In an ongoing debate on creativity, one still wonders how many forms and expressions of it exist. The answer cannot be quantified in a finite figure, because creativity per se belongs to the ”figures of the possible”, as Alexander Fury explains, but there are (in fashion) two macro groups in which to place it: guided and one’s own, which correspond respectively to the figure of the creative director at the helm of a maison and that of the founding designer of his homonymous brand. Apparently similar, these two professions differ in rules and impositions, ranging from the total presence of guidelines to the total absence. An ancient question, well known in the art and design circles, which does not seem to be resolved in a short time.
There are several well-known names who have been able to grasp the artistic heritage of the brand once they arrived, and to work on it to then restore prestige to the maison, so as to immediately establish a path that walked in parallel with the history of the brand. From a ”never old” Tom Ford to the creative direction of Gucci, the one who launched the brand to pret-a-porter, and who was able to grasp from the large archive up to those years made up of leather goods, suitcases and accessories the identity of Gucci, combining it with 90s aesthetic, dominating the scene. Up to a more recent Nicolas Gasquiere who, with a gradual and non-invasive approach, has allowed Louis Vuitton to take the leap into the future, capturing the transformative soul of the maison which, since the early days of Marc Jacobs, has always worked on artistic contamination, a forerunner of the contemporary definition of ”collaboration”, fashion has built itself in a relationship of coexistence between ”rule and inspiration”. But when the guide becomes an imposition, the fragile balance that binds the creative to the maison to which he belongs is tilted by an increasingly decentralized market with more requests, which seeks tomorrow’s results in the present. Thus the newspapers speak of Alessandro Michele who hands over the onerous leadership of Gucci to an unimaginable successor, precisely because the CEO requests one more step that Michele considers premature, and an even more historic Jean Paul Gautier who leaves the seasonal leadership to new talents of the maison, because it is now ”too old to be cool”. But it is not in the change of hands to experience defeat, but in the acceptance of progress that success and the survival of creativity reside. Just look at the post Chanel without Gabrielle, with a brand that rediscovers the biography of its founder from collection to collection, but also at the vintages of Dior: from the theatricality of Galliano to the feminism of Maria Grazia Chiuri, each interpreter of identity in its own language, formed by the creative director’s personal experiences, which in a certain sense contaminate the brand’s heritage.
Yet all this innovation seems to be loosening the grip of the market that wants to be guided in growth and not transported in the immediate future. As reported by the Financial Time, fashion requires certainties, and so the few but resistant designers who decide to carry on their own brand, without an imposed and guided creativity, find themselves dealing with the walls of profit, but even before with investors who take refuge in the big names. This drain of investment funds is not due to a lack of faith in the future, but more to the awareness of the time required to consolidate the name of a new brand in order to then be able to position itself on a par with one of the historic giants. But spontaneous creativity is still protected and supported, and it is precisely the big names like Valentino and N21 who offer their support to the new generations, such as Act N1 and Nensi Dojaka, with space to set up shows, media coverage, and research funds. Also thanks to platforms such as Gucci Vault born to shed more light on those new brands looking for their space.
Trust, experimentation and an unfailing eye on tomorrow allow the progress of creativity, which takes possession of the experience to imagine itself unique and different.
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