Op-Ed: It’s Time to Stop Calling For Young Designers at Top Fashion Jobs

Over the last several years the generational-divide-as-culture-wars has penetrated fashion. The narrative goes that it’s the same handful of old people who keep juggling for top creative director positions and that those positions should go to younger designers who could bring fresh blood and new ideas, and rejuvenate the stale fashion establishment. That narrative is usually spread by Millenials on social media and by the fashion media who view these people as their target audience. According to them, apparently, the sin of the established designers isn’t that they aren’t talented, but that they are old. (I could call this agism, but I won’t.) This narrative continues today, even though quite a few young designers have been appointed to big houses. But narratives are one thing, and reality is another. Let’s look at their track record so far.

First up, Sean McGirr, 35, the current creative director of McQueen, whose output looks like McQ, Lee’s ill-fated youth-orientated diffusion line that few remember now. (Also, dropping “Alexander” from the brand’s name is too much too soon; McQueen is not Givenchy, and many people still cherish his memory.) Now, Sarah Burton may not be Lee, but nothing makes her look like a genius like McGirr.

Then there is Harris Reed, 28, at Nina Ricci, about whose work the best can be said is that it’s derivative of better designers, and the worst is that it is crass. And let’s not forget Maximillian Davis, 29, who is not without talent, but whose efforts to turn Ferragamo into a fashion brand have been falling flat since his first collection.

The plushest job has gone to the 41-year-old Sabato De Sarno, who in no time managed to make Gucci one of the most unexciting brands on earth. You don’t have to take my word for it; the Gucci sales numbers have been plummeting under his tenure. We were begged to give De Sarno a chance after his first bland outing until his wares got into stores. Well, we did and they did, and the verdict remains the same – De Sarno’s work is rather banal.

And these are just the ones who can actually keep their jobs. Last year Rhuigi Villasenor, 33, the founder of the streetwear brand Rhude, was ousted out of Bally, the Swiss luxury goods maker, after a year and change at its helm, only to be upstaged by Ludovic de Saint-Sernin, 33, the newish Paris darling, who set a new negative Olympic record for length of tenure when he was booted from Ann Demeulemeester after six months and one collection.

It is now clear that fashion has overreached in its desire to pander to the agenda of the social media vocalists. Early this year, Lanvin opted for Peter Copping, a 48-year-old British designer, who has been at the helm of Oscar de la Renta and Nina Ricci. (“How refreshing of them to hire someone who actually knows how to cut a dress,” an industry friend quipped.) And Givenchy, having learned its lesson in the flameout of another young creative director, Matthew Williams, 38, hired Sarah Burton, 50, someone who actually knows how to design at the highest level. And nothing reminded the fashion world that older designers can and do produce astounding work like the last artisanal collection of John Galliano, 63, for Maison Margiela. Even the kids on TikTok went nuts for it.

It is hard to put one’s finger on what is going on in fashion today and why it seems to produce so few talented designers. Judging by the output of many of them it feels that our current fashion education system is no longer capable of producing true brilliance. It seems stuck in the identity trap that limits imagination, and by all accounts, there is less impact on design and craftsmanship in the curricula than before. Or perhaps the fashion system itself, in its postmodernist stage, is creatively exhausted and cannot muster a response to its takeover by corporate luxury merch.

This is not to say that there are no young talented designers (just look at the jaw-dropping flights of fancy and construction innovation of Kei Ninomiya, 40, at Noir, or the ethereal, gentle sexiness of Nensi Dojaka, 31.). And that is also not to say that a designer cannot develop, the way Anthony Vaccarrelo, 42, has at Saint-Laurent. But it is to say that youth is not an indication of talent. Neither is race, gender, or sexual orientation. The only true marker of talent is talent, and it is time fashion went back to recognizing this simple fact.