Material World

Go away for a week in July when things are supposed to be on a restful downward slump post-men’s wear, pre-collections and couture, and what happens? Action!

• Kenzo has appointed a new design team: Humberto Leon and Carol Lim of US high hipster retailer Opening Ceremony to replace Antonio Marras
• Harvey Weinstein and Sarah Jessica Parker have disengaged from Halston entirely
• Bernard Arnault has given an interview to Newsweek announcing the end of the “star designer”

If I was a paranoid conspiracy theorist, which I am not of course, I might see these as related, the first two proving the last: good merchants, if not famous ones, know how to move product. This is the approach that LVMH, which owns Kenzo, seems to be exploring with Lim and Leon: stars do not, no matter how famous (SJP’s appointment as creative director, despite her papp-happy factor, could not save Halston), so why care about star designers (Arnault Q.E.D)?

If I was a misanthrope, I might also point out that it is in Mr Arnault’s interest to reach the above conclusion that star designers are over, given the departure of John Galliano from Dior and the fact the brand (which is owned by LVMH, of which Mr Arnault is chairman) is still looking for a new leader.

While the Newsweek team swallow the idea that Mr Arnault’s comments are a new approach to empire building, clearly a smart chairman knows that the way to spin the  extended executive search process is to make it all about the brand, not the people. Really, though, what else can he say? “Hey! I can’t find a designer?”

Besides, I’m not convinced he really believes what he spouts, given that Phoebe Philo of Celine is cited in the Newsweek piece as the example of the non-star. She’s a leading name, and has been since she sent Chloe’s sales through the stratosphere. What she is is a reclusive designer, but as Greta Garbo proved, just because you don’t give a lot of interviews doesn’t mean you aren’t very famous.

In the end, however, because I am a cranky, sarcastic sort, here’s what I think: what this is simply the latest in an ongoing attempt to make stories and narratives out of what are just normal executive changes. That is to say, in fashion you are only as good as your last collection, no matter how famous you are. We need to remember this is a product-based industry, and in the end, it’s the products that matter. Tom Ford was not famous until he made a fantastic Gucci collection; Jennifer Lopez is really, really famous, but her fashion line didn’t flourish. Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton is becoming famous because she is doing a great job.

To say fashion doesn’t need “star designers” is disingenuous. Fashion needs good designers, known or not, and the challenge is, as it always has been, finding them and matching the right person to the right brand. There’s no reason to think a literal star is a good designer and there’s no reason to think an unknown couldn’t be good. Can’t we just excise that term – “star designer” – from the conversation? This is fashion. It’s not rocket science, and it’s not Hollywood either.