Designers Switching Houses & Moving to New Brands | Page 146 | the Fashion Spot

Designers Switching Houses & Moving to New Brands

I know there are actual civil wars and poverty going on.
But within the fashionsphere I would be so stressed being a Creative Director in 2025.
From the options of being ripped apart online after a quick scroll where you can't even see your fabric development, people often only looking at the front view very quickly before making a decision in 2 seconds. To working for a conservative brand who wants to join the fashion conversation but doesn't understand why it's struggling after only 1 season when it has a brand DNA that relies on loafers and dated purses, not implementing any management structure to support the CD in parallel.
To not having enough tiktok views despite being more conservative, evening wear, to signing up for a brand who in which they did a project for to upscale the range, got the job and 1 year later arriving to find a new Chinese company is buying them with interest to turn everything into a licensee line.
 
I know there are actual civil wars and poverty going on.
But within the fashionsphere I would be so stressed being a Creative Director in 2025.
From the options of being ripped apart online after a quick scroll where you can't even see your fabric development, people often only looking at the front view very quickly before making a decision in 2 seconds. To working for a conservative brand who wants to join the fashion conversation but doesn't understand why it's struggling after only 1 season when it has a brand DNA that relies on loafers and dated purses, not implementing any management structure to support the CD in parallel.
To not having enough tiktok views despite being more conservative, evening wear, to signing up for a brand who in which they did a project for to upscale the range, got the job and 1 year later arriving to find a new Chinese company is buying them with interest to turn everything into a licensee line.
If they are making a few hundred thousands to millions, it's all part of the deal
I don't feel bad for them, a million girls would kill for their jobs
 
If they are making a few hundred thousands to millions, it's all part of the deal
I don't feel bad for them, a million girls would kill for their jobs

And a host of possible mental health issues to go along with it.

I think oioioi made very valid points. I think fashion is in a sad state at the moment. Never has it been more about the profits over creativity and an actual voice than now and it is evident by some recent appointments.
 
And a host of possible mental health issues to go along with it.

I think oioioi made very valid points. I think fashion is in a sad state at the moment. Never has it been more about the profits over creativity and an actual voice than now and it is evident by some recent appointments.
Agreed.
 
What’s next for John Hedi and PPP?
Why is it so outrageous to think that at least John and Hedi might be in the "retirement" stages of their careers (at least for now)? Let them do other projects. Let Hedi take photographs, compile or write a book, whatever. John... my god... MESS. I don't think he belongs anywhere but his eponymous brand at this point. PPP? I dunno what he does, but... still.
 
Honestly, a brand should just give its Haute Couture division to John. That will be money well spent for a branding exercise. I still think John has one last chapter in his career to write.

Not sure about Hedi, but he would be a great creative director for a consumer brand/art gallery.

PPP are we sure he has any steam left in him?
 
Didn’t someone mention murmurs of JG doing Chanel couture or did I just make that up?
It’s Matthieu for Chanel. They mentioned Galliano for Hermès Couture (what’s the need for this?).

I feel we are at the end of a cicle. There’s something weird going on. I feel clients are suffocated by so much <<groundbreakingness>> everywhere, and they want to find something more real and understated. I feel the way people buy luxury in, let’s say, the lower segments of the client pyramid has changed too. They can do without it and think much more about their purchases.

I feel with the price increases those segments feel a little bit more alienated too…

The influencer era is also dying somehow, they lost the credibility (if they ever had it), so I feel the marketing side is also harder…

I don’t know, I do think it’s exhausting. And I think there’s less talent than ever, in terms of designers and CEOs. They all want to repeat the Dior and LV strategies instead of trying to find what’s unique about their businesses.

I kind of feel that with the Demna & Gucci thing something very negative is crystallizing and it’s not just the fact that he is so demodé for today’s standards. There’s something else that goes beyond my understanding at the moment.

It’s an… I don’t care vibe that I hate. A “whatever, let’s try if it works”. “Let’s fool people”. It doesn’t feel genuine, it doesn’t feel real, it doesn’t feel relevant.
 
It’s Matthieu for Chanel. They mentioned Galliano for Hermès Couture (what’s the need for this?).

