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Story MINH NHAT
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In the contemporary fashion world, a fresh approach is allowing new talents to explore the richness of heritage.
Changing attitudes
Looking back at the 2010s, the trend among luxury fashion houses was to collaborate with high-profile creative directors (CDs) and prominent designers. Their big names were directly proportional to their avant-garde creative abilities and generated adoration from the public. A prime example is the buzz around Hedi Slimane from 2000 to 2019. The term “Hedi boy” represented the distinctive style that the designer built for personal branding, as Slimane overshadowed the heritage of the fashion houses he was significantly involved in.
The purpose of LVMH in reaching out to Hedi twice was to rejuvenate its century-old fashion brands in line with the trend of increasingly younger customers. However, the company inadvertently became a backdrop for the games of a “dictatorial” genius with a sharp creative mind as it relied on a single individual. Another idea began to emerge: the relationship between rich heritage brands and CDs would be stronger if the brand has a firm stance in preserving its own history. Thus, the strategy of revolving brands around CDs in the 2010s collapsed in the early years of the 2020s.
Presently, CDs don’t necessarily have to be a famous name to the masses, but rather individuals with a love for the brand and a spirit of prioritizing heritage. Gucci chose Sabato De Sarno, who has long worked under Pier Paolo Piccioli at Valentino. ALAÏA selected Pieter Mulier, the right-hand man of Raf Simons. Bottega Veneta appointed Matthieu Blazy, a designer with experience at Balenciaga, Maison Margiela and Calvin Klein. Even in the case of Burberry and Daniel Lee, from the first collection to the present, the classic brand identity has been consistently used: the English rose, hunting caps, striped patterns and the EKD, that familiar knight-on-horseback logo from 1901. The new Burberry features very little information about Daniel Lee and thousands of details about Burberry itself. For Balenciaga, the brand chose to develop its heritage by proudly bringing back its Haute Couture line starting in Fall/Winter 2021. Balenciaga’s current peculiarity does not let the brand’s head forget the fact that Cristóbal Balenciaga was one of the most famous couture designers of the 20th century.
New faces at the top
As fashion shifts away from the habit of turning to superstars, more opportunities open up for young talents. Maximilian Davis, who is revamping Ferragamo’s image, only graduated from a London fashion institute in 2017. “I want to prove that Ferragamo is not just the brand your parents wear,” Davis shared with Vogue Arabia in September 2023. “When someone arrives at a brand, they need to change the whole perspective of what the past was, and the way we can energize and renovate what we have,” he added.
While many still doubt the decision to choose a designer in his 20s as the creative director for a brand with nearly 100 years of history, Ferragamo responded: “The explanation lies right in the heritage.” After all, Salvatore Ferragamo created his first pair of shoes at the age of 9, moved to the U.S. at 16 without knowing English, found a job in a workshop and became the favorite shoemaker of icons like Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe.
Julien Dossena may be an unfamiliar name to many, but he is the latest designer to join the Couturier team of Jean Paul Gaultier (JPG). Unlike any other brand, JPG believes that the world of high-end artisanal fashion should not be a closed circle, at least not for young creators. Since the Fall/Winter 2021 season, each JPG Haute Couture collection has been created by a designer personally chosen by Gaultier himself. AnOther magazine describes JPG’s decision as “one of the most genuine gestures for the contemporary fashion community,” offering freedom to explore Haute Couture and to delve into archives that include iconic designs from the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Thus, over five seasons, JPG has become a highlight of the Haute Couture fashion week, enabling Chitose Abe, Glenn Martens, Olivier Rousteing, Haider Ackermann and Julien Dossena to showcase their fresh visions.
A future full of promise
The epitome of loyalty to heritage surely must be Karl Lagerfeld, who impeccably captured the essence of both CHANEL and Fendi as creative director. Instead of seeking a famous star, the current trend is to find “successors to Lagerfeld,” individuals who are committed to maintaining the essence of the brand above all else while still introducing directions appropriate for the era. Meanwhile, the fashion community is not lacking in young talent. Rather than shifting established designers from one brand to another, the new trend opens up more opportunities for newcomers and even for those not so new but who have spent enough time behind the scenes to develop a vision and plan to maintain a heritage.
