Who Is He? Unknown Designers Are Popular.

"Who is he?"

This is the consensus reaction of most people, even insiders, when they hear the latest list of brand designers. Yes, compared with former star designers, today's fashion brands seem to prefer unnamed designers.

After being named Balmain, Trussardi, Pringle and Cacharel brand designers respectively, Olivier Rousteing, Umit Benan, Alistair Carr and China from Designer The combination of Ling Liu and Dawei Sun has recently occupied the headlines of major newspapers and periodicals. It is rumoured that the Azzaro brand will also appoint an unknown genius designer to replace Vanessa Seward.

Even after the departure of John Galliano in March this year, red Christian Dior is still under consideration. If we can not dig a new designer from our competitors, we will find an unknown designer instead.

In 2008, Bernard Arnault, the luxury goods giant of LVMH group, which owns Dior, Fendi and Louis Vuitton brands, invited Phoebe Philo to build bricks for Celine. He has always been a famous designer.

In fact, in addition to the opening up for all, Marc Jacobs has joined Louis Vuitton and Alexander McQueen to join Givenchy and Michael Kors to join Celine. The giant has also made some fresh attempts, such as in 2005 invited the unknown Riccardo Riccardo as chief designer.

"The 90s, which is enveloped in a halo, has become a thing of the past. I think we are in a more deliberate stage. " Vanessa Denza, founder and owner of Denza, a fashion headhunter in London, concludes.

"I even feel that today's economic oriented world makes people more rational. They realize that the success of a brand is not so much that it comes from a large design team, but rather from a suitable team. As far as I know, many big names are very long and cautious about the choice of their chief designer. "

　 Old designer switch to new designer

Agn s Barret, President of Agent Secret, a creative design headhunter from Paris, believes that fashion needs constant innovation. "The world is so small that the development of fashion can not rely solely on samsara. Fortunately, there are many new faces on the international stage that can provide fresh blood for the fashion industry and the brand they serve. "

According to Barret, the withdrawal of Galliano from Dior and the withdrawal of Christophe Decarnin from Balmain means the end of the fashion era. "Do we have to be famous in this industry to succeed? We just want to fall off the altar in the future." "In the final analysis, the design director is not a God," she admits. They are mere mortals, not comparable to the stars of entertainment circles.

Professional headhunters also believe that despite the opening of new Designer The media influence sometimes can even revive a brand. In this era of new generation, this influence is also weakened by the public's attention to the new face and brand connotation.

"Designer's personality charm is also very important. We should have enough attraction for the design team and the brand audience to make them a follower of the brand. Floriane de Saint Pierre, who owns a headhunting consulting firm in Paris, says. "Perhaps the top-down management is out of date. What we want is a more inclusive manager. We must have a strong sense of motivation and responsibility for the whole team and the brand. "

De Saint Pierre understands that since the mid 90s, many Famous brand Start hiring unknown designers: first of all, Guy Laroche is a new attempt to select Alber Elbaz from Geoffrey Beene design company. Over the past ten years, such examples have emerged one after another. Christopher Bailey from Gucci design studio joined Burberry in 2001 as chief designer, while Frida Giannini emerged from a crowd of peers in 2006 and became the creative director of Gucci.

De Saint Pierre believes that it is the trend of the times to hire designers from the design studio to maximize the brand interest.

"When Christopher Bailey, Francisco Costa, Clare Waight Keller, Frida Giannini, the members of the creative team from Tom Ford have established themselves as creative directors of other brands, brands gradually realize the value of these behind the scenes heroes." Mary Gallagher, the Commissioner from New York Martens & Heads headhunting company Paris branch, agrees with this. (similar example is: Costa has become the chief designer of Calvin Klein Collection women's wear department, and Waight Keller has also left Chlo and joined Chlo. "I think brand management thinks that unnamed designers are relatively easy to manage. They cherish the opportunity and do not have many demands like those big designers, at least not at the beginning." {page_break}

"The brand has realized that the core value of the brand and DNA are more important than the personality and thought-form of the creative director." She explains, "because ordinary customers are more concerned about the brand itself than the designers behind it."

　 It's brand, not designer.

Retailers are positive about this. Whether the designer is famous or not has little to do with the sale itself. "In the final analysis, designer's talent is more important than fame, not Motomai Ki." Sarah Rutson, fashion director from Hongkong design brand chain store Lane Crawford. "After all, the importance of brand is better than everything, isn't it?"

Marigay McKee, director of fashion and beauty department from Harrods department store in London, agrees: "customers buy a brand because of its design, brand philosophy or historical heritage, rather than the reputation of the chief designer. As long as the design direction is loyal to this, the customer will maintain loyalty. "

McKee points out that the two new appointments of Rousteing joining Balmain and Sarah Burton to add Alexander McQueen are the best interpretation of this theory, that is, "fashion brands are increasingly paying attention to the consistency of design core, rather than the designer's big brand." For example, Balmain has always adhered to the beauty of design and its "sexy and noble" concept that attracts followers.

Ken Downing, senior vice president and fashion director of Neiman Marcus from upscale department store in America, said that "the sensitivity and uniqueness of design" are the two criteria for measuring a brand's new creative director. "Wine is not afraid of alley." He said.

Instead of listening to the so-called professional recommendations imposed by fashion editors, brand managers or owners sometimes prefer to listen to retailers' opinions. Like previous professional headhunters, Downing also believes that the importance of the new designer's popularity is declining over the past ten years.

"I think the success of Valentino is the best example." He said. This refers to the two person team of Pier Paolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri, who was selected as the creative director of brand in 2008. Before that, they were still unknown designers of the Rome design department.

　 Another thing to be sure is that the popularity of the media is not a guarantee of success.

Rutson, for example, when Lee Alexander McQueen1996 took over Givenchy, he was undoubtedly the fashion star. But the result was not satisfactory. He left four years later and focused on his own brand with Gucci group. Rutson's point of view is that designers must be highly integrated with brands and constantly create works that resonate with customers. "It's like launching a new cake, sometimes popular, sometimes unattended. Fame is not an important recipe, because after joining it, failures and successes are often mixed.

Professional headhunters point out that nowadays, the role of creative director is becoming wider and wider, including advertising promotion, personal image creation and brand promotion.

Gallagher predicts that "image director" will become a new career direction. Unlike the creative director focusing on the product itself, the image director is a "brand maintainer" and a bridge between brand management, designers and customers. She said that the image director "makes all the brand information, history and core values become the cream of the company, which is the core of the company's survival."

"We need a full range of management personnel. He must have strong leadership, be able to provide creative advice, communicate with management and marketing department, and have enough atmosphere to face the public. Denza added, "stylists also need attention. Watch out for them to mix their clothes before the show. Designers must be strong enough. "