But… what exactly is a creative director?

Google returns about 17 million results when the terms “creative director” and “fashion” are typed into the search bar. Here are some conclusions (as well as a few questions) to help clarify the industry’s most well-known charge.

A creative director is not always a designer.

Designers were referred to as creative directors for the first time in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Why? Because the firm’s legendary history needed to be updated. (having living, breathing members of their ranks bestow the title of modernist visionaries) in order to be appealing to consumers. Brand executives terminated the licensing contracts that allowed them to produce ties, lingeries, tableware, and other items bearing their names all over the world, and they went on to produce the same products directly. By eliminating the middlemen, they not only controlled the product but also fully benefited from it. The designers of this new era has to oversee all of this offering in addition to the collections that were seen on the catwalk. Being one of the best examples to show this, it’s interesting that when LVMH fired John Galliano in 2011, however, it made reference to him as designer,  Instead of being the creative director. It’s interesting. Or perhaps not.  Today, it is expected that a creative director will oversee the marketing plan and communication, from Instagram feed to the celebrity holding your bag, from the stores to collaborations. In short, their daily life has little to do with the with drawing.

A creative director can be an art director

What is the difference? That the latter sounds better.

A brand’s narrative often includes a creative director as a character.

There are trends here as well. There was a time when it was fashionable to have creative director from humble origins, because he had a story of self-improvement. to tell. A creative director working for the company for years is now considered standard practice. Alessandro Michele, who spent more than a decade at Gucci before being appointed creative director of the firm, is a good example. He is not the only “second” who have stepped up to the plate in recent years: Daniel Lee and Matthieu Blazy worked with Phoebe Philo; Pieter Mulier with Raf Simons.

A creative director is an authority on the zeitgeist.

What exactly does this mean? That it must be capable of anticipating what we will like and dislike. Being in the right place at the right time is a gift of opportunity. Jacquemus accomplished this by recognizing Instagram as the best platform for launching his brand. Coco Chanel recognized the need to liberate women from the constraints of Belle Époque dress and launched her company. Brands expect their creative directors to have a distinct vision and to understand how to align it with the brand’s goals. They require them to maintain coherence while increasing sales. Sometimes a revolution is sought (as Tom Ford did at Gucci), and other times an evolution is sought (as in the Frida chapter of Frida Giannini in the same house).

A creative director is the leader of a team.

It elects its members and supervises, approves, and manages the work of employees and partners. In other words, the creative director does not sign the bag of the season. Now that brands are used to talking (in their own way) about transparency and sustainability, it does not appear to be a bad time to be transparent about the people who make up their teams. Louis Vuitton, for example, has done so with Johnny Coca, the company’s head of women’s leather goods. 

A creative director is front-page news.

With the appointment of Charles de Vilmorin in February 2021, for example, Rochas has generated hundreds of news stories. He was talented, young (24), and felt a connection to the maison because her grandmother knew Hélène Rochas. Read all the Press appearances the company made during those early years have taken longer to become reed than his employment with the company.Thirteen months later the house decided not to renew his contract.

A creative director is, according to statics, a man

Actually, it makes news when a woman is appointed creative director. That rivers of ink were being produced under the false pretense that Clare Waight Keller was the first woman. The artistic director of Givenchy did not protect her from being replaced by a man. Let’s get to the root of the problem rather than going through homes and businesses. Mid-century modern, Paris. The designer’s and the businessman’s identities were entirely divided in 1946, when cotton magnate Marcel Boussac invested 60 million francs in Christian Dior. Rich men willing to invest in fashion companies tended to prefer to put their money at risk in the hands of other men – by In men’s hands, they are thought to be more emotionally stable and less volatile. the chickens have come home to roost. 

A creative director is a household name, but they may not be.

Does the name Jess Lomax sound familiar? Lomax has been the company’s design director since Raf Simons’ departure in 2020 and has signed, among other things, the looks worn by Brittney Griner and his wife, Brittney Griner at the MET Gala. Previously she had been creative director of Women´s Nike Sportswear. Conclusion? Just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there.

A creative director is a scapegoat

Most businesses (fashionable or not) adhere to the logic of responsibility associated with the position. The higher the position, the greater the responsibility. The point is that in fashion firms (especially those that are part of a larger group), the creative director is not the most important position; there are many other people who are involved in the process. Demna is not solely to blame for the escalation of scandals at Balenciaga, though if any heads do roll, it will most likely be his. This idea also applies to sales. There was a time when creative directors could afford to work by trial and error because they had a certain amount of leeway to test their vision in the market. In the age of instantaneity, dismissal should not be interpreted by the creative director as failure, but simply as feedback.

A creative director is someone who is let go

In the euphemism universe, “letting go” reigns supreme. You have not let him go, you have fired him. The reasons for dismissal can be many and varied. Josephus Thimister, who led Balenciaga’s creative team from 1991 to 1996, was “let go” as a result of the high volume of the music that was played during their Fall/Winter 1997 fashion show.

A creative director is someone who leaves

And sometimes doesn’t come back. Like Hannah MacGibbon, who, before bidding Chloé farewell, put to dance to the rhythm of the seventies aesthetics that still dances to this day. Since 2011 she has his own consulting agency. More recently, Tom Ford the man has fired from Tom Ford the firm to pursue a career in film directing.  Everyone has the right to become bored with fashion theater.