Just two days after Pharrell Williams defended his debut at the helm of Louis Vuitton's men's division, in late June, Lanvin let the world know of the signing of Future as creative director of the first collection of its cutting-edge line, Lanvin Lab. The mission of the award-winning African-American rapper and producer will be to "help articulate and expand the heritage and historical codes" of the venerable Parisian couture house, which for the occasion recalls the spirit of artistic-intellectual exchange cultivated since the days of its founder. , Jeanne Lanvin, “referee of culture”.
What the entente gives of itself (“creative dialogue”, they call it) will not be known until next September, but, right now, it already has something of a milestone: it is the third incursion/conquest of a star on the music scene in the domains of luxury ready-to-wear in less than six months, counting the well-known collaboration of Dua Lipa as a designer with Donatella Versace of La Vacanza, a pre-autumn collection presented during the last Cannes film festival and immediately acknowledged receipt on-line. Rihanna's vaunted return to the artistic management of Puma, the brand that gave her wings as a successful fashion entrepreneur nearly a decade ago, should be upon us.
The cultural experience before the mere product. That is the question that explains this shift in focus from trade to profit that the clothing industry clings to today, which has to deal with a generation of consumers, the complex Zeta girl – between the ages of 12 and 22, foreseeable creditor of 40 by the way, from the luxury segment by 2035–, which is passing exclusivity and ostentation through the triumphal arch. Engaging her, engaging her and turning her into a faithful ally is a struggle that has pushed firms of (almost) every stripe and condition to generate their own content that defines her narratives based on those who lead them creatively.
A report from the Boston Consulting Group made it very clear a couple of years ago: the youngest no longer approach brands by inertia or popular pull, but rather they are shaping their preferences –and future purchasing decisions– based on the different stories that they explore for months in search of inspiration, especially on social networks, observing the movements of those whom they consider prescribers of style. Pop idols and current urban rhythms (hip hop, trap, reggaeton), ahead of any other incarnation of fame and fortune.
"Fashion and music are the same, because both are the expression of their time", said Karl Lagerfeld, himself an avid collector of songs that he treasured in more than a hundred iPods (assorted by his former DJ, Michel Gaubert , creator of the soundtracks for the Chanel and Fendi shows during the reign of the German). Jazz and the female liberation of the corset in the twenties. Swing and the racialized revolution of the zoot suit in the forties. rock'n'roll and the rebellious jeans that began in the fifties, pop and the miniskirt earthquake in the sixties, glam and androgynous provocation in the seventies, hip hop and the rise of ghetto sportswear in the the eighties.
The story, in fact, can also be told through the clothes that the music has worn, or the musical styles that have served as tunes to the ways of dressing. “Fashion and music are stealthy social agents, regulating and reflecting cultural roles. They often serve to define and unite different groups of people, hence they are also essential elements in social identity," explain Aram Sinnreich and Marissa Gluck, market analysts who authored the Music study.
There has been news about the power of fashion as a visualizing agent for music –and vice versa– for a long time. Elvis Presley and his $10,000 suit, a gold lamé tuxedo tailored in 1957 by Nudie Cohn (the Hollywood tailor who dressed crooners and country figures), are seen as the cornerstone of an alliance between the promotional act and leisure, invariably linked to the idea of spectacle, which has defined the relationship between designers/brands and artists to date, from Vivienne Westwood and the Sex Pistols to Jacquemus and Bad Bunny, passing through Alexander McQueen and David Bowie or the bands of brit pop of the early 2000s and Hedi Slimane.
But once luxury has managed to infiltrate the youth subculture to rewrite its anti-establishment narrative and fit it into the capitalist narrative, the dynamic has been altered in favor of celebrity. Hence this flood of artists who became creative directors, who give an account of the current state of fashion as a definitive popular phenomenon, halfway between the cultural economy and the mass spectacle. Pharrell Williams is right when he proclaims that "this goes beyond clothing: Louis Vuitton is already a people's brand."
