When Fame Meets Fashion
Most individuals think fashion is one of the most glamorous jobs one can ever get, which has led many privileged individuals, especially celebrities, to create and establish their own fashion brands. But what do they really know about the profession?
Truth be told, I often wonder what the celebrities actually do for their brand. Do they know how to sew, stitch and draw? Do they know how the process of creating a collection to commercializing it takes place? Most importantly, I continuously think of how the fashion industry has become so oppressed with all the competitors and how unfair it is today, especially for designers who are desperately trying to establish their own brand through their veritable skills.
Image Credit: GQ
Through globalization, the world (in many ways) has become a single, interconnected country. As a result, the fashion industry is now trendier and more popular than ever. Social media platforms, especially Instagram, have played an important role in the successful growth of today’s industry. Consequently, more individuals are more and more interested in fashion as many pursue their dreams by studying design, business, journalism, etc. with the hope of becoming an influential person in the future. Studying fashion design and becoming a designer may seem glamorous and exciting, however, it is a particularly difficult, intensive and exhaustive profession that needs an important savoir faire.
Until a few years ago, the fashion industry was more genuine than it is today, in terms of who-is-the-new-designer-to-follow: young and talented designers such as Thierry Mugler, Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Martin Margiela, Tom Ford, etc. appeared on the scene and proved what they were capable of. After the “first designers” wave (Poiret, Chanel, Balenciaga, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent etc.), younger designers came along to eventually become the first successor fashion houses’ creative directors. On the opposite, fashion is no longer the same. As it became more globalized, celebrities are taking advantage of this revolutionized industry and establishing their own fashion brands.
From Victoria Beckham to and Kanye West and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen to Zayn Malik, the most famous celebrities – and recently bloggers – create their brand at a certain time of their professional career.
To illustrate, Kanye West debuted his Yeezy shoes collaboration with Adidas in 2013 and quickly became a clothing line collaboration which is renewed every season. Distinguished from the other Adidas collaborations, the American rapper is the only one to organize a fashion show for the collaboration. Effectively, the more influential the person is, the more likely the brand/line will be appreciated by the public, which is Yeezy's case. How far and to what extent has Kanye West taken his creative director role? Amongst the collaborations Adidas has been achieving many collaborations with designers and celebrities (Rita Ora, Stella McCartney, Jeremy Scott, Yohji Yamamoto etc.), the Yeezy collection was the only one to organize a fashion show every season, as Kanye West is now one of the world's most influential celebrities. For his Yeezy Season Four collection, the creative director used "97 percent models of color." However, his ultimate goal was to use multiracial women only.
Zayn Malik with Donatella Versace. Image Credit: Versus Versace
After launching his streetwear collection in June 2016, and collaborating with the Italian brand Giuseppe Zanotti, Zayn Malik and Versus recently announced their new collaboration. Malik was a member of the One Direction, one the most popular music bands worldwide. In fact, not only is Zayn Malik known and loved because of the group, but also because of Gigi Hadid, his partner, who is a model and a very influential person, especially in the industry. The fact that Hadid being the face of Versace and Malik the Versus new “creative director”, both appointed by Donatella Versace is not a coincidence. In this Forbes article, Donatella Versace stated the following: I wanted Zayn because he can help me talk to his followers.
Image Credit: Business of Fashion
Another celebrity fashion house is Victoria Beckham’s highly popular label. The Spice Girls member launched her brand in 2008. Since then, the brand shows the collections during New York Fashion Week and has been very successful as it is now sold in many different points of sales. According to a Business of Fashion 2014 article, the "business turned over a respectable £30 million in sales (about $50 million) in 2013, an impressive 91 percent increase on the year prior," according to figures provided by the company.
Image Credit: Matches Fashion
In addition, the Olsen twins’ high-end luxury brand The Row is also one of the most successful labels in today’s fashion. The design house was established in 2006 and the collections are as well shown during New York Fashion Week.
For the last decade, the most influential fashion brands are the ones created by the most influential celebrities, who were not originally designers. As bloggers also became overly popular, they have now the privilege to create their brand, such as Chiara Ferragni’s shoe collection and collaborations.
Image Credit: Forbes
However, as fashion is known to be a “free space” to work in, how can it obviously advantage the public figures more than the qualified and talented fashion designers?
Indeed, it wasn’t a difficult task for House of Harlow (Nicole Richie), The Limited (Eva Longoria) or Good American (Khloe Kardashian) to establish their brand, as well as The Row, Victoria Beckham, and Yeezy to be part of New York Fashion Week. On the other hand, it is a very challenging process for skilled young designers to found their house in the industry they understand the most.
