Designers are tired of working for others From Kim Jones to Phoebe Philo, fashion’s new wave of independence
«I don’t know where it’ll go but I know there’s an opportunity for something to change and grow, which certainly wasn’t’ the case if we stayed or we remained with LVMH», Marc Jacobs said recently about the transition of his brand from the LVMH group to the more democratic G-III group. Jacobs is not an independent designer, but he wanted to break free from the luxury cage and look with greater freedom toward more democratic audiences.
Other designers from the LVMH stable or otherwise linked to other luxury groups have gone even further: Kim Jones has launched a new brand based in Hong Kong, Kris Van Assche has reopened his, Stella McCartney and Giambattista Valli have returned to independence by buying back their stakes, the same was done by Alanui and Giuseppe Zanotti; Phoebe Philo preceded them all, launching an eponymous brand (which still has LVMH among its investors) and, after having sold his Alyx to Adrian Cheng, Matthew Williams opened a brand under his own name for whose e-commerce he himself serves as the model. You can’t get more indie than that. Outside the LVMH sphere, Donatella Versace has launched a still-unnamed lifestyle brand, just as Olivier Theyskens has created Boloria.
If once upon a time you became famous on your own and then went to work for a big house, today it’s the opposite. You become famous at some major Maison and then strike out on your own. A trend that doesn’t go against the spirit of the times: more and more people are asking why certain creative directors with such a recognizable (read: repetitive) style don’t simply open their own brand instead of altering our notion of pre-existing brands. But why has this “old” generation of creative directors opted for independence right now?
