Paris Fashion Week, September 22nd, 2022 – Sebastien Meyer and Arnauld Vaillant, the founders of ultra-modern label Coperni, bring the fashion world to a standstill by spraying a dress directly onto the body of Bella Hadid. Although the innovative tech never made it to the shops, the duo’s message – your shape is to be embraced, not hidden – inspired real-world collections and was widely distributed across culture.
Cannes Lions Week, June 17th, 2024 – WPP and Coca-Cola subvert the traditionally rigid brand consistency norms, by officially embracing unauthorized interpretations of their well-known logo, found on local bodegas and mom-and-pop shops globally. The iconic wordmark remained unchanged in the brand’s day-to-day products and signage but, again, their statement – a brand’s true power lies in how it is lived and co-created by its consumers and communities – reverberated across the industry.
At their best, both fashion runway shows and advertising award shows push the boundaries of their respective domains. Challenging conventions, raising standards, inspiring new generations and, above all, showing what is possible – through a combination of ingenuity, craftsmanship and a lot of hard work and perseverance.
But there is one big, important difference… there’s no pretence with the former that they’re anything more than industry inspiration. Haute Couture sells dreams, and the High street sells clothes… an admirably honest (and lucrative) symbiotic relationship.
Yet, things aren’t as clear with the latter. What started, a few decades ago, as a pure celebration of great advertising, is now at best, a wider demonstration of the power of creativity to solve business problems. Yet, at worst, a collection of controversies.
Maybe a way forward could start by looking back – to the 1800s and the inception of Haute Couture – when Charles Frederick Worth (yes, an Englishman is the father of high fashion…) decided to proactively design and craft his own creations before presenting them to his clients for consideration.
Whereas before dressmakers would typically produce outfits based on their client’s specific briefs and specifications, now the artistry of the designer led the process…
…remind you of anything?
So, my question is, if award shows are already becoming more ‘Runway than Ready-to-Wear’ why not fully embrace an Haute Créativité mindset and approach?
Don’t wait, or restrict ourselves to briefs but find problems worth solving and brands to solve them alongside, come up with breakthrough creative ideas – then, produce, distribute and, finally, enter them.
More importantly, do all of the above in transparent fashion (ha!). Never pretending that the end product isn’t, primarily, imagination, innovation and transformation – things we can all agree our industry will benefit from (and has the talent to nurture).
And if you’re worried about the best ‘real’ work (and its creators) going unnoticed, remember that the on-going ‘award show of public opinion’ has always been pretty decent at recognising our industries’ best work. No award was ever needed for us all to agree that Guinness ‘Surfer’, or Sony ‘Balls’, are some of the best ideas ever created