Designer Grace Wales Bonner graduated from the Central Saint Martins fashion program in 2014, and last June, within two short years of completing school, she was crowned the winner of the prestigious LVMH Prize. The 25-year-old, daughter of a white mother and Jamaican father from southeast London, was praised for her highly personal collections, which explore black masculinity and the relationships between European and African identity and culture.
A sense of authenticity was one of the factors that propelled Bonner and her line into It-brand territory. Achieving that status so early in a career is the Holy Grail for an emerging talent. It means that you've been noticed, that the right people like your work and, most importantly, that you have a chance at a long-term career and, if you want it, the opportunity to land a coveted creative director position at a major luxury brand.
For every lauded newcomer, however, there are hundreds of fledgling – and perhaps just as worthy – emerging designers looking for attention. The way a label becomes the latest industry phenom still depends heavily on what they've done and whom they know, but in the age of social media, and it's also about being ready for the attention.
For recent breakout brands Vetements and Mansur Gavriel, earning a next-big-thing nod seemed to happen overnight. After garnering praise from magazine editors and striking a chord with a cynical customer base craving something new, Vetements designer Demna Gvasalia, who previously worked for both Maison Martin Margela and Louis Vuitton, quickly assumed the artistic director position at venerable French house Balenciaga. Since appearing in 2012 as an antidote to the flashy, logoed handbags of decades past, Mansur Gavriel's understated satchels now swing from the arms of indie tastemakers such as Kirsten Dunst and Sienna Miller. In a Business of Fashion profile in 2015, designers Rachel Mansur (a Rhode Island School of Design grad) and Floriana Gavriel (who interned at Lanvin) credited a chance meeting with American retailer Steven Alan for their breakout moment. But, thanks to connections made through school, internships and work, both designers were already positioned well, creatively and businesswise, to explode onto the marketplace.
Industry connections and playing up a designer's professional background can provide an immediate understanding of a new brand's point of view, not to mention shave seasons off a start-up period, according to Paper magazine's editorial director, Mickey Boardman. "Pedigree counts," he says.
During fashion month, which kicks off in New York City on Feb. 9, all eyes will be on Sies Marjan, which is designed by Dries van Noten alum Sander Lak, whose aesthetic is described as intellectual. "With Sander Lak working at Dries, right away you're like, 'I get it.' That's important," says Boardman. "If you're embraced by an influential editor like Katie Grand, or by a certain stylist like Patti Wilson, that can make a humongous difference. I'm embarrassed to say it, but it's very important for celebrities to wear your stuff. All of a sudden, there's a reason to cover someone. It's an excuse."
Competing with Lak for attention in New York will be the three-season-old line Monse. The brand's founders, Laura Kim (who was partially raised in Calgary) and Fernando Garcia previously worked for Oscar de la Renta and returned to that house to assume co-creative director duties in the fall, in addition to designing their own collection. Westworld star Thandie Newton sported a luxe sequined Monse gown to last month's Golden Globes, and other fans include Sarah Jessica Parker and Brie Larson, but it's the de la Renta association that's added extra wattage to their moment in the spotlight (a now-settled lawsuit launched by Kim's former employer, Carolina Herrera, who claims she breached a non-compete clause by joining the de la Renta team, has also helped). And for a designer such as Virgil Abloh, the founder of the two-year-old high-end streetwear label Off-White, being besties with Kanye West was enough to propel him into the streetwear stratosphere.
But what if you haven't worked at Comme des Garcons or don't personally know Beyoncé? "So often, when something explodes, it's a reaction against what's happening," says Boardman. "Like Vetements: It was so different and so street at a time when everything was so Dior and Valentino and fancy-lady fashion. People went crazy for it."
Maria Varvarikos Peart, founder and president of ZOI Agency, a PR firm with offices in Montreal, Toronto and New York, agrees. "There's so much that's out now in terms of fashion, you have to be different in order to stand out," she says. "I wish I could say it's all PR, but it's not. The brands that take off – they're in it. They're not pretending to be in it or to understand the customer; they are the customer."
Today, the path to being crowned an up-and-coming star is shorter than ever. "Everything is instant now – a result of the digital world and the fact that imagery is so available," says Gary Wassner, CEO of Hilldun Corp., a major supporter and financier of young fashion brands, as well as a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America advisory board and a judge on Project Runway: Fashion Start-up. "If something is compelling, people jump on it. Somebody unknown has just as much of a chance to be seen as someone well-known."
"Everybody is in such a rush to get somebody new or somebody first," Boardman says. "The hamster wheel is spinning so fast, people are barely out of school – or sometimes still in school – and there are magazines sniffing around. We're all looking for stuff to fill not just our magazines but websites and social media. It's really not that hard to get attention as a new or cool person these days."
But hype doesn't guarantee long-term success. "We've seen it over and over again – a designer has this amazing buzz in the first two or three years of their career, and then they just disappear," says Wassner. "We had Stephen Sprouse, Zac Posen, Christian Francis Roth – all really talented designers who burst onto the scene and were the darlings of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, but they couldn't get the rest of it in place. Buzz can be great and devastating, too. Expectations become enormous. It's a double-edged sword."
And this is what's crucial to remember about being declared an It brand: The attention is fleeting. "Fashion is disposable. It's always about who's new and what's different," says Boardman. "And that's the danger with the Vetements of the world. It's a revelation today … but it could be yesterday's news tomorrow."