People keep asking for “Martine Rose at LV!” “Wales Bonner at Gucci!” “Aaron Esh at AMQ!” But did they ever stop to think that sending all the best young designers in the game right now to work at massive fashion Houses might not be a good move?
Fashion’s Creative Directors stay moving around
Fashion’s been playing a game of musical chairs lately, with different Creative Directors coming and leaving the helm of brands every season, and it has people questioning: when’s the next generation of Creative Directors stepping in? As the big names keep swapping seats at major fashion Houses, the public have been calling out brands for not looking towards small designers to take their place. But is that actually what we want?
Martine Rose is best at Martine Rose
London-based designer Martine Rose is one of the main young designers that we’ve been citing as a good candidate for high fashion Houses to enlist as their next Creative Director, with Vogue Business even dropping an article titled “Is Martine Rose a Louis Vuitton mens designer contender?” in 2022, before Pharrell was appointed in that role.
The British-Jamaican menswear designer has become known for her design’s streetwear-meets-tailoring style and accessible (for high fashion) price point, bringing her own unique take to the industry that we’re not seeing anywhere else. But if Rose took on a role at Louis Vuitton, not only would she need to mould her style to fit an aesthetic that’s been established over two centuries of the House, likely changing her personal style dramatically, but it would also make buying her designs for their current prices impossible. So do we really want Martine Rose at Louis Vuitton?
Ferragamo’s great, but we miss Maximilian Davis
We’ve already seen exactly this happen to Maximilian Davis. In 2020, the LCF graduate founded his eponymous label, Maximilian, and became quickly renowned for his subversive takes on tailoring and his family-driven design narratives. Publications at the time called Davis “London’s new fashion star,” and by October 2021, one year into the creation of his label, he was dressing the likes of Rihanna. So is it any surprise he was quickly snatched up by Ferragamo in 2023?
After Ferragamo enlisted Davis as its Creative Director, he shut down his eponymous label to put all his concentration into his new role. Whilst we have to accept that it paid off, with Maximilian Davis now being credited for reviving Ferragamo, it's hard not to wonder what his level of talent could’ve created if it’d been left to foster independently, rather than at such a huge, pre-established brand.
Designers of the past have kind of proven it
It might sound dramatic to say that young designers being enlisted by major fashion Houses has the potential to stunt their careers, until you look at the designers who’ve flourished at their own independent labels in the past. Imagine Dries Van Noten or Rick Owens closing their eponymous labels to design clothing for a brand under one of the dominating fashion conglomerates; the fashion world would be distraught.
Similarly, Alexander McQueen’s a good example of a designer who excelled at his own label, where he was allowed to be as unique, creative, and fearless as his designs warranted, but struggled to ever feel comfortable as the Creative Director for another brand. Succeeding Galliano at Givenchy was one of the low-lights of McQueens career, with him calling his own first collection for the brand in 1997 “crap.”
After his debut SS97 show for Givenchy was met with highly critical reviews, McQueen was forced to strip back his personality from his designs. Even after this, his relationship with the brand was strained. Whilst this type of thing isn’t common, a talented designer being appointed at a brand that their designs doesn’t mesh well with can derail their confidence and force them to hide their personal style.
Please can fashion leave young designers alone?
All of that leads us to the conclusion that young, emerging designers who are just starting out at their own eponymous labels need to be left to flourish. In the long term, this might even make way for new brands to start competing with the “big,” household names that’ve been dominating the game for decades.
Of course, we’re all waiting for the designers of our generation to get a chance to compete in the big leagues, and it's not inherently a bad thing when small designers are given such an opportunity. Most of them still continue to run their own brands anyway, like Marc Jacobs when he was at Louis Vuitton or Raf Simons at Calvin Klein. They just need time to establish themselves before they get snatched away from their own brands. Can big fashion Houses please leave them alone… just for now.
Featured image via Martine Rose©
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