There is a “gambling agreement” between the shocking creative director and the brand in the luxury fashion industry.

The luxury fashion industry is in an irregular period of turbulence, and there seems to be an invisible “gambling agreement” between the creative director and the brand.

Hedi Slimane's first independent men's collection after Celine was released on Paris Men's Week last Sunday, but compared to its first show at Celine, the fashion show did not make much of a wave.

This is both abnormal and unexpected.

Given Hedi Slimane's conservative performance in the first series in October last year, one should have realized that this almost stubbornly self-styled star creative director will not bring works beyond his aesthetics. As previously expected, the new menswear collection is an extension of the men's and women's collections in the men's collection, and the style is consistent with Hedi Slimane's past in Dior Homme and Saint Laurent.

Consumers’ fatigue on social media hotspots is getting shorter and shorter. The crazy discussion last October seemed to exhaust the enthusiasm of social media, which made people interested in the first menswear collection, although this move is strategically important.

Launching the first independent menswear collection in history for Celine is a key step for the parent company LVMH to adjust its strategic strategy for the Celine brand. This is both for the hot menswear market and for the target of the competitor Kaifo Group's Saint Laurent. The counterattack is behind the fierce competition between LVMH and Kaiyun.

As early as the release of the first show in October, some insiders pointed out that the new Celine made a 180-degree change in style, or intentionally "utilized" Hedi Slimane to recapture his former congregation from Saint Laurent, and in many luxury brands At the same time as the integration of resources for men and women, the choice to join the menswear week in Paris just proves this purpose.

Massimiliano Nardiello, director of women's purchasing at Milan's Antonia boutique, revealed in an interview that she chose Celine's suit and Saint Laurent's dress when placing her order, but the two are too similar to the buyers' choices in purchasing.

In the two years that Hedi Slimane left Saint Laurent and turned against the Kaiyun Group, the latter continued the creative style of Hedi Slimane through the creative director Anthony Vaccarello, so that the brand still benefits from the commercial success of Hedi Slimane when he was in office. .

As the second largest luxury brand of Kaiyun Group, the loss of Saint Laurent's consumers will cause irreversible damage to the group. This statement is not groundless. According to the latest financial report, Saint Laurent's third-quarter sales rose 16.1% year-on-year to 447 million euros, slowing down from 19.8% in the second quarter and 22.2% in the same period last year. In contrast to the Hedi Slimane period, the growth rate has almost halved.

Some people in the industry speculate that Hedi Slimane's deep fan base in the menswear field also has a high probability of being the main reason why LVMH invited him to join. This is equivalent to the gambling agreement between LVMH and Hedi Slimane. The group provides unconditional support for Hedi Slimane to transform Celine. Hedi Slimane is responsible for siege hunting and grabbing the menswear market in Saint Laurent.

The menswear market is currently a new growth point. According to data released by market research firm Euromonitor International, the global apparel and footwear market retail sales in 2017 increased by 4% year-on-year to US$1.7 trillion. Men's and women's wear increased by 3.7% and 3.3% to $419 billion and $643 billion, respectively, and men's wear grew faster than women's wear. It is expected that from 2017 to 2022, men's wear sales will outpace women, with a compound annual growth rate of 2%.

After Hedi Slimane’s marketing of Celine’s “cleansing” brands, especially after the release of two fashion shows, the focus of the question was whether he could recapture the brutal problems of his own fan base and eventually implement it. The new Celine's commercial performance, in other words, the next step for everyone's attention will be placed on the new Celine to make money.

Social media paradox is not good for Hedi Slimane. The protests of Celine's loyal fans in October are still vivid, so that Hedi Slimane, who has always kept mystery, also defended himself.

French journalist Loic Prigent disclosed his email interview with Hedi Slimane on last year's TV show, which for the first time responded to the public controversy after the release of the new Celine series. "The public opinion is always harsh and people are always talking about others. This fashion show was originally relaxed and happy, but now people are always skeptical about the relaxed things, I have experienced this problem in Saint Laurent. You deal with conflicts of interest, factions, attitudes, and exaggerated conservatives. Politics. Violence is a reflection of our time. It is the fanatic spirit of social networks. Although it is a powerful community tool, it no longer has any restrictions, and hatred is magnified."

The influence of social media on the brand is getting more and more profound. The Dolce & Gabbana insulting incident is the most typical case in the near future, but the luxury industry is also aware that the social media users who look up and discuss fashion often buy luxury goods in many times. Consumers are not the same group.

Social media seems to have a devastating force that determines the brand's life and death, and its uncertainty is increasingly playing a role in stirring the luxury fashion industry. But dialectically, commercial interests are still the main driving force. Just as Dolce & Gabbana's Milan menswear show a week ago, Chinese models and buyers continued to attend, and 18 of the 25 Chinese customers invited by the brand Gaoding series attended the fashion show. Therefore, even though the Hedi Slimane series has gained more polarization and even negative evaluation, in the commercial battlefield, the new Celine has won the market share of Saint Laurent.

Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of LVMH Group, expressed his appreciation of Celine's new series in an interview with Loic Prigent. He had admitted that he hoped that the addition of Hedi Slimane, the star designer, could turn Celine's income up to five years. Up to now 3 times.

There are more anti-conventional phenomena in the actual luxury market. For example, although freshness is a new currency in the luxury goods industry, lack of innovation is often a fatal injury to designers, but a highly consistent design style like Hedi Slimane is also effective. Dealing with the industry's seasonal instability.

At the beginning, Alessandro Michele performed similarly at Gucci. Compared to other brands that are clearly differentiated according to each season's inspiration, Gucci has set the theme for each series, but in the style of clothing, it follows a coherent aesthetic system, and there is no clear distinction between each season theme. This is clearly contrary to the common sense that “brands should use different themes to provide consumers with freshness”, but the brand achieves the goal of competing with the instability of the luxury industry, achieving continuous high-speed growth of more than 11 quarters.

In the fashion industry, where the season is the fashion cycle and is known for its freshness, the brand can quickly attract fans, but it is equally easy to lose the original followers. Hedi Slimane has cultivated a group of consumers who are more important and stable than other brands and designers by sturdy and distinct personal style system, so that these consumers continue to follow Hedi Slimane's footsteps, which also increases the men's wear market for the new Celine. The weight.

Not only between LVMH and Hedi Slimane, but now the relationship between luxury brands and celebrity creative directors is becoming more and more important. The final goal is easier to achieve if the demand for the bet is clear enough. The original Dior Homme creative director Kris Van Assche released the first series of Berluti, and Virgil Abloh only released the second series in Louis Vuitton. The "valuation adjustment mechanism" is fermenting in the fashion industry.

The relationship between Calvin Klein and Raf Simons has broken down, or it has to be attributed to the deviation of expectations between the two parties and the neglect of the invisible gambling agreement behind the cooperation. The question that Calvin Klein didn't clarify when paying high-paying executives to the star creative director was whether Raf Simons was responsible for the task of upgrading the brand image or the task of stimulating brand sales.

At the same time, as more and more luxury brands abandon star creative directors and choose to support designers who have not been creative directors, they are actually betting on the possibilities that these young designers can bring. Yesterday, Lanvin appointed 23-year-old former Loewe menswear designer Bruno Sialelli as creative director. Prior to him, Bottega Veneta also handed over the responsibility of reviving the brand to Daniel Lee, who was only 33 years old and worked at Celine and other brands, but never officially became the creative director. The first show of Bruno Sialelli and Daniel Lee will be unveiled at the Paris Fashion Week in February.

Compared with the star creative director hired by high salary, the initial cost of hiring young designers is small. Although they lack experience, they are more flexible in realizing the gambling process. But this does not mean that the group will overwhelm the creative director. After all, Alessandro Michele, who has been promoted from Gucci, has gained enough free space in reshaping the brand image. Of course, whether the young creative director can keep pace with the ambitions of luxury oligarchy, and the game of business and design is still the biggest challenge facing the brand.

In fact, in addition to the relationship between luxury brands and creative directors, there is also this invisible bet between brand and star resources. Whether the star wants to bring traffic to the brand or help the brand establish a new image in the Chinese market, only the two sides have made this clear in the initial stage of cooperation, and the logic of brand cooperation can be self-consistent.

In 2017, Valentino announced that Zhang Yixing was the brand ambassador for China. In August 15 last year, Yi Qianquan became the first Asia Pacific spokesperson for the Bottega Veneta brand. In September, Ermenegildo Zegna announced that Chen Weiwei was the global image spokesperson. Etro announced that Jidong was the brand ambassador for Greater China. In October, Wu Yifan became the Louis Vuitton brand spokesperson. In January of this year, Berluti announced that Peng Yuxi was the brand spokesperson. Fendi announced Wang Jiaer as the brand ambassador. BOSS announced that Zhao Youting was the brand spokesperson for Greater China.

The gambling is indeed making luxury goods more utilitarian, but it also makes the efficiency of cooperation higher and helps the brand to clarify its own needs. In the fierce competition, many brands seem to be doing the same thing, but often only brands with clear thinking and clear goals can grasp the future.

Back to Hedi Slimane, the creative director can't ignore social media, but he has already understood when he took over the job. His ultimate goal is not to create an illusion of joy, but to achieve "a certain tacit understanding" with the brand.

In the face of this increasingly uncertain industry, regardless of winning or losing, gambling is becoming a way for LVMH to protect itself. The only thing to worry about is that Celine is a victim of luxury oligarchy competition.