Expats

american designers take over european fashion houses

by ian grafvonluxburg

For quite some time, London, Milan, and Paris have been hesitant to listen to Western influence. For the most part, Europe has always had a tight grip on the fashion industry, with conglomerates such as The Kering Group and LVMH monopolizing the scene. Fashion designers always seemed to be from one of the major, or adjacent, cities on the European fashion calendar. But in recent times, these houses and brands have undergone an Americanization of sorts. It is becoming more common to hear the name of an

American designer behind a major European house.

Kim Jones is an English fashion designer who, as head of Louis Vuitton menswear from 2011 to 2018, completely reshaped concepts like street style. After an incredible run, Louis Vuitton decided to part ways with the designer, and in March of 2018, the brand named Virgil Abloh the new Creative Director for its Menswear line. The new gig was major for Abloh, making him the first Black person to hold the post and one of few Black designers at the helm of a major French fashion house.

Another major fashion switcheroo was the departure of Riccardo Tisci from Givenchy. Although Tisci is of Italian descent, he was at the helm of a major French fashion house for 13 years, overseeing both its womens- and menswear lines, and even producing Givenchy couture. In June of 2020, Matthew Williams, an American fashion designer, was appointed creative director of the house.

It’s become a trend. Another example is Daniel Roseberry, an American designer from Texas, who was named creative director of Schiaparelli after the house’s 2014 revival. He quickly solidified his name at the legendary house and is now making couture under its name.

With all of these American names being thrown around, one can only ask: who haven’t we heard of yet? For a long time now, the American fashion industry has

been more or less identified by a familiar slate of names: Halston, Bill Blas, Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford, and so on. The classics. OG’s, if you will—but in the last decade or so, these names have become predictable, and New York Fashion Week has lost some ground to its counterparts in London, Milan and Paris. But up-and-coming American designers are beginning to make their voices heard, and the industry is definitely paying attention.

Christopher John Rogers is one of the most captivating. He was named American Womenswear Designer of the Year at the 2021 CFDA Fashion Awards, two years after winning the CFDA/Vogue fashion fund, which is given to on-the-rise designers so they can fund their collections and projects. Since then, he has been worn by celebrities like Lady Gaga and Beyoncé.

Anifa Mvuemba, another star on the rise, is a Nigerian fashion designer who immigrated to the United States when she was 3 years old to escape war and civil unrest. She revolutionized the industry when she presented a collection using completely digital and life-like models at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

New York fashion brand Area is also making huge moves. Half of the team is composed of Becket Fogg, a Kentucky-born fashion designer, while her counterpart is of Polish descent. They recently announced to the world that they would now be creating couture collections, a feat that is only technically possible if you have the approval of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, a notoriously difficult club to get into.

Another American to break through the haute couture glass ceiling was Kerby Jean-Raymond of Pyer Moss. Jean-Raymond is one of the fashion industry’s leading American names, with his designs being worn by Zendaya and even Vice President Kamala Harris. He recently debuted his first haute couture collection at the Madam CJ Walker estate in upstate New York, highlighting inventions through history that were created by Black inventors, engineers, and entrepreneurs.

The American infiltration of fashion has become so prevalent that it is now being presented to the world at the Met. It is also being studied and celebrated to the same degree as its European counterparts, a shift that was long overdue and heavily contested.

Last September, the Anna Wintour Costume Institute at the Met debuted part one of a two part exhibit series, the first of its kind, entitled In America: A Lexicon of Fashion. Andrew Bolton, British museum curator and

current Head Curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, spearheaded the project and aimed to redefine the vocabulary used to describe American fashion. Bolton explains that “American fashion has traditionally been defined through the language of sportswear and RTW,” also stating that it is often “denied the emotional rhetoric applied to European fashion.” Through the use of sectionalized groups of garments representing umbrella concepts found within American fashion, Bolton hopes to create the opportunity to celebrate the “creativity and ingenuity of designers working within the U.S.”

The exhibit takes inspiration from, and has its roots firmly placed in, the work of artist Jesse Jackson, who used a patchwork quilt as a metaphor for the United States. Jackson says that America is less like a blanket and “more like a quilt—many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread.”

If indeed a glass ceiling of fashion has been shattered, American designers are using the shards to recreate the mosaics of fashion, in their own American vision. One that is as diverse, up-to-date, and progressive as they are.

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