I feel we are at the end of a cicle. There’s something weird going on. I feel clients are suffocated by so much <<groundbreakingness>> everywhere, and they want to find something more real and understated. I feel the way people buy luxury in, let’s say, the lower segments of the client pyramid has changed too. They can do without it and think much more about their purchases.

I feel with the price increases those segments feel a little bit more alienated too…

The influencer era is also dying somehow, they lost the credibility (if they ever had it), so I feel the marketing side is also harder…

I don’t know, I do think it’s exhausting. And I think there’s less talent than ever, in terms of designers and CEOs. They all want to repeat the Dior and LV strategies instead of trying to find what’s unique about their businesses.

I kind of feel that with the Demna & Gucci thing something very negative is crystallizing and it’s not just the fact that he is so demodé for today’s standards. There’s something else that goes beyond my understanding at the moment.

It’s an… I don’t care vibe that I hate. A “whatever, let’s try if it works”. “Let’s fool people”. It doesn’t feel genuine, it doesn’t feel real, it doesn’t feel relevant.
To be honest, I see a lot of designers throwing in the towel with high-end and taking up newly-created CD positions at mass-market/contemporary brands. Meanwhile, luxury brands will go on full autopilot with studio-led collections that exist as white noise for the bags.
 
It’s Matthieu for Chanel. They mentioned Galliano for Hermès Couture (what’s the need for this?).

I feel we are at the end of a cicle. There’s something weird going on. I feel clients are suffocated by so much <<groundbreakingness>> everywhere, and they want to find something more real and understated. I feel the way people buy luxury in, let’s say, the lower segments of the client pyramid has changed too. They can do without it and think much more about their purchases.

I feel with the price increases those segments feel a little bit more alienated too…

The influencer era is also dying somehow, they lost the credibility (if they ever had it), so I feel the marketing side is also harder…

I don’t know, I do think it’s exhausting. And I think there’s less talent than ever, in terms of designers and CEOs. They all want to repeat the Dior and LV strategies instead of trying to find what’s unique about their businesses.

I kind of feel that with the Demna & Gucci thing something very negative is crystallizing and it’s not just the fact that he is so demodé for today’s standards. There’s something else that goes beyond my understanding at the moment.

It’s an… I don’t care vibe that I hate. A “whatever, let’s try if it works”. “Let’s fool people”. It doesn’t feel genuine, it doesn’t feel real, it doesn’t feel relevant.
SAY IT LOUDER FOR THOSE IN THE BACK!!
 
I'd need to do some research to pull out some numbers to support my argument but based on my observations as someone who works with key players in the industry, I started really feeling the shift after Covid.

It's not just how well you perform, but how fast you're doing so. After all these years of being so dependent on China / Asia to justify great numbers in financial reports, suits started freaking out when they felt the wind was starting to shift.

All of a sudden, creative projects started being questioned if not cancelled, or they were requested to be "diluted a bit in order to not alienate the audience". I fell off my chair the day I heard that sentence. If you dilute creativity, then what will make you stand out and attract people to buy? So, we entered the era of bargaining with suits in order to release projects. "You can only do this if you also include (insert: the ugly tshirt, the lower tier sneakers, etc. i.e whatever had been cheap to produce and they could get high margin from). That example applied to a vast range of projects from runway shows to campaigns to pop ups etc.

Of course, it led to internal wars between creative and marketing departments. Between those who were adamant to push for a vision, and the others who thought that the safer the better to get those numbers up again. And nowadays, creatives lose the battle because at the end suits hold the reigns of their companies.

They started wanting more "docile" creatives that they would be able to keep under control more easily, trying to make it pass as "giving a chance to a new generation of talents". In reality, they wanted people they could make fit the mold they wanted for the business. To put it short: if I ask you to do a sneaker and put it in your campaign, you're not going to fight back.

Came along massive budget cuts for creative projects, where you get asked to "be inventive" to maintain your creativity level. In short, they're asking you to find a way to achieve your expectations because they won't add a penny to the project. A side note, but let's keep an eye on the whole AI thing because those suits are obsessed and they see what they could do with it. I had the CEO of a major brand showing me how he had been "playing around" and showed me examples of campaigns (!!!) they had done with AI during their weekend in St Bart... I won't be surprised if soon, they might want the collection to be done with AI... It'll start with a capsule, they'll leverage on it from a marketing point of view, and here open the gates of hell.

