One Hit Wonder Designers?

[tatouejeremie]

anthony vaccarello will probably go down this route as well

 

[Chanelcouture09]

Zac Posen should indeed be on the list. He was legit until circa 2007 when he actually made nice clothes but somehow it all went into a very tacky direction and his ego certainly doesnt help.

I feel like the whole London wave was kind of a one-hit-wonder. Mark Fast, Gareth Pugh and especially Marios Schwab who was one the same level as Christopher Kane for a few seasons but then got really boring while Kane managed to show fresh, new ideas. Gareth Pugh had 3 good ideas for the time his brand existed and everybody knows...

I don't agree on Alexander Wang, his aesthetic might not appeal to a lot of people on tFS (rather his way of ripping of Helmut Lang) but he is constantly featured in blogs and editorials and obviously managed to get some good executives to build his brand.

Someone who I fear is going to be on this list soon is Mary Katrantzou, because her aestetic is so trend-based people slowly start getting sick of her.

She's already there with her prints, they started off quirky, but now they all just look the same.

 

[fashionista-ta]

I see Alexander Wang as somewhat similar to Michael Kors, who's been successful with a fairly consistent look for many years now. I see no reason to believe he won't continue to be successful. I think there's a big difference between one hit, and a consistent look for one's label that continues to evolve and offer useful pieces.

Zac Posen seems to have dropped off the radar ...

 

[Scott]

i agree with you guys about mary katrantzou. i've just not been impressed with her recent work to get behind it.

i hate to say this but....sandra backlund. there was a period where i thought she was going to make a major mark(in an indie sort of way,of course)....she had quite a lot of buzz generated for a couple seasons but the last year i haven't heard much at all.

there's a few NY designers that i think would fall into this category....Bruce NY.....they were highly touted in the late 90's and early noughties but after 9/11 they faced financial issues and were forced to close down for a while,eventually returning in 2007-08 for a season or two but now they've dropped off the map again....haven't seen or heard one thing.

one of my absolute favorite groundbreaking NY labels/talents of the early noughties was Company of Unorganized People. sadly aliona yurtsevich became a victim of financial problems and closed down. but for as short of time as she was around,i still think about the work she produced.

michelle lowe-holder is another one. big in the early part of the last decade but kind of went quiet for a while...came back but she's now changed her product direction....focusing now on jewellery and handbags.

 

[AtticusFinch]

Daryl K.

Leather leggings. That's it. And even then they are often on sale at the frequent trunk shows.

 

[floodette]

resurrecting this thread.

what happen to zak posen now, except the entflix documentary?

 

[perfect blue]

Reading this thread scares me. A lot of designers were talented but they couldn’t keep up with where culture and the consumer bases were going. And some designers simply had no foresight of business management and financing. Luck can be against you but so can having the wrong people in your team.

 

[donyan]

there are so many that come to mind, Angelo Figus, C.Neon, Arkadius, Bernadette Corporation, so many that I got excited about at one point or another. Some have just disappeared from the mainstream but are still around and doing well I think. Bernhard Willhelm and Bless seem to have carved out their specific clientele and are still around, so is Lutz Huelle, who seems more visible now than ever before .
I’m sad about Anne Valerie Hash , and I miss Felipe Oliveira Baptista too, but at least he’s managed to stay visible with Lacoste.

 

[anlabe32]

anthony vaccarello will probably go down this route as well

Who would've know back then...

 

[mathiaskatz]

Dare I bring up the Proenza duo and Sies Marjan? Will this post get deleted?

 

[GivenchyHomme]

Proenza Schouler is not a one hit wonder. They've gradually put themselves into irrelevance. It didn't happen overnight. I'm not defending them, but they really don't qualify.

 

[kasper!]

Eddie Borgo. He has the help from CHANEL president Maureen Chiquet and did a collaboration with Tiffany (not as the same level with Jean Schlumberger and Elsa Peretti but still it's a huge thing for a young jewel designer).

Now? Nowhere to buy his jewlry and his IG account is almost dead.

 

[dodencebt]

I know it's way too early to tell, and probably unfair that I'm saying this now, but I think Tomo Koizumi has the potential to be a one hit wonder designer and disappear within a few seasons if he doesn't evolve past the tulle.

 

[perhydrol]

Rodarte is a total one hit wonder brand to me. They had some fantastic collections back in 2008, but now it's totally irrelevant and it has become a caricature of itself in a way.

 

[Lola701]

The biggest one hit wonder of the decade is Hakaan.
I can’t put PS or Rodarte in that category because it would be like saying Claude Montana was a one hit wonder. There’s a difference between gradually being irrelevant and losing yourself than never been able to reach the goals you had and fulfill the expectations people have.

Hakaan is one! Sure! I remember the noise they made when he got to Paris. They basically wanted to recreate the success of Balmain. It failed.

Thomas Tait is another one. They made him bigger than he was and the press put so much pressure on him with that LVMH Prize. Unfortunately, it was too much.

Shayne Oliver. HBA was a bubble. People believed it was bigger than it actually was...And it crashed.

The guys from Public School. Two cute and talented boys... Unfortunately, they didn’t had an identity and being attached to a culture is not an identity. Despite Anna’s support and the hype build around them, they never made it. What they did with DKNY was interesting but it was flop.

Mark Fast, Limi Feu, Todd Lynn and Maxim Simoens are also one hit wonders.

Who’s the next on the list? Halpern!

 

[dodencebt]

To be fair, Vetements was a one hit wonder brand as well. Its hype lasted for four seasons and Demna is lucky that he got the job at Balenciaga. And no one can convince me otherwise.

 

[Norden]

Beyond sad about the inactivity of Thomas tait. Amazing designer with a lot of potential.

 

[lelaid]

The biggest one hit wonder of the decade is Hakaan.
I can’t put PS or Rodarte in that category because it would be like saying Claude Montana was a one hit wonder. There’s a difference between gradually being irrelevant and losing yourself than never been able to reach the goals you had and fulfill the expectations people have.

Hakaan is one! Sure! I remember the noise they made when he got to Paris. They basically wanted to recreate the success of Balmain. It failed.

When I saw the title of this thread I immediately thought of Hakaan! I liked his stuff so it's a shame tbh. Danielle Scutt had some hype around her for a hot second then disappeared.

 

[Deleted member 143689]

Dare I bring up the Proenza duo and Sies Marjan? Will this post get deleted?

SM had one of my posts deleted again LOL

 

[Marc10]

Shayne Oliver. HBA was a bubble. People believed it was bigger than it actually was...And it crashed

HBA was kinda ahead of its time tbh. Shayne pretty much birthed this whole American streetwear generation, way more than Virgil. But by the time the look reached mainstream the brand had started to fade. It's a shame really, he was a bit off a transgressive, HBA had a distinctive queer sensibility that was really interesting in a very dude-bro universe (Telfar is filling that void in a way)