White Man’s Latest Takeover: Fashion
In October, Blumarine’s Creative Director, Nicola Brognano, decided to leave the company. Responsible for countless successful collections at the Italian fashion house, fashion girlies all over were devastated. Appointed in 2019, his collections were partially responsible for the Y2K revival in fashion.
This follows a number of creative directors leaving their positions. Brognano joins a list including Jeremy Scott at Moschino, Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen, and Gabriella Hearst at Chloé, to name a few. Shortly after Brognano announced his departure, sources say Walter Chiapponi will be Blumarine’s new Creative Director.
Chaipponi was previously the Creative Director of Tod’s and exited this role in September after the brand's womenswear SS2024 show. However, many can’t help but wonder why men continue to be put into positions that could’ve been for successful female creative directors.
Kering is a French multinational brand conglomerate specializing in luxury goods. Gucci, Bottega Veneta, and YSL are some of the few luxe companies that call Kering their home. Competing with Kering is LVMH, which is the same type of conglomerate, but they represent Dior, Céline, and Givenchy.
Recently, Kering went under fire due to a collage of Kering’s six white male creative directors. Backlash on social media led to what social media pages do best: infographics. Don’t get me wrong, they effectively display data into a condensed Canva-made template. But this time, they helped show how few female and POC creative directors there are in the fashion industry. Posted by @1granary, a fashion education platform, the collage came after Sean McGirr took over Sarah Burton’s role in Alexander McQueen.
The post calls out the lack of diversity, stating, “We hear so much about ‘change,’ while diversity and equality are used as marketing strategies every day. But in truth, nothing seems to have evolved.” While Sean McGirr is good at what he does, it does bring into question why so many men are given the role of creative director in fashion when women are equally as capable. However, it’s a complicated argument and not as black-and-white as some may think.
Think of Jeremy Scott’s Moschino. The brand, under his creative direction, was nothing other than camp. It was camp before any of us knew what camp meant (thanks to Met Gala 2019). The first that comes to mind when many think of Moschino is their Barbie collab, with clothes branded with the bubbly Barbie font and even their own doll. This brand is known for its quirky womenswear, which means that Scott did his job and delivered it to his target audience. So, men are capable of delivering clothes that women want.
Even so, there is the conversation about clothes having no gender. This is true; anyone can wear anything and should do so if it makes them feel good. Although, the brands that make womenswear are almost always targeting cisgender women. And the people appointed to these brands are still white men. Lack of diversity and inclusion means that we’re left with more and more brands copying each other’s past seasons and more disappointed people in the high fashion community ranting on X.
Despite these reasons, women should still be able to feel represented in their truest way. That’s why the fashion community hopes that soon after another shocking creative director exit will later enlist a capable woman or POC into the position. While some do understand what women want, many still believe that no one is better able to understand what we want more than a woman herself.
Strike Out,
Emily Fiorini-Casamayouret
Boca Raton
Emily Fiorini-Casamayouret is the Senior Editor and Content Writer for Strike Magazine Boca Raton. When she isn’t writing, this Cancer enjoys listening to music, reading, doing some retail therapy, & eating pasta. You can reach her on Instagram @emilyfiorini, or at emilyfiorinic@gmail.com