To put it short: we're in a time where suits lead, not creatives. Big demands, massive budgets, resulting in peak creativity: those times are over. Now "they" have full control. It always saddens me when I read "that's so boring", "they put the same look 4 times in the show", "again a studio shoot", "pushing again that ugly bag", "it looks like the version of X's shoe" and so on. Because I know the struggle behind it and nowadays it's incredibly difficult to push back. Most of the time, the CD had nothing to do with it, it was demanded to them.

I was hoping that with the numbers continuing to sink, they'd wake up and realise that luxury needs to be aspirational again, but it doesn't seem like we're getting there. It's going to be really interesting to look at numbers 2 years from now to see if the new era we're about to go through with all the new appointees starting in September will have been the right strategy or not.

In a moment when CEOs are obsessed with being the (insert nationality of your brand) version of Hermès (and now The Row also gets mentioned -- those two brands only being mentioned because they're the ones performing well) only because they think that copying someone will ensure a similar level of success, they should be smarter and try to think of what could make their brand stand out. Clearly considering current numbers, what they've decided so far hasn't proven to be the right way.

If it all crumbles, perhaps we'll see a new wave of CEOs that have creative backgrounds and it'll get exciting again? We shall see.
 
I'd need to do some research to pull out some numbers to support my argument but based on my observations as someone who works with key players in the industry, I started really feeling the shift after Covid.

It's not just how well you perform, but how fast you're doing so. After all these years of being so dependent on China / Asia to justify great numbers in financial reports, suits started freaking out when they felt the wind was starting to shift.

All of a sudden, creative projects started being questioned if not cancelled, or they were requested to be "diluted a bit in order to not alienate the audience". I fell off my chair the day I heard that sentence. If you dilute creativity, then what will make you stand out and attract people to buy? So, we entered the era of bargaining with suits in order to release projects. "You can only do this if you also include (insert: the ugly tshirt, the lower tier sneakers, etc. i.e whatever had been cheap to produce and they could get high margin from). That example applied to a vast range of projects from runway shows to campaigns to pop ups etc.

Of course, it led to internal wars between creative and marketing departments. Between those who were adamant to push for a vision, and the others who thought that the safer the better to get those numbers up again. And nowadays, creatives lose the battle because at the end suits hold the reigns of their companies.

They started wanting more "docile" creatives that they would be able to keep under control more easily, trying to make it pass as "giving a chance to a new generation of talents". In reality, they wanted people they could make fit the mold they wanted for the business. To put it short: if I ask you to do a sneaker and put it in your campaign, you're not going to fight back.

Came along massive budget cuts for creative projects, where you get asked to "be inventive" to maintain your creativity level. In short, they're asking you to find a way to achieve your expectations because they won't add a penny to the project. A side note, but let's keep an eye on the whole AI thing because those suits are obsessed and they see what they could do with it. I had the CEO of a major brand showing me how he had been "playing around" and showed me examples of campaigns (!!!) they had done with AI during their weekend in St Bart... I won't be surprised if soon, they might want the collection to be done with AI... It'll start with a capsule, they'll leverage on it from a marketing point of view, and here open the gates of hell.

To put it short: we're in a time where suits lead, not creatives. Big demands, massive budgets, resulting in peak creativity: those times are over. Now "they" have full control. It always saddens me when I read "that's so boring", "they put the same look 4 times in the show", "again a studio shoot", "pushing again that ugly bag", "it looks like the version of X's shoe" and so on. Because I know the struggle behind it and nowadays it's incredibly difficult to push back. Most of the time, the CD had nothing to do with it, it was demanded to them.

I was hoping that with the numbers continuing to sink, they'd wake up and realise that luxury needs to be aspirational again, but it doesn't seem like we're getting there. It's going to be really interesting to look at numbers 2 years from now to see if the new era we're about to go through with all the new appointees starting in September will have been the right strategy or not.

