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.
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Images via IMAXTREE