I do believe that every designer has a shelf life within a brand, especially if it’s something that takes a lot of creativity, a lot of thought, a lot of evolving a brand. There’s only so many times one designer can do that before fatigue sets in. I was at Coach for 15 years. I was at Tiffany for about six. I had my own brand for about six. One of the things that makes it exciting is that I’m involved in everything from being on the board, to the stores, to the marketing, to the product, to events. It never gets boring. There’s always something wrong somewhere.
Vogue: The idea that designers also have their hands in store design, marketing, events — that’s a relatively newer invention spun into the role of creative director. How has that changed the nature of the job?
To me, Tom Ford going to Gucci was the beginning; and now, there are almost none that don’t just have a hand in it, but oversee store design, marketing, e-commerce — all that stuff. And for me, it makes my work much more effective, because I know what I’m trying to solve for. Everything works better. And you can only do that when there’s one point of view. We all work together, no one owns the work. That’s a much, much more successful and convincing way to evolve a brand because otherwise none of the pieces connect — the product to the marketing to the store.
Because people understand what we’re trying to accomplish, that’s the only way you could really be super productive. We basically replatformed the site, created new packaging, new branding, a new store design, mostly almost all new assortments and a new brand identity. And it all happened in a year and a half. It happens much more quickly and cohesively, and a more convincing story comes out of it.
Vogue: That raises a question I had around the time that’s needed for a creative reset, thinking about all the different designer debuts coming up this year. How much time should a creative director get to really prove themselves?
That’s a forever conversation. But it goes back to a knowledge of and dedication to learning the business. At some point you have to pay the man, and the man is the person looking at the numbers. If you just go in and design beautiful collections, you probably won’t be there very long, even if the editors love it. I think a lot of designers don’t get the time or the guidance from the business side that says: ‘Look, I understand where you’re going, but we have shareholders. We’re a public company. You’re not going to be here and maybe the CEO’s not going to be here if you don’t solve some problems quickly.’ It gives designers a priority, and it might sound a bit mundane but it’s an assessment.