In a moment when CEOs are obsessed with being the (insert nationality of your brand) version of Hermès (and now The Row also gets mentioned -- those two brands only being mentioned because they're the ones performing well) only because they think that copying someone will ensure a similar level of success, they should be smarter and try to think of what could make their brand stand out. Clearly considering current numbers, what they've decided so far hasn't proven to be the right way.

If it all crumbles, perhaps we'll see a new wave of CEOs that have creative backgrounds and it'll get exciting again? We shall see.
You were on point in EVERY single word @Thefrenchy but as you described it is a sad situation...and young designers or creative sometimes are fooled buy brand plus their own ambitions or hungry of fame, they don't know they game really they are stepping in.

And yes currents CEO's are not smart enough and don't have enough fashion/creative backgrounds to find good solutions...

Thanks for sharing!
 
I'd need to do some research to pull out some numbers to support my argument but based on my observations as someone who works with key players in the industry, I started really feeling the shift after Covid.

It's not just how well you perform, but how fast you're doing so. After all these years of being so dependent on China / Asia to justify great numbers in financial reports, suits started freaking out when they felt the wind was starting to shift.

All of a sudden, creative projects started being questioned if not cancelled, or they were requested to be "diluted a bit in order to not alienate the audience". I fell off my chair the day I heard that sentence. If you dilute creativity, then what will make you stand out and attract people to buy? So, we entered the era of bargaining with suits in order to release projects. "You can only do this if you also include (insert: the ugly tshirt, the lower tier sneakers, etc. i.e whatever had been cheap to produce and they could get high margin from). That example applied to a vast range of projects from runway shows to campaigns to pop ups etc.

Of course, it led to internal wars between creative and marketing departments. Between those who were adamant to push for a vision, and the others who thought that the safer the better to get those numbers up again. And nowadays, creatives lose the battle because at the end suits hold the reigns of their companies.

They started wanting more "docile" creatives that they would be able to keep under control more easily, trying to make it pass as "giving a chance to a new generation of talents". In reality, they wanted people they could make fit the mold they wanted for the business. To put it short: if I ask you to do a sneaker and put it in your campaign, you're not going to fight back.

Came along massive budget cuts for creative projects, where you get asked to "be inventive" to maintain your creativity level. In short, they're asking you to find a way to achieve your expectations because they won't add a penny to the project. A side note, but let's keep an eye on the whole AI thing because those suits are obsessed and they see what they could do with it. I had the CEO of a major brand showing me how he had been "playing around" and showed me examples of campaigns (!!!) they had done with AI during their weekend in St Bart... I won't be surprised if soon, they might want the collection to be done with AI... It'll start with a capsule, they'll leverage on it from a marketing point of view, and here open the gates of hell.

To put it short: we're in a time where suits lead, not creatives. Big demands, massive budgets, resulting in peak creativity: those times are over. Now "they" have full control. It always saddens me when I read "that's so boring", "they put the same look 4 times in the show", "again a studio shoot", "pushing again that ugly bag", "it looks like the version of X's shoe" and so on. Because I know the struggle behind it and nowadays it's incredibly difficult to push back. Most of the time, the CD had nothing to do with it, it was demanded to them.

I was hoping that with the numbers continuing to sink, they'd wake up and realise that luxury needs to be aspirational again, but it doesn't seem like we're getting there. It's going to be really interesting to look at numbers 2 years from now to see if the new era we're about to go through with all the new appointees starting in September will have been the right strategy or not.

In a moment when CEOs are obsessed with being the (insert nationality of your brand) version of Hermès (and now The Row also gets mentioned -- those two brands only being mentioned because they're the ones performing well) only because they think that copying someone will ensure a similar level of success, they should be smarter and try to think of what could make their brand stand out. Clearly considering current numbers, what they've decided so far hasn't proven to be the right way.

If it all crumbles, perhaps we'll see a new wave of CEOs that have creative backgrounds and it'll get exciting again? We shall see.
I enjoyed this post very much. Merci. ❤️
 
I'd need to do some research to pull out some numbers to support my argument but based on my observations as someone who works with key players in the industry, I started really feeling the shift after Covid.

It's not just how well you perform, but how fast you're doing so. After all these years of being so dependent on China / Asia to justify great numbers in financial reports, suits started freaking out when they felt the wind was starting to shift.

