On February 14, Louis Vuitton announced the appointment of American rapper, record producer, and fashion designer Pharrell Williams as creative director of menswear, who will present the brand's first collection at Paris Menswear Week in June.
This is Pietro Beccari's first major decision since taking over as chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton on February 1. He said Pharrell Williams' creative vision in fashion and beyond will undoubtedly lead Louis Vuitton to an exciting new chapter.
Born in Virginia, Pharrell Williams is a recording artist, producer, songwriter, philanthropist, and fashion designer. It is reported that Pharrell Williams not only owns his own clothing brand, has won many awards in the field of music and film, but also founded a non-profit organization, inspiring the potential of countless young people. In 2020, Virgil Abloh revealed in an interview that he was deeply influenced by Pharrell Williams in the early 21st century.
Pharrell Williams co-founded pioneering street brand BillionaireBoys Club and skateboard-inspired shoe brand Ice Cream in 2005 with Japanese trend designer Nigo. In addition, as early as 2004 and 2008, Pharrell Williams worked with Louis Vuitton to design a series of eyewear and jewelry products, in addition to long-term relationships with luxury fashion brands such as Chanel, Moncler, Tiffany & Co., and sports and outdoor brands such as Nike, Reebok and Timberland.
Although Louis Vuitton's new creative director of menswear this time is not an initiative to change coaches, but a long period of careful choice in more than a year after Virgil Abloh's death.
However, it is worth noting that in the increasingly frequent wave of creative director changes, it is already difficult to conclude that "absolutely correct", but presents two ideas. 01 ——Looking forward, continue to focus on using trend designers, and even cross-field search for trend idols to master the creative power, bringing more innovative diversified and avant-garde perspectives to the brand; 02 —— Or after embracing changes many times, return to the classic values under the brand culture inheritance to a greater extent, and seek stable changes. The choice of designers, to some extent, can also be seen as a cultural trend choice between avant-garde and classic.
Whether it is a business decision or a cultural trend, in the face of the continuous iteration of consumer subjects such as Generation Z, Generation Alpha and so on in the future, and the consequent upgrading and evolution of consumption and aesthetic needs, and the continuous changes in the content communication context in the digital era, the two choices may not be absolutely right or wrong. But what is worth thinking about for all fashion and luxury brands is that since there is already more than one choice, is there still a "third idea"?
Regarding the two ideas of choosing a creative director, the wave of creative director turnover in the past period has been verified many times.
Perhaps the main consumer force of the past two generations is the young group, or as the main aesthetic and cultural communication context of fashion luxury brands in the digital age, it has "must" be grasped by designers with trendy cultural backgrounds? In the past decade or so, the first side of the coin has included two menswear creative directors with similar multicultural perspectives and cross-border professional backgrounds, from Virgil Abloh to Pharrell Williams; It also includes Nigo, who co-founded the street brand Billionaire Boys Club with Pharrell Williams, and became the artistic director of Kenzo, a brand of the LVMH group, in 2021.
From Riccardo Tisci to Daniel Lee, Burberry's two consecutive creative directors, either well versed in the dark aesthetics of street culture or with a highly iconic avant-garde creative logo, have also shown drastic innovations and improved performance to varying degrees during their tenure at different brands in their past careers.
Of course, there is no shortage of trial and error.
On the other side of the coin, there is also a "contrast" visible to the naked eye.
As Gucci's new creative director, Sabato De Sarno, was announced two weeks ago, the brand's expectations are more focused on the excavation and use of its unique heritage than those trendy designers with strong personal logos. Marco Bizzarri, President and CEO of Gucci, said in a public statement: "Sabato De Sarno has worked with a number of famous Italian luxury brands, and I am sure that through his deep understanding and interpretation of Gucci's unique heritage, he will lead our creative team with a unique vision to write an exciting new chapter and strengthen its position as an authority in the fashion industry." ”
The shift in focus to travel is further validation of Gucci's "return" strategic awareness. At the end of last year, Gucci's first travel boutique opened on rue Saint-Honoré in Paris, and Marco Bizzarri told WWD: "This boutique represents the next phase of our strategy – Gucci Valigeria is a powerful expression of our Florentine roots and timeless craftsmanship, one of Gucci's legacies. ”
When Rhuigi Villaseñor, founder and designer of Los Angeles-based Rhude, became creative director of Bally, CEO Nicolas Girotto also said: "His deep understanding of Bally's history and Swiss culture is a must-have to drive the brand in the future." Earlier, Kim Jones' first women's ready-to-wear collection for Fendi was inspired by the wardrobes of the five sisters of the Fendi family.
At the WWD Apparel and Retail CEO Summit, Bartolomeo "Leo" Rongo, CEO of Bottega Veneta, also praised new creative director Matthieu Blazy for embracing the brand's tradition of "extraordinary craftsmanship" and challenging the artisans of its Montebello leather goods workshop to push new limits in technology
After taking over as Loewe's creative director, Jonathan Anderson also said: "I don't expect to give Loewe a makeover overnight, there have been attempts to do this before, but it doesn't solve the problem fundamentally. At the same time, I want to keep what the brand is born with. ”
As pointed out earlier, in the face of continuous changes and upgrades in the future, it is still impossible to draw conclusions from a cultural or business perspective. Today's street trends may become tomorrow's classic traditions; Today's classic traditions also have the potential to become unique and avant-garde perspectives in the future.
In the face of the evolution and iteration of market and cultural reality, it is difficult to conclude that the choice of creative director is "absolutely correct", and the emergence of stereotypes based on patterns and ideas outside of aesthetic expression has become the only choice. Based on this, whether it is the choice of creative directors, or more brand renewals, is there a certain moderate scope and aspect? Or a step-by-step innovation from point to point?
Focusing on the change of creative directors for a long time in the past, after seeing two options; After we've discussed the dialectical relationship between street culture and luxury brands for a long time, do we still have a "three" option?
Perhaps the most typical and well-known in the past is the model of Raf Simons joining Prada since 2020 as co-creative director with Muccia Prada; or Jean Paul Gaultier's guest designer model from Olivier Rousteing to Haider Ackermann after his retirement; Or maybe it's a boom in collaboration that has been on the rise in the past few years.
When Lacoste announced its new creative director, Pelagia Kolotouros, it also said in a statement that the brand is moving towards a creative model based on collaboration, not only in the studio, but also with the creative community that works with Lacoste.
It's not hard to see that the "one creative director per brand" appointment model has been further changed in the past few years. This may be the third way of thinking for brands when choosing a creative director, and it is also a choice to balance the classic values inherited by the brand culture with avant-garde ideas such as street trends, and more flexibility and initiative. Even after the active stoppage, the aesthetic, cultural, and market changes are only part of it, not all of them.
In addition, perhaps for fashion luxury brands, the injection of avant-garde creativity and brand image innovation do not necessarily have to be carried out in all categories and all collections at the same time. Among them, it is like the different settings for the creative director of menswear and the creative director of women's wear; Or by developing new collections or brand feeds with new identities.
Change has become the only norm in this world. For the fashion industry, even more so.
Then, whether it is aesthetic expression, business decisions, or personnel appointments, enjoying the existing options is bound to face the risk of being surpassed and eliminated. Grasping relative certainty step by step may be a new way of thinking about both worlds. WWD
Written by Du Mingwei
Edit USASA
Image source: Web