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Fashion Designer Archetypes

Fashion Designer archetypes

As I was pondering the impact of Balenciaga’s first haute couture show in 50 years (more on that tomorrow), it hit me.

Fashion essentially has two types of designers – The Technical Master and The Marketer.  While there are of course exceptions, most creative directors fall into one of these two archetypes.

Before I unpack these archetypes, let me be clear.  Designers who reach creative director status have technical skills – and good ones at that.  But the true Technical Masters see design like The Matrix.  A sequenced code falling before their eyes in patterns only they can decipher.  Their understanding of cut, shape, silhouette and texture is unparalleled.

If the Technical Master sees a dress, the Marketer sees a woman.

Marketers, on the other hand, see a woman.  Who is their woman?  What is important to her?  How does she live her life?

Marketers know these answers so profoundly they actually bring this woman to life – and make everyone else want to be her.

So how do these two archetypes affect fashion and you as a consumer?

When fashion conglomerates were formed in 1980s, the era of The Technical Master faded.  Design houses with strong love-it-or-leave-it DNA now had to become… commercially viable.  Hence the rise of The Marketer.  Fragrance lines, accessories and beauty products joined the mix and a trajectory that was once about garments became multi-channel licensing.

For us as consumers, we now saw a design house – like Balenciaga, for instance – go from creating sack dresses and balloon coats to a streetwear brand.  Their brand DNA was altered.  It became more about marketing the brand than focusing on the technical mastery that once set it apart.

From that transition, fashion trends, and our expectations, were altered.  Classic elements were quieted in favor of “what’s new, now?” and “how fast can I get it?”  If Balenciaga showed a minimalistic 90s look, Zara copied it within 3 weeks.  The fast fashion machine began churning at a breakneck pace.

Brands became more interested in hiring Marketers as creative directors than Technical Masters.  They, after all, primed the bottom line.

If you look at the big designers of our time, the originals – Hubert de Givenchy, Cristóbal Balenciaga – gave us technical mastery.  The modern-day successors – look at what Alessandro Michele did for Gucci – exemplify marketing genius.

There are two designers who I think are Technical Masters that became accidental Marketers just by designing clothes they themselves wanted to wear.  And one designer whom I think was equally strong in both archetypes.

Join me on Instagram for the rest of the story.

Shop Gucci and Balenciaga

Images via IMAXTREE

The History of Fashion: Denim

Oooo, I am excited for this post!  If you’ve been here before, you know I’m denim obsessed.  Jeans represent my truest form of sartorial expression.  Over the course of my life, I’ve owned and sold hundreds of pairs.

At their core, jeans are profoundly American.  From their inception during the California Gold Rush, to the advent of designer jeans, denim DNA is trailblazing.

Denim Origin

So how did this all begin?

Denim as a fabric was first created in Nîmes, France.  Its original name was “serge de Nîmes” which became known as “denim.”

It was, of course, Levi Strauss who took this to a whole other level by creating blue jeans in the mid-1800’s.  The durable fabric was meant to be worn by gold miners – the pockets were made large to fit pieces of gold – and were adapted by cowboys in the 1920s thanks to Strauss’s genius mass production and marketing.

Fun fact: Outlaw Peart Hart was arrested for wearing jeans in the early 1900s.  Not considered appropriate dress for women at the time, they forced her to put on a dress for her mug shot.

That’s my kind of gal.

Denim Trends

When it comes to jeans, my preference is very cyclical.  I’ve been on (and off) just about every denim bandwagon, but after decades of research, I’ve finally found my holy grail.

100% cotton, straight leg, cropped jeans

I love a wide leg or a flare every now and then, but my M.O. from here on out is 100% cotton or bust.  I recently cleaned out my closet and as I was going through what to toss and what to keep, I couldn’t believe how strange my stretchy jeans felt.  They all got donated.

The best thing you can do for 100% cotton jeans is never wash them. Yep, I mean it.  As a mother of a toddler, I occasionally have to break this rule, but I try VERY hard not to.

Levi's 1950 501s
Denim Resources

If you’re denim obsessed like me, check these out.

This Instagram account is fabulous for vintage Levi’s, exclusive drops and true denim nerds.

Jeff Goldblum did a documentary on jeans that covers enthusiasts who go searching through mines and those that pay thousands for vintage threads.

Download the Levi’s app for exclusive deals on vintage denim.  I just scored an authenticated vintage pair of 501 cutoffs.

Check out Levi’s most well-known and respected collector Brit Eaton.  He has a private Instagram account where he sells vintage Levi’s he finds throughout the world.

