ELLEPower List“IT IS RARE
WHEN
A DESIGNERBUBBLES up
WHO TRULYTURNS THINGS
upside DOWN”
143Power is a slippery notion. Adequately defining it depends on
the circumstances. It’s non-transferable. A person who wields
great clout in one arena could be ineffectual in another. The
once-powerful can become impotent over time – simply
because our cultural values change. There can also be a
sweet spot in terms of age, at which a person is at peak
power. At some point, society decides that it is time for them
to pass the baton and let the next generation take control.
So what does it really mean to have power within the
fashion industry today? There are those who would argue
that fashion power is an oxymoron because fashion is, by
its nature, a frivolous pursuit. Those people would be wrong.
Fashion power is specific. It’s intimate,
emotional and very personal.
Fashion is the global business of
self-expression and identity. To have
fashion power is to have the ability
to define oneself as well as others.
Those who really wield authority in the
fashion industry are those who have
the privilege and responsibility of
painting a portrait of our world. What
does the culture look like right now?
And how might it look in the future?
You might presume that designers
are the ultimate powerbrokers in the
fashion industry, but that’s no longer
a given. In the first half of the 2Oth century, designers
defined the aesthetics of the day. They issued decrees
and women listened, sometimes grudgingly, if they
wanted to be viewed as relevant. The power inherent
in Christian Dior’s ‘new look’ is that it suggests that
there was a singular ‘old look’, which is now obsolete –
simply because Mr Dior said so.
Today, enormous fashion conglomerates control the
design house; social media allows a single fashion fanatic
to speak to a million people with a single selfie – in fact,
selfies have turned us all into individual brands with mini-
spheres of authority. Modern designers are now creatives
for hire: they hop from one house to the next, channelling this
aesthetic and that one. Typically, they serve the pleasure of
some tycoon. The business titans who finance the brands
have the power to decide which ideas will reach a sales
floor. Sometimes, designers don’t even own their name.
They’re not pace-setters; they’re part of the pack.
It is therefore rare when a designer bubbles up who
truly turns things upside down, allowing us to look at our
surroundings anew or creating a singular garment that makes
history. Gucci’s Alessandro Michele has power because he
pushed us to see beauty, gender and luxury differently than
we once did. His magpie, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink
sensibility has given oddballs and outsiders a coating of
glamour and sense of belonging. Givenchy’s Clare Waight
Keller has power because the wedding gown she designed
for Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, will stand forever – she
reimagined what a fairy-tale looks like for a modern woman.
Stylists have power because they are storytellers
whose narratives turn up on the red carpet, in the pages of
a magazine or on advertising campaigns. They bring new
brands into the light and remind us why the old ones continue
to matter. They shape the public persona of celebrities and,
in doing so, bring our fantasies to life. And what we fantasise
about speaks directly to who we are.
Someone such as Marie-
Claire Daveu – Kering’s chief
sustainability officer, who is
seeking a more sustainable
way forward for fashion –
has power because she is
truly one of the keepers of our
future. Casting director Rachel
Chandler, who works on major
campaigns and catwalk shows,
thinks globally and sees our
differences through kind eyes.
She has power because, in her
quest to define beauty, she is
defining who we value. Rihanna
has power because she is the celebrity storyteller who
has woven a tale of diversity and inclusion and has done
so with the deep-pocketed financing of LVMH. Oh, and she
has more than 73 million followers on Instagram.
Money can clear the path to power but a massive army
of social media fans can be a fine substitute. Social media
clout is rooted in admiration, empathy and trust. If followers
believe they are being exposed to some truth, they will
listen. They will follow your advice. They will buy things.
Eva Chen, a former magazine editor who is now head
of fashion partnerships at Instagram, had 1.2 million followers
at last count. At Instagram, she connects companies to
other influencers. Basically, Chen sits at the centre of
a massive Venn diagram of the new media structure. It
used to be that knowing specific people was the route
to power – ‘it’s all in who you know’. Today, it’s not so
much about having personal relationships with the right
people, it’s having access to as many people as possible.
That’s the curious contradiction about power in the
21st century. It’s about having vast connections and making
each one feel seen and represented. Fashion speaks to
our intimate longings and fears. Having power in that
space means being able to whisper sweet nothings into
a million ears at once.