"Influential" designers have the advantage

Virgil Abloh broke the mold in terms of the skills a creative director can - and should - possess.

According to Valérie Berdah-Levy, the late designer, mastermind of the Off-White brand and Louis Vuitton's explosive menswear business, became a role model for fashion students thanks to his multidisciplinary approach , inclusive and community fashion. , director of the Parisian school of the Istituto Marangoni.

Equally popular is Japanese streetwear pioneer Nigo, now creative director of Kenzo. Berdah-Levy explained that he's a multi-hyphen with tentacles that stretch into music production, industrial or graphic design, and DJing, as Abloh has also done.

"Students love multi-creative minds and talents who aren't just fashion designers, but have many passions," she said.

Ditto for recruitment specialists: Headhunters say fashion houses are increasingly looking for creative leaders who have the attention of the internet, an enviable creative network, and the ability to inspire a community.

They point out that great design chops and industry buzz remain important attributes for landing top jobs in fashion. And they note that second-in-command designers often have the inside track, as evidenced by the recent appointment of Matthieu Blazy to succeed Daniel Lee at Bottega Veneta.

But there's no doubt that influence and cultural ties are increasingly important attributes in fashion.

Consider, for example, artist Daniel Arsham, who recently launched his own clothing and accessories brand Objects IV Life, after several collaborations with Kim Jones at Dior. He has 1.3 million followers on Instagram.

According to Floriane de Saint Pierre, founder and director of Floriane de Saint Pierre & Associés, brands today must be influential on social networks to lead the game.

"With social networks, and the acceleration of their use due to the confinement and travel restrictions linked to COVID[-19], we live more than ever in the attention economy, where attention has become a rare commodity, therefore has a value," she explained in an interview. "Without attention, brands cannot create any desire, and therefore sell neither dreams nor products."

De Saint Pierre noted that today's creative directors may possess a variety of skills in order to engage consumers.

According to her, they may come from a more classic fashion background and training, such as Phoebe Philo, Demna at Balenciaga or the recently appointed Maximilian Davis at Salvatore Ferragamo, or they may come from other creative fields.

Examples of largely self-taught fashion entrepreneurs include Nigo, a record producer and DJ who created the A Bathing Ape and Human Made brands before joining Kenzo; Teddy Santis, who passed on his love of the 90s New York hip-hop scene and basketball culture to the growing brand Aimé Leon Dore, and Tremaine Emory, who is beloved for his storytelling and who traversed several industries before founding Denim Tears and taking on a creative role at Supreme.

De Saint Pierre calls them all "catalysts of an ambitious company" and leaders of inspiring brands whose customers "feel part of a community of values ​​to which they want to belong".

“Needless to say, the product must represent such values, and as soon as it becomes too obvious or too banal, the influential community turns to other brands,” she added.

To be sure, many acclaimed and famous fashion designers over the past 50 years have been largely self-taught, including Karl Lagerfeld, Miuccia Prada, Vivienne Westwood and Manolo Blahnik, or come from other fields such as architecture, studied by like Pierre Cardin and Gianfranco Ferré.

But the advent of social media has changed the dynamics of the industry, leaving creatives...