Over the past five years, celebrities have stampeded into the fashion business — some for a fast buck and some for the long haul. Among the survivors: Sean "Diddy" Combs, who won the CFDA men's wear award for Designer of the Year in 2004, and Jennifer Lopez and Gwen Stefani, who were among the most buzzed-about runway shows of recent fashion weeks here.
But there's a key catch: In the world of celebrity fashion brands, if the celebrity doesn't wear his or her own merchandise, will the consumer?
The $100 million breach of contract lawsuit against Jessica Simpson charges her with failing to promote her clothing lines, Princy and JS by Jessica Simpson. The Tarrant Apparel Group, manufacturer of the lines, alleged that Simpson failed to support the lines and refused to be photographed wearing clothes from her collections.
In an interview with WWD in August, Simpson, fresh off a $10 million advance on the fashion lines, said, "I don't want the Jessica Simpson brand to be anything I wouldn't wear." But the Princy line is a young contemporary collection of denim (retailing between $59 and $99); knit tops (retailing between $24 and $59), and jackets (retailing between $69 and $89), which might be considered a bit junior for the 25-year-old singer and actress who is known to wear dresses from collections like Valentino and Roberto Cavalli.
"I have a vision for what I want done," Simpson said in August. "I don't want my name on something that isn't right."
It seemed the advertising campaigns were consistent with Simpson's ideas on the brand. In November, Simpson, now in the midst of a divorce from Nick Lachey, was in the Mojave Desert in Lancaster, Calif., shooting a $2 million advertising campaign for her contemporary collection, JS by Jessica Simpson. But when it came time for the Princy advertising campaign, a company spokeswoman said a younger model, not Simpson, was shot for the current spring campaign.
Like Simpson, Lopez was another boldfaced name who caught some flack for not wearing her collection, JLo, a young contemporary collection of denim and logo-driven pieces, but Lopez answered the criticism with her better contemporary collection, Sweetface, which she is frequently photographed wearing.
"We have to work within our own parameters and do what's right for us," Lopez told WWD in February on the eve of her Sweetface presentation here.
Some celebrities attach more than just their names to their brands. Beyoncé Knowles, Nicky Hilton and Stefani are involved in the design process and, more importantly, are photographed wearing their labels everywhere from the red carpet to the streets of Los Angeles. Knowles even launched her collection, House of Deréon, onstage in Japan during a Destiny's Child concert. And some designers are finding the demand to be a designer a little more intense than they bargained for. In February, Lopez told WWD, "All these other big fashion houses do two or three big shows a year, and that's great for them. I like to take it slower."
Like Lopez, Stefani has two collections, Harajuku Lovers, a lower-priced casual line that retails for less than $100, and L.A.M.B., a higher-priced designer contemporary line, but from the beginning, Stefani was often seen wearing looks from both collections, even during her pregnancy.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who sell their tween label at Wal-Mart, are proactively taking measures to make sure their fashion collections jibe with their personal tastes and styles. They have been reshifting their company, Dualstar Entertainment Group, which rang up an estimated $1 billion in retail sales worldwide in 2004, to be more in sync with the budding fashionista image they've grown to personify.
"We've really been narrowing down the company and doing things we want to do," said Ashley, who sat in on fittings with designer Zac Posen and learned why he picked certain pieces for his catwalk.
