New York Fashion Week: Project Celebrity Designer

The glamorous, semi-annual runway extraordinaire, known as fashion week, has always been the ultimate showcasing of designer talent. In fashion capitals all over the world, the most prominent designers give exclusive audiences a first look at their upcoming collections. Before fashion week came to America, Paris was the sole nucleus of everything couture, and American designers were yet to be recognized. The emergence of fashion week, or press week as it was called in 1943, gave anonymous, yet talented designers the means and visibility they needed to step out from behind the names of the retail stores they designed for, and to start lines of their own.

Unfortunately, fashion week is becoming less about originality and creativity and more about media hype and celebrity. Although stars have always attracted media attention as spectators during fashion week, this year they are involved in the actual creation of runway-ready clothing lines. Last week, a record of five celebrities launched their designs at Bryant Park, home of New York fashion week, including Gwen Stefani, Jennifer Lopez, Nicky Hilton, Kimora Lee Simons, and Chloe Sevigny. Based on the recent trend of celebrities extending their names to just about every existing media outlet, this does not come as much of a shock. It is no longer uncommon for someone to become famous because of his or her acting skills and then move into singing, dancing, modeling, and now, designing—the lines between talent and fame are now blurred together. Take the example of Jennifer Lopez, even Wikipedia can find no way to define her except as “an American actress, singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, fashion designer, [and] television producer.” It is difficult to believe that J Lo would have been so successful in all of these enterprises if it were not for her acclaimed image.

Jennifer Wicke, author of Enchantment, Disenchantment, Reinchantment: The cult of the absolutely fabulous, explains why a celebrity’s name ads product value in the consumers mind. She explains, “It is difficult to disentangle the social halo of celebrity from fashion, as celebrity is fashion, a fashion in people.” People admire celebrities because of the fame and glamour associated with their name, so attaching that desired label to a product—any product—makes it all the more coveted. It is that unfair advantage that allows celebrities to cheat the “judicial system,” and use their branded image, rather than talent to design a fashion label.

For the average undiscovered designer, showing a line at Bryant Park is a dream that requires an almost impossible amount of funding and resources. The average show costs about $150,000, with the venue alone costing up to $42,000. Then one must consider the other costs of production—models, hair and makeup artists, invitations, assistants and shoes. A designer has the option of getting the event sponsored by an advertiser, but once again, even a visionary designer with an un-known name may have trouble with this. Although stars easily have enough money to fund their own show, having a recognizable name gives them a better shot at a sponsorship that financially, they don’t even need.

Celebrities are so highly encouraged by sponsors to attach their names to merchandise that they sometimes receive even the full amount of necessary funding in order to become the next insta-designer. Although Lauren Conrad, from MTV’s Laguna Beach and The Hills, did not present at fashion week, she recently created a clothing line that was entirely funded by MTV! Other well-dressed celebrities, such as Kate Moss and Madonna are also getting paid to design collections for retail stores. According to George Davies, British fashion retailer and designer, this type of shallow market ploy is suppressing creativity. Many of these new celebrity-clothing lines are not about vision and artistic talent but rather about attracting media attention and press. Looking back at the short-term success of past celebrity designers further reveals the lack of originality and quality in these new collections. It takes research and meticulous dedication in order to design something that remains timeless – something celebrities seeking instant publicity rarely heed close attention to.

All of this is not to say that celebrity clothing lines lack all good elements of design, but rather, to suggest that there are much more talented designers that deserve a fair playing field. Gwen Stefani’s new collection, L.A.M.B., which recently debuted at New York Fashion week, was well received. Her celebrity status, however, earned her far more media attention than warranted by her designs. At the end of the show, strutting the runway with her son, Kingston, it seemed to some that she was the main attraction. Appropriately, George Davies states, “Celebrities should keep to what they are good at, which is walking down catwalks. It makes no difference that they love clothes. I love driving Ferraris, but that doesn't mean I could design one, and I wouldn't even try.”

Fashion week was originally created with the function of helping American designers reach a more international audience. Recently, however, the infiltration of celebrity designers has caused this institution to suffer, and it is no longer being utilized for its original purpose. More designers are now Hollywood celebrities who don’t need the help of fashion week to be recognized internationally. Furthermore, with the increasing difficulty for the talented no-name designer to get media coverage at Bryant Park, its hard to make the claim that NY fashion week showcases the countries “best work,” but rather the best efforts of celebrity designers without much talent. The fashion business suffers from overexposure, and with so much emphasis on who’s wearing what, the brilliance of the designs themselves get lost in the hype.