Last week, it was announced that SZA would be the new artistic director of Vans. In a statement released at the time, the singer said: “I’ve been wearing Knu Skools and other styles for years, they’ve always had an ethos I connect with. As Artistic Director, my mission is to show that joy, community, creativity, and fashion are all still intersectional. That humanity, culture, and connection are still the access points.”
Reactions on the Instagram announcement post were mixed. “Love when brands get it right,” commented Kei Henderson, Grammy Award-winning manager. Indeed, SZA has been organically wearing the brand for years, and even name-checked them in her 2017 song, Drew Barrymore: “You came with your new friends, and her mom jeans and her new Vans.”
The top comment on the post, however, was: “I like some of the SZA songs. WTF does she know about shoes?” It was a reference to a much-memed comment made by Kanye West years ago, in response to Lady Gaga being announced as Polaroid’s creative director: “I like some of the Gaga songs — WTF does she know about cameras?”
This news came right on the heels of another similar headline: Law Roach, the stylist extraordinaire who is the man behind Zendaya’s style icon status, is apparently in talks to purchase the struggling French fashion house Ungaro, which was founded in 1965 by designer Emanuel Ungaro. As a stylist and image architect, his skillset is closer to that of a traditional fashion designer.
Plus, let's not forget that A$AP Rocky was announced as the first creative director of sunglasses brand Ray-Ban earlier this year… What ever happened to the celebrity ambassador? In 2021, Kendall Jenner was announced as creative director of FWRD: an e-tailer which stocks fashion brands and does not create its own products. So perhaps a title like “curator” may have been more apt.
Of course, celebrity fashion collaborations are nothing new: Vans previously had a successful partnership with Tyler, the Creator and his brand Golf Wang from 2013 to 2016. Lindsay Lohan actually briefly held the title of artistic advisor at Ungaro in 2009, though this didn't last more than a season. It was also made clear that Lindsay was collaborating with the brand's actual head designer, Estrella Archs, rather than pretending she'd cooked it all up herself. (Regardless, the collection was absolutely bashed by the industry.)
Celebrity fashion brands are hardly a novelty either: from Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s The Row (launched in 2006), to Kylie Jenner’s Khy, launched in 2023. Sean John (made by disgraced rapper P. Diddy) and Kimora Lee Simmons’ Baby Phat are just a few more examples.
However, something shifted when Pharrell was announced as creative director of Louis Vuitton in 2023. It launched a hundred think pieces about how fashion had become completely reliant on celebrity hype to make sales. Rather than a collaboration or ambassadorship, this demonstrated that a celebrity could hold a position which was traditionally held by someone with actual design training. The news incensed many people online, who argued that it was already difficult enough to find employment after fashion school. With celebrities holding industry positions and AI looming over creative jobs, many felt pessimistic about the future of fashion.
In his defence, Pharrell has had his own streetwear brand for decades: Billionaire Boys Club, co-founded in 2003 with Japanese fashion designer Nigo. And the musician's predecessor at Louis Vuitton menswear, Virgil Abloh, proved that the creative directors of today don’t necessarily need a fashion degree. His mastery of culture, not cut, is what made him a star. The role “creative director” itself is much more nebulous than the traditional “fashion designer”: sometimes, people in these roles are not required to sew or sketch, but rather to have a strong vision and create a universe for the brand.
High fashion has traditionally been an exclusive, elitist world which tended to look down on celebrities, seeing celebrity fashion brands not as a legitimate sartorial offering, but more as merch. But now, the power dynamics have shifted. One particularly revealing example of this cultural shift: for spring/summer 2023, Kim Kardashian collaborated on a collection with Dolce & Gabbana, despite the fact that Stefano Gabbana once commented online that the Kardashians were “the most cheap people in the world.” Is this another step in the democratisation of fashion? Or, yet another sign that fashion and celebrity culture are now one and the same?
