When two are better, or collaborations between fashion designers

Not a week goes by without a new fashion collab emerging. To better last, the already worn-out formula has been trying to renew itself for a few months by capitalizing on a new genre: collaborations between artistic fashion directors themselves. And announcements of this type are already tending to multiply, like a new routine.

Valentino’s artistic director, Pierpaolo Piccoli, has teamed up with British designer Craig Green for a ” conversation “ creative, the results of which will be unveiled shortly. More than a year after his last show, Jean Paul Gaultier will present in July the result of his ” new concept “ : each season, the house will commission a designer to give his vision of haute couture know-how.

For the first such alliance, Sacai’s artistic director, Chitose Abe, was chosen. “Now is the time for dialogue between fashion designers and no longer just between a stylist and a talent from another artistic field, as we have seen so far, argues Serge Carreira, lecturer at Sciences Po, specialist in fashion and luxury. The role of creative director of a house is no longer seen as an individual and omnipotent function. Today, the need to keep a brand alive takes precedence over the ego. “

A pioneer in this area, Moncler launched its “Genius” project in 2018, calling on several artistic directors to design capsule collections such as Jonathan Anderson (at the head of Loewe and JW Anderson), Matthew Williams (1017 Alyx 9SM and Givenchy ) or Craig Green… In 2020, with a similar concept of “guest designers”, the Italian brand Emilio Pucci handed over the reins of its creation to Christelle Kocher, founder of the Koché label, then to Tomotoka Koizumi, Japanese designer, finalist for the award LVMH 2020.

“A sort of creative mutant”

For a year, Miuccia Prada has been creating hand in hand with Raf Simons, former artistic director of Dior and Calvin Klein. “The two champions of experimentation are weaving together a new vocabulary, a kind of creative mutant”, perceives Emilie Hammen, fashion historian and professor at the French Fashion Institute. We would not have imagined Gabrielle Chanel allying with Elsa Schiaparelli or André Courrèges with Paco Rabanne… “Until now, history had only shown us relationships of descent between stylists, marks of recognition such as handovers between generations, from Vionnet to Balenciaga for example, or from Dior to Saint Laurent”, remarks Emilie Hammen.

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