Celebrity creative directors have become a new fashion trend this summer, but are they the next generation in brand development or just glorified influencers? Retail Week reporter Rosie Shepard offers her view.

Posed photo of influencer and creative director Molly-Mae Hague in PrettyLittleThing advertising campaign

Molly-Mae Hague has been hired as creative director of PrettyLittleThing

In two consecutive weeks, reality star Molly-Mae Hague and supermodel Kendall Jenner made similar announcements: that they were becoming creative directors of fashion brands PrettyLittleThing and FWRD respectively.

While these two brands differ in both style and price point, the move to convert a brand ambassador to an in-house creative director is an indication of where the fashion industry is heading. 

The traditional creative director role would be to oversee the design and direction of the brand in its totality, including product, campaigns and everything in between.

Celebrities, on the other hand, have ordinarily acted solely as ambassadors for fashion brands. Previously, those who have collaborated with a brand to design a collection have done so on a case-by-case basis and the partnership has often meant little more than signing their name to a collection designed by the retailer’s in-house team and appearing at a launch event to drum up press.

“In The Style has created a business out of collaborations, bringing influencers on board to drive sales, but also giving them a genuine input”

The origins of this trend hark back to the early 2000s; look to the days of Kate Moss in Topshop, Beyoncé’s Ivy Park collection (also in Topshop) and even the long-standing collaboration between Marks & Spencer’s lingerie department and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

In The Style has even created a business out of collaborations, bringing reality stars and influencers on board at the peak of their fame to drive sales, but also giving them a genuine input in the resulting products.

However, appointments such as Hague and Jenner indicate that this growing trend has reached new heights.

Since 2019, when Hague placed second in reality TV show Love Island and shot to fame, she herself has collaborated on three collections with PrettyLittleThing and signed a £500,000 brand deal. But does that make her qualified to oversee the creative direction of the whole brand? 

And, if so, what message does this send to those working in fashion who hope to climb the ranks through gaining skills and experience, rather than appearing on a reality TV show?

“It’s a message to the consumers that [an influencer] is not only wearing the clothes and representing the brand, but they’re on the inside”

Lucy Harris, Altrua

Recruitment firm Altrua’s founding partner Lucy Harris likens the move to simply bringing the influencers ordinarily on board on a contract basis firmly into the building.

“Creative directors can come in all shapes and sizes,” she says.

“You can have a creative director whose influence is important in a brand or a design director who creates the product and sees it through. Or you can have one who is very much about brand and its sticky endorsement with customers – which is what this celebrity idea is all about.

“It’s a message to the consumers that [an influencer] is not only wearing the clothes and representing the brand, but they’re on the inside – which is a big deal for their followers.”

While Hague and Jenner’s jobs may include some input in product design, the main premise for their appointments is therefore to simply capitalise on their social currency, meaning their names become synonymous with the brand itself – just as people still talk about Kate Moss and Topshop 20 years later.

Does that make their role just a glorified influencer? Maybe. But will it do the trick and bring customers flocking to buy their products? Almost certainly.

It boils down to what each of them will be expected to do on a daily basis compared with what those trained in the creative industry would do.

While Hague was quick to showcase a nameplate and chair emblazoned with her new job title, it seems unlikely that she will be working a standard nine-to-five role.

PrettyLittleThing outlined that in her new role Hague will “take an active position in creatively directing upcoming campaigns for the brand and signing new faces within the UK and EU”.

Crucially, Hague’s role is only set to last one year, which is a testament to the fast-fashion brand’s awareness that influencers’ power can sometimes die out as quickly as it rises.

On that basis, it seems likely that a large part of Hague’s expanded role at PLT will entail her being on the lookout for the next ‘her’ – something she is arguably uniquely qualified to do.

“Hague’s role is only set to last one year, which is a testament to the brand’s awareness that influencers’ power can sometimes die out as quickly as it rises”

Bringing this all together, it seems that PrettyLittleThing is not betting on Hague’s creative prowess, but more on her 6 million-strong army of followers and what they can bring to the business in the next 12 months. 

Fast fashion has long understood the power that influencer marketing has on its customer base, signing hordes of reality stars, YouTubers and bloggers to their roster to reach a variety of shoppers – and this is the ultimate indicator of what could be achieved.

Every influencer may not be destined for a creative director job title, but it’s a savvy move for fashion retailers wanting to ensure total loyalty from one of their top-earning influencers. It wouldn’t be surprising if the rest of the Boohoo group – and indeed its competitors – followed suit.

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