• A Trilogy on Tweaking Identities: A Case Study on Céline

    As the continual from our discussion of Yves Saint Laurent on shifting identities of brands themselves and of society’s portrayal of dressing oneself, it would be oblivious if Celine did not take part in this potentially controversial yet necessary discussion. Why controversial? When a designer is to be succeeding a predecessor with a pronounceable-sized shadow, this signifies two things. On the one hand, there is the presence of a strong “fan base” who likely identifies their purchase vision according to this designer’s aesthetics, color palette, design philosophies, etc. On the other hand, to succeed said designer means to either play with the cookie cutters left around, or to throw them…

  • Saint Laurent: A Strategy For Success

    Saint Laurent has undergone major changes in the last month. The fashion world rendered homage to Hedi Slimane’s departure from his position as creative director and welcomed Anthony Vaccarello as his successor. What’s more, last week Kering reported buoyant growth in revenues up 27% in the first quarter of 2016, driven by retail sales and double-digit growth in all geographies and all product categories. What are the pillars of this winning strategy? Earlier this morning an interview with YSL CEO Francesca Bellettini by Imran Amed (BoF’s editor in chief), helped giving some clarity to the quasi-abnormal growth, and cleared the air after the confusion and press talk after Slimane left.…

  • From Yves to Hedi

    Only a week ago I was discussing the fate of creative directors that nowadays don’t seem to keep their positions for long. Yesterday we saw the news about Hedi Slimane, and his departure from Saint Laurent is no April Fools. While Hedi’s four-year work is widely appreciated as revamping the iconic brand, looking at Yves Saint Laurent’s sketches I couldn’t help noticing similarities. Dropping the “Yves” from the brand’s name, the French designer still managed to keep the spirit, and today I suggest taking time to appreciate this. When I was writing about creative directors in fashion industry, I mentioned Hedi Slimane in connection with the buzz about him parting…