Thursday

Celebrity Fashion Lines: The Demise of the 'Real' Designer?

The 'celebrity perfume' phenom seems like its been around for ages, but the recent furious increase in 'celebrity fashion lines' (think SJP, the Olsen Twins, JLo, Kate Moss, Madonna, Kylie Minogue....Oy it gets tiring just typing the masses in) has some critics questioning where this leaves the 'real designers'?

The NY Times featured the topic in today's Style section, check it out!

Thoughts?? Much as I love MK and Ashley (and the new 'Row' line), I gotta admit that the whole thing (more-so the Madonna/Kate Moss/H&M/Topshop bit) does seem like a bit of a celebrity wash. Some lines appear solid like 'The Row', others seem just lame, such as SJP's 'Bitten'. The fact that celebrities have so much more financial capital to build upon and the tails of their success, seems to give an unfair advantage in an extremely cut-throat and competitive arena. Is fashion going the way of pop music? Are we selling out in some way? How much of a free-market approach is 'too-much' when it comes to the creative arts like fashion?

It appears to me that too often money is driving fashion rather than talent.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

i believe that in the end, after a lot of sweat, blood and tears, the ones with the greatest talent will get the most recognition, not the ones with the greatest sources of financing. sure there are plenty of celeb clothing lines and perfumes these days, but have any of them achieved haute couture status or the same sophistication as the clothes of the likes of Valentino, Diane von Furstenberg, Stella McCartney etc??

Anonymous said...

i did also want to mention that i wouldn't necessarily put the Olsens in the same category as Britney Spears or Jennifer Lopez.. britney and j lo haven't exactly been setting fashion trends...so even if they have a lot of money to start their own product lines, not much is going to come out unless they hire the top designers and take all the credit for themselves....the Olsens have the means, but they also have a creative sense of fashion and the ability to set trends... perhaps they could become
respected designers one day with their creativity????

Mrs Fashion said...

Oh my - could go on for ever about this but I think that for the uber rich (ie MKA Olsen) and very creative (perhaps Gwen Stefani) it's not so much about the money (I would hope) but more a creative outlet while they wait for their next film break / album to drop.

But in the case of Stuff by Hilary Duff? Er, all about selling their clothes to tweens for big bucks. That brings us back to MKA and their Wal-Mart range.

Oh, I don't know! But I wouldn't ever buy clothes because of the celeb that wore it / designed it - but millions would and do.

I think this post is going to run and run! Well done!

Mrs F x

Anonymous said...

i guess like w any type of artist you can expect to see an evolution of style....ie MK&A movign from walmart tween wear to a more sophisticated venture...

Arsheen said...

we dont have the Olsen Twin's line here in Eire, but sounds like it must be really good. when Kate launched her recent line in Topshop, I couldnt even care. fashion is all about making it your own, i think when celebrities have their own lines, it's like you're trying to look like them...although agree with chinchilla, MK and ashley are known to have a keen eye for fashion so maybe they can translate that well into their designs.