How Are Brands’ In-House Teams Managing Transition Seasons Without Creative Directors?

When Vogue Runway‘s Luke Leitch visited Bally’s showroom in February to review the brand’s Fall 2018 collection, he was met by someone whom he calls a “super-charming” member of the company’s “creative collective” — a hierarchy comprised of three separate design heads for different product categories — who was “not authorized to speak on the record.” The enthusiasm this designer exhibited was not lost on Leitch, but he noted in his review that the wider industry doesn’t seem to share that same sense of engagement toward the Bally narrative — “hardly one of fashion’s most compelling stories,” he wrote. Bally’s story is not unlike other luxury brands, whose in-house design teams — the majority of which are largely unknown to the greater public — have been tasked with carrying the brand forward without the clear vision of a single creative director. Such is the case for both Nina Ricci and Lanvin, at least temporarily, whose studio teams will be designing collections in the interim following the exits of Guillaume Henry and Olivier Lapidus, respectively. These transitional seasons, which are typically among the most commercially viable, can cause problems if not handled efficiently. However, houses have certainly succeeded in developing strong brand narratives despite the creative interruptions that occur when an artistic lead departs. Read more at Fashionista.