My Favorite Everyday Jeans
My Favorite Designer Jeans
Barrel leg jeans

Remembering Alber Elbaz

I sat down to write this post fully intending to share a History of Fashion level tribute to the life and career of Alber Elbaz.

The Moroccan-born, Israeli designer passed away this week at the age of 59 due to complications from COVID-19.

But instead what happened was a scenario my Yiayia would often recount to me.  She had a rolltop desk in her kitchen.  And every year or so she would vow to clean it out.  But every time she opened it, ready to organize and purge, she came across a memory.  A letter.  A ticket stub.  A Post-it note.  And a worthwhile endeavor turned into an entire day of reminiscing.

The desk never got clean.

I have collected so many editorials, runway images, interviews, speeches and anecdotes that Alber has shared, I simply fell down the rabbit hole revisiting them.  I guess I’m not ready to write his History of Fashion.

Instead, I will share a very limited number of quotes Alber gave over the years.

May your memory be eternal, kind soul.

“My conclusion today is that fashion is very important, today maybe more than ever, because we fashion designers maybe have a role. We have the duty to bring beauty to the world, to make women feel better, to make women feel good, to uplift them.”

“Fashion is not a reality, but it can become a reality if there’s nothing else in your life.”

“… this is why his clothes are always so wearable and so loving. They are always a step short of theatricality. With the same vocabulary, a designer could do something theatrical; he does something emotional.” — Izhar Patkin

“We designers started as couturiers with dreams, with intuitions and with feelings.…Then we became creative directors, so we have to create, but mostly direct. And now we have become image makers, making sure it looks good in pictures. The screen has to scream, baby…loudness is the new cool. I prefer whispering. I think it goes deeper and lasts longer.”

The History of Fashion: Supermodels

Ah, the supermodel.  That elusive, otherworldly being that contributes so much to the world of fashion.  I’ve always had huge respect for fashion models and could talk about them forever, but today I want to focus on the most pivotal timeframe for models in fashion history – the mid-1980s to mid-1990s.
Why Was This Time so Pivotal for Models?

First, the mid-1980s birthed several big changes that shifted the way we consume fashion.  First, manufacturing moved overseas, marking the beginning of fast fashion.

Second, Bernard Arnault created the first fashion conglomerate in the late 80s.  Up until this point, luxury brands stood on their own.  Now they had major financial backing, R&D, multi-level product categories and revenue streams.

Third, the 80s were an age of excess.  Wealth and exuberance weren’t hidden – they were front and center.

These shifts widened the gap between luxury and high street AND made it okay – commonplace, even – to promote exclusivity and materialism.  With new lines of business thanks to licensing, the need for advertising grew exponentially.  And every new ad campaign needs a face…

The Key Players

With the state of the world in the dawn of a new era, it was only fitting this era have a face.  Or faces.  Three beautiful ones to be exact.

There are four people we can largely credit with the advent of the supermodel.  The term “supermodel” dates back as far as the 1940’s, but it didn’t become a household term until Christy, Linda and Naomi.

Steven Meisel was one of the first to cast models en masse – not one girl booked his jobs; several did.  Repeatedly casting the Trinity and other giants (Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour), a cadence emerged.  There was strength in numbers.

Gerald Marie, then President of Elite Model Management, also latched on to the idea of strength in numbers.  Repping each member of Trinity, he began to market them as a package deal.  If you wanted one, you had to book them all.  This tripled rates and sent a frenzy through the world of fashion – everyone wanted a piece of this exclusive group.

Perhaps the final nail in the fashion coffin, cementing the supermodel as an A-list celebrity, was Gianni Versace.  Versace was one of the first to sit celebrities front row and bridged pop culture with fashion.  He also paid huge bonuses to models for exclusivity rights – they walked his show and no one else’s – sending bidding wars through the fashion community.  Four-figure day rates became high five-figure day rates.  The supermodel’s status only grew.

All of these moments gave way to a perfect storm.  The supermodel of the mid-80s to mid-90s was unstoppable.  Lina Evangelista, the Chameleon, could rock any look or style.  Christy Turlington had an exotic yet ethnically ambiguous look that transcended genres.  Naomi Campbell was flawless in every way and could move – her walk is the most heralded in the industry. Cindy Crawford personified a healthy image – glowing, friendly, girl next door, that was perfect for commercial ad campaigns.

But the excess of the 80s gave way to minimalism and paring down in the 90s.  Thus marked the birth of the anti-model.

Kate Moss

Kate walked her first runway in 1990 for Gianni Versace.  Her short, ultra-thin frame and childlike features were in stark contrast to the likes of the Trinity.

