]

Mixed feelings. =\

 

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

^same... is their namesake line doing well in stores?

 

[Phuel]

Public School has always been one of those brands just like countless other overpriced, generic "street" brands that are carried by the likes of Revolve Clothing, Bluefly, etc. I guess their brand has leaped into the more high-end spectrum of streetwear since their prices have soared in the last couple of years....

Whatever-- I guess it's just the same old same old parkas, anoraks, hoodies and sweats but with the creds of a hyped new duo. I just wish designer brands would stop with the desperate, street-cred chasing. I don't think their targeted Asian-market is going to fall for it either-- as clearly seen when Marc by Marc Jacobs tried to revamp but ended up just dropping that line altogether. There are so many street-cred brands out there, DKNY should stop embarrassing itself and just stick to being a younger and more affordable Donna Karan if they insist on resuscitating this line.

Donna Karan remains a credible label. DKNY is not.

 

[VogueDisciple93]

I was once a champion of Public School and its designers, excited when they collected another accolade, and though I still covet their clothes my support has fizzled over the past few seasons. The brand is still a young one but I feel I don't see much change and development in their collections, save for introducing women's. It's generally the same sweats and knits, things already offered by many other brands.
I do hope they can find inspiration in DKNY's archive and come up with new ideas and not just give us another army of beanie crowned models in overpriced parkas.

But I do think DKNY needs this change.

 

[iclawhands]

Overly generous to them... I don't find their design work intelligent or exciting or even flattering.

 

[Benn98]

Public School was simply a bad idea from the start, and I doubt the new buyer will continue to employ them. My guess is the sales slip start and end with their instant overhaul to the new grungey teen style. It would appear the American consumer is far more conservative than we thought.

Although in all fairness 7 months sounds far too little so reap the rewards of a revamp, so maybe Donna Karan left a sinking ship.

LVMH is selling off DKNY

By Oli Coleman
July 20, 2016 | 8:29pm

Less than a year after fashion icon Donna Karan stepped down from the helm of the company that she founded, its owner — luxury goods giant Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy — is selling off the entire raft of game-changing brands that she founded, Page Six has learned.

The French empire — which has owned Karan’s company since 2001, even though she stayed on to run the brands — shelved her flagship line Donna Karan International shortly after she left in June 2015 and said it would “substantially increase its focus” on her DKNY brand, which revolutionized women’s fashion in the ’80s with Karan’s “Seven Easy Pieces” concept of a wardrobe made up of a handful of interchangeable items.

But we’re told that after seven months of disappointing performance under new designers Maxwell Osbourne and Dao-Yi of the Pubic School brand, LVMH has decided to sell both DKNY and DKI. We’re told the company, which also owns Marc and Givenchy, among dozens of other blue chip brands, is targeting a single, specific American buyer, rather than putting it out to multiple bidders.

Negotiations are said to be ongoing, but a price has not yet been agreed.

“Donna Karan and DKNY was a mega brand in the US, but all the things [LVMH] has done to change it and take it forward just haven’t worked,” said an insider, “The word is that they have a buyer in mind and have approached a US company to buy the brand, but it is not yet clear if the deal is going forward.”

Reps didn’t get back to us.

Source: http://pagesix.com/2016/07/20/lvmh-is-selling-off-dkny/

 

[Lola701]

I really like what they are doing at DKNY. The collections are good and perfect for the brand but the branding is not strong enough.
Menswear is really booming and it's weird that they stopped doing/showing menswear + DKNY should be the most social-media focused brand of LVMH. They have the opportunity to turn it into a mini-CK.
They are doing those pointless campaigns with unknown models when they should work with much more social-active and fashion-interested personalities.

It's Kinda funny that the ASAP Rocky, Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and others are faces of Dior & Fendi when their audience is totally DKNY.

With the money of LVMH and the exposure of those two designers, it's almost a pity to see that it's not working.

 

[whitewine82]

Only $650 million? God, this is sad...

 

[vetements]

i actually thought they are doing fine for what DKNY stands for. But now that G-III is taking over and becoming the biggest brand in their stable, things may just become better.
what a shame, Donna Karan was really good when it was at its prime.

 

[Benn98]

Just as I predicted!! This was inevitable. G-III was only crafty enough not to announce their departure with their takeover, as it would have been in poor taste.

Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne Step Down at DKNY

December 1, 2016 5:38 pm by Steff Yotka

After almost two years at the helm of DKNY, designers Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow are stepping down as co–creative directors. The pair’s decision to part ways with the brand founded by Donna Karan was informed by the label’s sale earlier this year from LVMH to G-III. “Given the company sale and subsequent change in strategies, we have decided to step down and focus on our own business Public School. It’s been an unbelievable experience to work side by side with the wonderful people at DKNY, especially our amazing design team and atelier. We wish the company success in the future,” the duo wrote in an email circulated to press.

In their time at DKNY, Chow and Osborne were credited with bringing a more streetwise and buzzy sensibility to the brand. Their first show, for Spring 2016, revamped a working woman’s wardrobe of pinstripes and sensible dresses into deconstructed pieces a city-savvy millennial could covet. Their two collections since grew more confident, veering more into streetwear and exploring the oversize, louche spirit Chow and Osborne channel at their own brand, Public School. After the Spring 2017 show that opened with Bella Hadid and featured Pat McGrath’s new lip product, it seemed the designers were starting to hit a commercial and critical stride.

In addition to Chow and Osborne’s departures, Caroline Brown, the CEO of Donna Karan International, will also be stepping down.

Source: http://www.vogue.com/13508673/dkny-dao-yi-chow-maxwell-osborne-step-down/

 

[lucy92]

I don't like any of the other G-III brands. their modus operandi seems to be license all their brands like crazy.

my guess is that they are going the cheap route. g-III won't hire any big name designer.

 

[VogueDisciple93]

That took longer than expected...

 

[softgrey]

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Nearly all our bridges tumbled down

Whatever chance we try, let's face it why deny
It's over (It's over).....It's over
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Too much, too little, too late, we knew it had to end

And it's over.......And it's over......And it's over
Too much, too little, too late to ever try again
Too much, too little, too late, let's end it being friends