Kenzo hires Humberto Leon of Opening Ceremony

[Faust]

http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2011/07/12/kenzo-appoints-humberto-leon-and-carol-lim

Dear fashion,

Whatever happened to hiring designers, as in people that have held a pair of scissors in their hands, cut patterns, you know, silly things like that.

[syed]

Given the popularity of OC amongst a certain crowd, I wouldn't be surprised if sales increased for their first season regardless of how good/bad it is

[Shucks]

Telegraph article

"Leon and Lim, both 36 years old, plan to hire a team of skilled designers to realise their vision"

and apparently kenzo has been selling well, so it's a bit surprising, but they got a new ceo in january, so it could be that. every new ceo has to tinker with something to prove himself...

[david s]

I found the entire appointment of these two.... well, odd.

OC for mens I have always found a glorified jeans + tshirts destination, womens a bit more adventurous, but I've always the store overall a little pedestrian. They were good when it originally opened but steadily has become more mainstream.

Kenzo as a brand I've always liked, unique and IMO always readily identifiable. Different aesthetic, but similar to Demeulemeester, in finding an idea and refining on it. Definitely it flies under the radar in the States but in Europe (France) and Asia (Thailand, Japan) it is still a good seller.

I hope they do not make it mass-market and bland.

And ditto...wtf, they're basically hiring what sounds like PR people to run a fashion company and get others to execute a perception. Reminds of the scene in Charade where the Audrey Hepburn character rips the filter off a cigarette and says,"I can't stand these things... it's like drinking coffee through a veil.

Hiring non-designers to run a fashion brand is a similar analogy. Clothing filtered through advertising....

[surver]

another one bites the dust... there goes kenzo... i never understood the 'value' of oc... totally agree that it's very pedestrian and common.

i think designer brands should just STOP once the namesake designer is gone... this entire buy/sell/merge + hiring/firing 'successors' b.s. just doesn't make sense for this part of the industry when so much of a name/personality-based brand is based on the specific personal visions of the particular designer him/herself...

unless, of course, the 'successor' was hand-picked/trained/apprenticed directly by the main designer to take-over... then that's a different story of continuing the lineage/heritage... but with business management smucks making the decisions of air-landing outsiders from left and right really doesn't make sense...

[Faust]

Pedestrian is the right word, david. Absolutely on the money.

[zamb]

well,
if I were to take the traditional route to being a fashion designer today, I might as well forget about working in this industry. I think it's really a depressing time for a lot of these designers who spent years going to School in hopes of moving up into a respectable position...........

I'm not gonna comment personally on the hiring of these two,
but the problem I have is, if someone is gonna go to school, learn as much as they can, intern for free, then when its time for me to be hired in a respectable capacity, some Celebrity or someone with a Media friendly name but no real technical knowledge of how clothes are made is gonna get the top Jobs...............whats the whole point then?

I think the whole damn industry has a serious problem, as far as I am concerned there are fewer and fewer people who really know how to make clothes working in this industry today. sometimes I go to the stores and I begin to wonder what's there to really buy?

Its also a significant treason for so much copying, knocking off going on, because its easier to replicate someones ideas after you have seen then rather than create something of your own if you have little or know knowledge of how to develop and execute an original idea.........

[Wiggles]

i can see where they're coming from at kenzo, but i don't agree with it. i'd almost compare it to when ungaro appointed lindsay lohan creative director a while back - it's a pr stunt. kenzo, although respectable and perhaps selling well, isn't as big a name as the new ceo would like it to be (or at least that's my read of the whole situation), and so they're bringing in people with some cache to lure in people that don't already buy from the label.

i think we're past the point of worrying about the designer's vision and especially past the point of making it mass market and bland. leon and lim come from a business where they sell clothes first and foremost, not communicate a vision. if this works out, i'll be really surprised.

[david s]

Kenzo/H+M collab designed by Chloë Sevigny Summer Capsule collection ...

anyone want to bet

[Faust]

Let's not forget they are owned by LVMH.

[Patroklus]

I'm not gonna comment personally on the hiring of these two,
but the problem I have is, if someone is gonna go to school, learn as much as they can, intern for free, then when its time for me to be hired in a respectable capacity, some Celebrity or someone with a Media friendly name but no real technical knowledge of how clothes are made is gonna get the top Jobs...............whats the whole point then?

No way. There's going to be great designers in the future, and most of them will have gone to school for fashion if not for some other field of design, or will have some sort of sewing background. Celebrity non-designers should not be viewed as endemic of the industry.

[Pumpfish]

I don't think this makes sense as a PR / Profile Raising stunt. The "designers" aren't that well known.

My guess: the new CEO thinks weakness on the commercial / merchandising appeal of the brand is holding it back. Getting this right is a priority over design.

Well it worked for, erm.......