The most beautiful moments for me are those years in which the Trinity and Kate intersect. There will never be another moment like it.  It’s irreplicable.  They were, in fact, all close friends and seeing footage of Kate, Naomi and Christy at one of John Galliano’s first shows is so moving.  Haunting really.

As I said in the beginning of this post, I could talk forever about supermodels.  But I’ll leave you with this.  Check out the documentary Catwalk for a trip down the most pivotal era in supermodel history.

The History of Fashion: Helmut Lang

Helmut Lang draped jacketHelmut Lang draped jacket

There is a faction of designers I like to call fashion’s lost legends.  Lost, in that despite having a profound impact on the world of fashion, they fell off the grid.  Some exited the industry for other pursuits.  Some left a major fashion house and never landed anywhere new.  And others… well, the world may never know.

What is so fascinating about this group is that none of them are one-trick ponies.  They are all supremely talented.  So talented, in fact, they completely changed the way the world got dressed.

I will be breaking down the full list of these sartorial visionaries, but first, let us start with [arguably] the biggest one… Helmut Lang.

What Helmut Lang Gave the World of Fashion

For the uninitiated, Helmut Lang is an Austrian designer that started his line in 1977 and left the industry in 2005.  His almost 20-year career began at the age of 21, in Vienna.  While in business school, he did a 180 and tried his hand at design.  By 1986 he was showing in Paris.

What makes him so revolutionary is his popularization of minimalism.  He introduced concepts that are copied ad nauseaum in fast fashion and luxury houses alike even to this day.

What you’re wearing right now is very likely because of Helmut Lang.  Not sold?  Here’s a (not complete) list of what he contributed to fashion.

  1. Moto pants and leggings
  2. Designer denim
  3. Flat front pants
  4. 3-button suits
  5. Black-and-white and monochrome aesthetics
  6. Mixing of high and low; luxury and streetwear
  7. Straps and bondage-esque details in clothing
How Helmut Lang Changed the Business of Fashion

If you caught my post 5 Fashion Facts That Shaped The History of Fashion, you know that Helmut Lang is responsible for the Americans showing first on the fashion calendar – something that was never done prior to 1998.  When he left Paris for New York, Ralph Lauren and Donna Karan followed suit, creating a mass exodus of American designers that showed before the Europeans.

He was also the first to show menswear and womenswear together, AND the first to eliminate elevated catwalks.  He felt that showing the models walking ground-level gave a better indication of how the clothes mimicked real life.

His 1998 show was the first in history to be shown online.  Guests received a CD-ROM, as well as a link to watch the show on the internet.  Incredibly revolutionary for the time, even though it was done out of necessity (no venue) versus Steve Jobs-like innovation.  He would show online once more, immediately after 9/11.  This set into motion online fashion archives like style.com.

Helmut Lang the Man

Known for marching to his own beat, Lang wasn’t one for the limelight.  He rarely gave interviews, wouldn’t show up for ceremonies in which he was nominated for awards and didn’t enjoy the social side of fashion.

He advertised in unconventional places like National Geographic and on top of taxi cabs in NYC.

His camp argues that he did not popularize minimalism, but essentialism.  I too, agree with this assessment.  Here is one of my favorite Helmut Lang quotes that epitomizes this theory.

When asked what he wants to express through clothing:

Contemporary and visionary possibilities infused with my interests in the human condition with a shot of elegance, romance, and coolness. Experiments with basics and eccentrics, shaken not stirred, and served with a dose of sexuality.

Where it all Went Wrong

In 1999, The Prada Group bought a 51% stake in his company.  While Lang still had full creative control, Prada wanted him to focus on “it” shoes and handbags.  They canceled a licensing agreement with one of his biggest denim manufacturers – the bread and butter of his business.  Within 5 years, the company fell by 60%.

People close to the source said it wasn’t a matter of fault by one side or the other, but rather a misalignment of the merger.  At the time, fashion conglomerates were still forming and find their footing.  No one really knew what would work and what wouldn’t.  While The Prada Group isn’t one of the big conglomerates, they do own a roster of brands.  Unfortunately, owning Helmut Lang was not value-added for either entity.

Lang exited the business in 2005.  His brand is now owned by the group that owns Theory and Uniqlo.

Where is he now?

Helmut Lang is now a part of the fine art world.

Upon retiring, he donated his archives to 18 different museums and non-profits.  An Athens man owns the largest private collection of his pieces in the world.

When a fire consumed part of his studio, Lang made the decision to shred the remains and use it in his art.

You can read more about his fine art here and his collaboration with Saint Lauren here.