But you see, Tisci and Olivier are two different designers who rose to fame at almost two different times. Olivier also benefited from connections, that made him a household name. He was from a generation of very talented/gifted but extremely connected designers. And he is the one who had the worldwide fame before all the others. He dressed Madonna, was quickly embraced and supported by Anna, was aknowledged by Karl.
Olivier was recognized and celebrated before having any type of commercial success.
For me Riccardo is a very different designer. He is Italian, his influences are different and I would say maybe more complex. I would never compare the two designers normally but if I should say something, I would say that Riccardo was always more confident as a designer than Olivier was ever.
I remember at the time, a lot of people went to the Nina Ricci shows but tbh, they went because it was a talented supported by important figures. I don’t think people in Paris were particularly fond of his work. But suddenly, in his last show, he delivered one of his best collection ever. It was such a waste. Very frustration to do a farewell that is that successful when your entire tenure has been a bit lackluster.
I think Riccardo connected with woman right from the start because he made clothes that wanted to wear. At the beginning, it was super annoying and pretentious btw. His presentations, the whole thing. It was sometimes over-designed but in Paris, when you make sexy clothes that women can wear to work, you win their heart.
I have never bought anything Olivier even if I liked his work and loved his farewell Nina Ricci. It wasn’t for me. I still have all my Riccardo’s so my opinion is biaised.
Regarding the streetwear conversation. It is logical that Riccardo is known by young people because of that because he was the first one who appropriated the codes of streetwear through the lens of Hip-Hop in the HF context. It’s a bit like The Dior Rasta and Lauryn Hill sections from Galliano in womenswear. And Riccardo embraced the HH community and it worked only because he was at the height of the HF conversation.
And people, even more when they aren’t into fashion, connects with what make sense for them. The hypebeasts only connects with Raf Simons through his early 00’s collections that were embraced later by the likes of ASAP Rocky.
The best work of Raf was for me when his collections were more mature and more tailoring focused. Nobody is talking about that. I have an all leather focused menswear show for Jil Sander in mind.
Alber is again different. Alber was known in Paris in 1998 already. When I started to work in fashion, people were still talking about Tom Ford firing him even though it happened two years before already. For me, he is not in the same conversation as Riccardo. Him, like Hedi was embraced by Pierre Bergé and it gave them an instant boost and mystique in the Parisian scene. Hedi confirmed at Dior Homme. Alber confirmed at Lanvin. And both Alber and Hedi experienced critical and commercial success from their first collections. But Alber spoke to a different crowd, more sophisticated. At the time, the women who wore Birkin bags (they were usually over 40 at that time) were Lanvin clients.
The perception around Alber shifted when he started to dress Nathalie Portman (before it was more Kristin Scott Thomas), when he did his ballet flats and when they relaunched the menswear. Suddenly, they had the sneakers and they were sold at the same places as Dior Homme. So a lot of clients of DH started to wear Lanvin. It even motivated the house I was working at to launch a sneaker.
Alber’s dimension changed again when he made sexier collections. SS2006 was more sexy than usual for example. It was the talk of the town at that time. Then with SS2007, people like Jennifer Lopez adore Lanvin. So there was a build up up until the SS2008 which was his big big HIT! But for me you can’t put him in the same conversation as Riccardo.
If we talk about Riccardo at Balenciaga today, for me, Riccardo is a great CD. Balenciaga will need a CD that is confident with his aesthetic to be able to move on from the Demna years…Much like Demna’s confidence allowed them to move on from the NG that were too heavy for Wang. And I think about Couture. With Chanel, Dior and Givenchy that are going to shift things in Couture, I want somebody experienced and ambitious enough at Balenciaga to do it.
And I’m a sucker of this kind of connections! The fact that the previous CD of Givenchy goes to Balenciaga makes my day. If there was an Ungaro connection with Riccardo, it would have been even more great to me.
Sorry for my extended post lol.
