Fashion Month: which of the new creative directors won?

A new creative director at a billion dollar fashion brand has to hit the ground running. The time lag from show to delivery to financial figures does buy them more time, but the debut collection, the creative intention, has one chance only and sets the course in fashion people’s and the wider public's minds for the future direction. It’s a difficult balance to get everybody from the CEO to the press to the stores to the public excited about what is coming down the fashion track.

On a superficial level, your debut show will be the crux on whether fashion people even learn your name or how to spell it. Does Pierpaolo Piccioli have two Cs or one, anybody?!

Many of this season’s new creative directors have been waiting in the wings for years. Peter Hawkings, the new creative director at Tom Ford, had been working alongside Tom Ford for nearly twenty-five years. He told Vogue: “I feel like I've been preparing for this my entire life”, and what came down was a perfect Tom Ford collection. It was totally on brand, but felt dialled in. It didn’t signify change or a look forward.

Tailoring, slinky dresses, luxury skins: the retail franchises will be happy, but Tom Ford only just dropped a greatest hits collection on his exit.

Tom Ford SS24

Tom Ford was the brand himself. A genius editor, knowing his customer well - he was his customer - he gave them/him what they wanted but never really set trends in the wider fashion landscape. Fashion respected Tom Ford, but didn’t look to him beyond his billionaire dressy niche.

Hawkings’ show was polished and there was nothing jarring, but will the brand find another creative to have the balls to tell the bods at Estée Lauder that they want their fragrance to be called ‘Fucking Fabulous’? From this first outing, think not. The brand could become another Jean Paul Gaultier, Mugler or Rabanne, where the clothes are just another brand name reminder to sell the overpriced perfumes

Gucci SS24 (Luca Bruno/AP)

While Peter Hawkings’ old boss is rattling around Jackie O’s former Hamptons estate – Tom Ford just bought it – the Jackie bag made another return to the catwalk at Gucci under new creative director Sabato De Sarno.

Formerly at Valentino, overseeing the men’s and womenswear, De Sarno was named Gucci’s creative director at the beginning of this year. The Italian mega-brand decided it needed something new, despite huge growth over recent years, and De Sarno was the chosen one to do it. No pressure there then.

Some critics were sarcastically calling the Gucci ‘Ancora’ SS24 collection ‘Gara’ or ‘Zucci’ for its wearable Zara qualities, but there is nothing wrong with wearable if it’s good. And it was.

The show was a relaxed and cool collection of desirable clothes and accessories. It was the perfect selling opportunity. The bags and shoes – those unwearable platform loafers will just catapult the sales of the traditional snaffle loafer – were very clear and visible. It was a walking look book or e-commerce scroll and easy for store staff to consumers to understand. It doesn’t always have to be difficult.

Gucci SS24 (Luca Bruno/AP)

He updated some of the Gucci classics yet made it feel contemporary and polished. This collection has mass appeal. All age groups and geographies will have plenty to ogle here and buy and that’s exactly what the change at the top was for. The analysts were clearly happy because the Kering – Gucci’s owner – share price ticked upwards after the show. Of all the large luxury groups, Kering seems to know its fashion better.

Both these collections could signal a return to beautiful clothes and away from the fugly Balenciaga-type gimmicks of recent years. People are still calling it ‘quiet luxury’ but for the most part, and people, it’s just nice clothes people want to be seen in styled in a way that feels attractive and contemporary. It could have easily flipped into boring.

Burberry SS24 (Ian West/PA)

Over in London, Burberry’s Daniel Lee was unveiling his second collection for the British brand. A tour of Zone 2’s green spaces took us to Highbury Fields for a grittier show where the hope remains Lee will work his magic on the all important luxury accessorises category.

Lee said, with regards to his design method, “The shoes are normally the place we begin each season.” Which will be music to the ears of the accountants, but the styling of the show made it difficult to see those all important bags and accessories. Burberry’s new people are clearly too ‘cool’ to make anything obvious or showy.

Brands need live streamed catwalk shows to focus people’s attentions on particular items. This is how bags become bestsellers and classics. Lee’s clothes felt quite dark and grungy, but without the finesse needed to justify some of the new price tags. Lee’s debut collection has just hit stores and many consumers have been raising eyebrows at the inflated prices. They are significantly more expensive. Burberry wants to move into the big league, but it will need more than a price rise to get there. There isn’t Burberry’s answer to the ‘Cassette’ bag just yet.

Brands all want to join the top tier of Chanel, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, who seem to generate cash without needing to change too much. Gucci has been moving in the right direction. It launched fine jewellery and VIP salons in stores and its annual turnover was starting to challenge the French brands’ dominance. Kering could see the momentum faltering with Gucci's previous incarnation and decided to instigate change fast. De Sarno offered clothes for people who like clothes, and you can’t get a more winning fashion formula than that.

Now for AW24, all eyes will be in Seán McGirr, formerly of JW Anderson, who was announced to be taking over from Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen. While McGirr is an exciting prospect – he even bears something of a resemblance to the brand's founder the late Lee McQueen – his appointment was not without controversy with fashion watchers keen to point out that all of Kering's main creative directors are now all white men. Clearly that's not McGirr's fault and we should give him chance as there's a good chance that next season we'll be declaring him the winner of Fashion Month.

Main image: Burberry SS24