What Makes a Fashion House Iconic?

One of the things I love about living in London is that there are always cool and inspiring exhibits going on, and recently there was one such exhibit, which seemed to combine my two favourite things -- fashion and branding -- with or without knowing it.  The exhibit was called the Masters of Style: Celebrating the Stories behind Italian Fashion. 

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, the exhibit featured six of Italy's iconic design houses: Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Salvatore Ferragamo, Gucci, Missoni & Prada.

          

Going through the exhibit, which featured the fashion labels' favourite images and ads they felt captured the essence of their brand and Italian heritage, I began to see clearly how fashion brands, particularly luxury fashion brands, define themselves.

Fashion is a tough business for a variety of reasons, a few being:

• Each label has to create something new, fresh and innovative every six months without fail
• Collections have to appeal to a global audience
• The personal viewpoint of the creative director, who may or may not be the founder of the label, should be integrated
• All the while, the brand's heritage and founding personality must be maintained 
• Not to mention they are faced with unforgiving critics that could kill the brand with one little slip

There is a lot of pressure continuously placed on fashion labels, so it's no wonder only a few succeed and even fewer rise to being iconic.

I think the way fashion houses define their brand allows them to be flexible enough to combat these tough market conditions.  After reading about and observing the images chosen by and for each label, it was very clear that fashion brands are defined through a combination of two things: 

1 - A stylistic point of view, such as Armani's  precision cuts and subtle colour palette, or Missoni's passion for colourful knitwear.  Style is forever, and from that point of view fresh fashion can rise to the surface each season. However, a strong stylistic point of view is the red thread that tells a unified brand story across seasons.

2 - Emotions they wish to evoke. There are functional brands, which provide tangible utility such as Google or Apple, and the have a brand purpose to continually provide function well into the future. Then there are emotional brands. These brands aim to stimulate various feelings and aspirations for those who engage with them. Dressing is a personal and often emotional (not in the terms of being sad, but in reference to being based on personal feelings), Miuccia Prada said it best back in 2007:

"For me, dressing is a versatile instrument that helps you express what's in your head … -- a relationship with a man, with society. Sometimes you want to appear powerful, or serious or rich. All of us want to represent something. When you meet someone, among the instruments you have – like dialogue – you also have clothes"

So it's only natural that fashion labels define themselves on the emotions they wish to create. For instance Dolce & Gabbana evokes irony and Mediterranean sensuality in all they create; Prada aims for bravery and wit, while Armani elicits elegance, understatement and assurance.

Having a strong stylistic point of view combined with a set of emotions you wish to kindle, creates a powerful and unique positioning within the market. It's brands like those featured in this exhibit that have stayed true to these key elements that have allowed them to rise to an iconic status and maintain that status over the years.