An analysis whether if it’s okay for creative directors to bring in their own aesthetics to a legacy brand
By Manish Mishra
The global luxury landscape is in a tizzy of sorts with several creative directors being hired and fired at an unfailing regularity. Hedi Slimane parted ways with Celine, Virginie Viard and Chanel walked separate ways abruptly and there’s a question mark on some of the celebrated names, who’re still helming crucial creative and artistic roles at some of the leading design houses backed by corporate conglomerates. Ludovic de Saint Sernin departed from Ann Demeulemeester after six months, Rhuigi quit Bally after a year and a half, Serhat Isik and Benjamin Huseby bid adieu to Trussardi after three years in and Charles de Vilmorin left Rochas after two years.
When a creative director is hired, he or she is expected to respect the legacy of the design house and lend it a touch of newness while also making the offerings commercially viable. With brands itching to reach out to a newer demographic, expand into unexplored markets, open new stores and also be seen as ‘cool’, artistic directors have a mammoth task in front of them. The men in suits calling the shots at these prestigious design houses expect a magic potion–from a sensational ad campaign which becomes a talking point on social media to the creation of a cult bag, which gets photographed to death on the red carpet fuelling an unprecedented demand.
The newly appointed artistic lead has two options–either play safe, dive deep into the archive and play by the rules or completely turn things around, appealing to a newer set of consumers who are perhaps expecting more. It could be tricky as you can’t confuse the existing consumers, who are used to a specific aesthetic, design philosophy and packaging. Moreover, you also need to offer something unique and unexpected for newer clients!
However, expecting a design head to constantly honour the legacy and reimagine the archival pieces can lead to mundane designs without fresh energy. There has to be a balance which can work wonderfully well.
A case in point being Anthony Vaccarello at Saint Laurent who since his arrival at the hallowed French fashion house has honoured the founder–Yves’ legacy without compromising his own personal viewpoint. Before joining Saint Laurent, Anthony always created in-your-face, sensually charged ready-to-wear for his eponymous label. Body-con dresses slashed at the pelvage and mostly in black with a hint of metallics. After he arrived at YSL, he did offer his signature sexiness but kept the monumental legacy of Yves on his mood board–from the way Yves dressed, and his own wardrobe to offering tribute to the founder’s see-through pieces, which at one point shocked the world. Every collection by Vaccarello brings a new element from the rich Saint Laurent archive–from impeccably tailored suits to leather coats to safari jackets and sheer dresses immortalised by his muses–Bella Hadid, Kate Moss and Anja Rubik.
On the contrary, his predecessor Hedi Slimane had shaped up Saint Laurent in his own image offering skinny suits, tight-as-a-leotard mini dresses and denims. In fact, Hedi removed ‘Yves’ from YSL for the ready-to-wear category and even shifted the brand headquarters from Paris to LA.
Cut to the present, he recently left Celine–another legacy French design house which he again crafted in his own image–skinny suits, micro-minis, cardigans and babydoll dresses. Hedi’s first collection at Celine was met with shock by baffled Celine consumers, who were Phoebe Philo loyalists and bought into her clever stealth chic. But that’s just Hedi. It’s either his way or the highway. If one studies his vast body of work from his Dior Homme days, he has always been lending design houses a sense of cool, a hint of rock ’n’ roll with statement-making, subversive ready-to-wear and stunningly shot indie campaigns (Hedi being an ace photographer himself). His critics may have panned him but commercially, he’s always been an asset at every house he’s worked at–whether it’s Dior Homme, Saint Laurent or Celine. If the vision of the creative director is strong and he’s able to inspire instant desirability then he doesn’t need to look into the archive. Like it or lump it but Hedi has always managed to fashion a sense of cool. Something which Virginie Viard was unable to do at Chanel even though she was Karl Lagerfeld’s right hand and had an incredibly long innings at the house. While Viard did recreate Chanel classics and dug deep into the house founder Gabrielle Chanel’s life–from her apartment at Rue Cambon to the convent where she grew up–the abbey of Aubazine, the collections felt in need of better styling and execution. The storied French house’s artistic director’s spot is still empty, not surprisingly.
The newly appointed Alessandro Michele’s recent collections at Valentino have also met with a rash of mixed reactions. While those who swear by his geek chic, magpie aesthetic have found them alluring and whimsical and others have accused him of being a one-trick pony and Gucci-fying Valentino (referring to his previous maximalism-inspired works at Gucci). While his predecessor Pier Paolo Piccioli had a minimal, polished and refined take on Valentino Garavani’s illustrious archive, Michele’s approach is rather eclectic, romantic, cinematic and fantastical.
His Spring-Summer ’25 collection for Valentino had a significant influence from the house’s archive, as well as the bourgeois dress codes of Rome, where Valentino Garavani founded the house in the 1960s. Michele’s stellar success at Gucci had a lot to do with his ability to create one ‘it’ bag after another–from Jackie and Diana to GG Marmont and Gucci Horsebit 1955. At his Valentino runway debut, he sent out a panoply of new handbags adorned with the Valentino ‘V’ motif. It’s anybody’s guess that Michele loyalists will lap them up in the coming months.
When one examines a heritage brand like Valentino, which has a deep history, one needs to account for two very different kinds of customers. One that is a brand loyalist and one that is a follower of said creative director. There definitely is a shift when a new creative director takes over, but when we’re talking about heritage brands like Gucci and Valentino, the brand’s imagery and aesthetic need to be in synergy at some level with that of the new creative director.
