Do fashion brands really need a Creative Director?

There are quite a few seats open on the carousel of Creative Directors right now, with speculation buzzing about who’s going to the likes of Chanel, Fendi and Givenchy. But instead of adding to the noise around which existing CDs should go where, we’ve decided to give props to the members of the fashion industry that could probably do any Creative Director’s job for them: design teams.

Martin Margiela put his money in his design time

Just look to Maison Margiela and you’ll see how a brand can compete in the fashion industry without a Creative Director. From 2009, when Martin Margiela resigned as Creative Director of the Maison, up until 2014, when John Galliano was appointed, an anonymous design team was behind all of Maison Margiela’s collections, with no single person pulling the strings. For a brand like Maison Margiela, not having one person puppeteering its collections aligns with its ethos, which is based in anonymity.

Gucci’s design team stepped up at FW23 with no CD

After Alessandro Michele stepped down from Gucci, the brand was left in the lurch with no Creative Director behind its Fall/Winter 2023 collection… so its design team came in clutch. Taking the reins on the FW23 show, Gucci’s design team presented a cohesive and commercial collection on a mustard-coloured carpeted runway that left critics overwhelmingly impressed. 

The collection both referenced the House’s archives whilst also painting a dystopian picture of its future, and – as we said at the time – “overall [it] felt very Gucci.” So (no shade to Sabato De Sarno, but) did Gucci really need a new Creative Director when its design team had things under control?

Is the CD really that important? Ask Bottega Veneta

We have to wonder, when brands swap out their Creative Directors without a break in between them, if the seamless transition between them is more down to the design team than the Creative Director themselves. For example, after it was announced Daniel Lee would be stepping down from Bottega Veneta in 2021, the fashion world was rocked by the thought that its new Creative Director could never live up to Lee’s standard. But Matthieu Blazy found his footing immediately, debuting at Bottega’s FW22 show with widespread praise.

Was this because Blazy really is that good, or was it because Lee spent his time at the House letting Bottega’s design team take the wheel, meaning that when he stepped down it wasn’t hard for a new Creative Director to pick up where he left off. When brands experience a smooth transition between Creative Directors, it can be because its design team was doing the most, rather than its last CD.

The perfect match is a CD & design team working together

Whilst the design team is definitely one of the most valuable cogs in the machine that makes up a fashion brand, we do appreciate that the Creative Director serves its purpose too. The presence of CDs can help to break up periods for a brand, pushing it into new eras and using someone else as its face (if it’s received well) or its scapegoat (if it isn’t). The perfect combination is to blend your Creative Director with your design team, like Louis Vuitton’s done with its Menswear recently.

Pharrell might be the famous face enlisted as Louis Vuitton Men’s Creative Director, bringing clout and drama to the House, but he never fails to welcome his whole design team onto the runway at the end of each show, giving credit where it’s deserved. Why choose between a Creative Director and a design team when they serve different purposes, and can work together to create something brilliant?

Featured image via Louis Vuitton©

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