Celebrity Designers on the Wane?

Gwen Stefani Signs with Coty - 12/7/2006Yesterday’s Women’s Wear Daily featured an article entitled “Stars on the Wane: Celebrity Fashion Lines Losing Their Mojo,” which begs the question: they had mojo? It’s true that in the past two to five years celebrities have been slapping their names on product lines and watching the dollars roll in, but I don’t think anyone really believed it would last.

If we were to map the progression of this kind of celebrity licensing and product line-saturation, it would all probably begin with Sarah Jessica Parker promoting Garnier Nutrisse’s “Brown Sugar Number 63.” How long has that ad been running anyways? I always thought it was such a tragic color choice, and yet sales of the product boomed in double-digit percentage. Ever since then, fashion and beauty brands have been looking for similar celebrity marriages made-in-heaven, and the agents, deal-makers, and consultants have only been too-happy to point them in the “right” directions. Right directions? Read: Jennifer Lopez and Jessica Simpson. I find this hilarious. Any of these executives ever pick up a copy of US Weekly? If the “Stars – They’re Just Like Us” photoplay is any indication of what’s in a celeb’s closet, then why bother with their eponymous clothing lines? After all, they’re just like us - no one really wears JLO or JS by Jessica Simpson. Ouch – nothing but the truth here folks!

According to Michael Wood of Teenage Research Unlimited, “the novelty has worn off, and it’s just not news anymore.” How about consumers have wised-up to the fact that star-names don’t necessarily mean “star-quality” in their product lines? I’ve looked at the JLO section at Macy’s – let’s just say those aren’t fibers I want anywhere near my skin - and I don't think JLo does herself. Wood went on to say: “young people want to wear what the celebrities wear, not the label they have their names on.” Ah! Then came the dawn. Celebrities are aspirational brands, kids – not everyone can live the way they do, or buy the clothes they buy, because then everyone would be rich, famous, and fabulous. I’m happy to see that this dichotomy isn’t an issue over a L.A.M.B., and may be part of the reason why Gwen Stefani’s line is performing strongly as compared to her other pop-star/designer colleague’s lines. Ms. Stefani actually wears the things she designs, oh wait, she actually designs them too! She’s also backed up by her powerhouse of a stylist, Andrea Lieberman, who rarely missteps when it comes to the Stefani style. No wonder the two are making such a success of L.A.M.B.. (Now what can be done about that weird blonde bob?)

Apparently, this is more of the vein retailers are beginning to take when they launch these sort of “novelty” lines, by combining legitimate design and styling talent with a mass-market launch. Witness Viktor & Rolf for H&M or Behnaz Sharafpour for Target. Madonna’s new M line will be launching a second season at H&M this coming March. These are the kind of smart partnerships fashion brands should have been making with designers three years ago, but who am I to tell a somewhat-talented popstar that she may not have talent in design? I distinctly remember all of the interviews and articles surrounding the JLO and Sweetface launches in which Jennifer Lopez said something along the lines of “I’ve always wanted to design clothes – I just love fashion…” blah blah blah. Right. Love ya’ Jen, but some of us actually went to school for this. Who hasn’t wanted to branch out into a different field? I’d love to design interiors, or work for a magazine, or own a restaurant…does it mean I’m going to just decide to do all of that on a whim? Hell no. But maybe if I were backed up by my own celebrity name and $250 million dollars I’d go for it. Hmmm – so are the businesspeople exploiting innocent celebrities who don’t know how to make solid business decisions, or are celebrities just exploiting their fans by actually getting them to buy their own hype? In any case, there’s a lot of exploitation going on in this equation.

This holiday season, Macy’s made a feature of celebrity-named fragrances in some of their key windows. It seems that the celebrity fashion lines of three years ago are now morphing into fragrance lines, and the boys at Coty and Elizabeth Arden are laughing all the way to the bank. It seems that everyone wants to smell like a celebrity. Talk to me in a few years when we’re all scrubbing it off.