As we all know Slimane made a noisy come back, from the media to the
front row, this bazar was not expected from the famous French designer but he
can handle it. He did what a lot of designers did before him at a small range, they invited
bloggers and removed people from the front row who were just there by habit and
not by interest nor by a worth interest from the House anymore, therefore
Slimane did invite more bloggers and more celebrities because they are the main
free-advertisement for any brand, who does not want a free sandwich man
wearing your own clothes to give envy to people in the media, blog and even in
the street?
But Slimane was at the right place at the right time, people were
just jealous that this guy, from Dior Homme who re-branded the whole Homme line,
was able to reach the new DA position at Yves Saint Laurent. Conservatism
peoples, as always, were and still against the total YSL rebranding in Saint
Laurent Paris (SLP), Hedi S. wanted to remove all roots from the past, going
through the present to reach the future is not easy when you carry a spirit
like YSL, you have to bring a new fresh air to the House if you do not want to
stay in the shadow of the big man. That is what H.S. did, his ego does not want
him to be in the shadow of someone, he wants to be under the spotlight, on the
stage, like a rock star, that is what he likes the most, the scene. But he just did what he has to do, by changing the name as a lot of others designers like Balenciaga, Givenchy, and almost all of them, he just updated the brand to be in the modern era of fashion. The whole design of their marketing tools (bags, hanger, and so on) also changed to be more simple and also very strong, black and white, the Slimane's favourite setup, it is one of the most powerful combination you are very attracted by it by curiosity but also fascination, yes same as Dior Homme.
So to get back to our new branding directive, they want to focus
more on social media and their images from customer’s eyes and also by upcoming
customers. Therefore PR and strong designers are becoming more social, through
Twitter, Facebook, random events in store, this will bring a new relationship with
the public, they are now part of the business, they are not only looking at the
window, they can be now the model to which everyone looks at. This strategy is also dangerous because you cannot control it and by getting free
advertisement, it can also drag your reputation down or at least dye it,
everyone wants a famous lifestyle blogger wearing your new collection, but what
is the point? If you are an Haute-Couture fashion designers, will you seriously
think that people will buy your most expensive clothes when they see a £3K
dress on a random “famous” blond girl from the internet? They will not, except
if you are like Kenzo Paris (for example they are not the only one) if you have a street line you will obviously be
able to boost your sales as people will buy this cheap line because it is part
of a Haute-Couture house and it is cheap so why would you not buy it? You have
to decide what you want to be, do you want to look like a brand which is
spreading its products through the crowd just to be seen everywhere? Does it
really boost your sales? If you are from the Haute Couture world, do you really
need that kind of cheap advertisement to get new customers when you are
established since more than 60 years?
Your choice, your reputation, this whole new thing is too young to be
blamed nor analysed properly but I am pretty sure that this kind of
advertisement will kill the Haute Couture fame and prestige if you embrace it.