All of a sudden, creative projects started being questioned if not cancelled, or they were requested to be "diluted a bit in order to not alienate the audience". I fell off my chair the day I heard that sentence. If you dilute creativity, then what will make you stand out and attract people to buy? So, we entered the era of bargaining with suits in order to release projects. "You can only do this if you also include (insert: the ugly tshirt, the lower tier sneakers, etc. i.e whatever had been cheap to produce and they could get high margin from). That example applied to a vast range of projects from runway shows to campaigns to pop ups etc.

Of course, it led to internal wars between creative and marketing departments. Between those who were adamant to push for a vision, and the others who thought that the safer the better to get those numbers up again. And nowadays, creatives lose the battle because at the end suits hold the reigns of their companies.

They started wanting more "docile" creatives that they would be able to keep under control more easily, trying to make it pass as "giving a chance to a new generation of talents". In reality, they wanted people they could make fit the mold they wanted for the business. To put it short: if I ask you to do a sneaker and put it in your campaign, you're not going to fight back.

Came along massive budget cuts for creative projects, where you get asked to "be inventive" to maintain your creativity level. In short, they're asking you to find a way to achieve your expectations because they won't add a penny to the project. A side note, but let's keep an eye on the whole AI thing because those suits are obsessed and they see what they could do with it. I had the CEO of a major brand showing me how he had been "playing around" and showed me examples of campaigns (!!!) they had done with AI during their weekend in St Bart... I won't be surprised if soon, they might want the collection to be done with AI... It'll start with a capsule, they'll leverage on it from a marketing point of view, and here open the gates of hell.

To put it short: we're in a time where suits lead, not creatives. Big demands, massive budgets, resulting in peak creativity: those times are over. Now "they" have full control. It always saddens me when I read "that's so boring", "they put the same look 4 times in the show", "again a studio shoot", "pushing again that ugly bag", "it looks like the version of X's shoe" and so on. Because I know the struggle behind it and nowadays it's incredibly difficult to push back. Most of the time, the CD had nothing to do with it, it was demanded to them.

I was hoping that with the numbers continuing to sink, they'd wake up and realise that luxury needs to be aspirational again, but it doesn't seem like we're getting there. It's going to be really interesting to look at numbers 2 years from now to see if the new era we're about to go through with all the new appointees starting in September will have been the right strategy or not.

In a moment when CEOs are obsessed with being the (insert nationality of your brand) version of Hermès (and now The Row also gets mentioned -- those two brands only being mentioned because they're the ones performing well) only because they think that copying someone will ensure a similar level of success, they should be smarter and try to think of what could make their brand stand out. Clearly considering current numbers, what they've decided so far hasn't proven to be the right way.

If it all crumbles, perhaps we'll see a new wave of CEOs that have creative backgrounds and it'll get exciting again? We shall see.
You were on point in EVERY single word @Thefrenchy but as you described it is a sad situation...and young designers or creative sometimes are fooled buy brand plus their own ambitions or hungry of fame, they don't know they game really they are stepping in.

And yes currents CEO's are not smart enough and don't have enough fashion/creative backgrounds to find good solutions...

Thanks for sharing!
I think that a core issue with the current crop of CEOs is the ego mixed with stupidity.

They lack the creativity to put a vision together, while lacking the awareness or the humility to acknowledge it. The ugly truth is that 30 to 50 years in the future, Pinault, Belletini, etc won't be the protagonists of their stories, they'll be the supporting casts in Blazy, Michele and Demna's.
 
I think that a core issue with the current crop of CEOs is the ego mixed with stupidity.

They lack the creativity to put a vision together, while lacking the awareness or the humility to acknowledge it. The ugly truth is that 30 to 50 years in the future, Pinault, Belletini, etc won't be the protagonists of their stories, they'll be the supporting casts in Blazy, Michele and Demna's.

Exactly; and the designers will be the ones to shoulder all of the blame. Regardless of how much say they had in putting out what they did at the end of the day.

@Thefrenchy thank you for your post.

I feel like that is ultimately what led to Donatella's/Versace's downfall. The sale of the brand led to this method of thinking and decision making which wound up sidelining her.
 

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