We sell themes, not bags and shoes: Gucci boss 

When asked at the Hindustan Times Luxury Conference whether it was the brand that was more important or the designer, Robert Polet, CEO and President, Gucci Group said without missing a beat: “

The brand is more important than any designer.” It was

a controversial answer to what has become the classic chicken or egg question in fashion. It is pertinent in context of a nascent Indian fashion industry, but more on the later. It was in fact Gucci itself which brought the debate out in the open. When Tom Ford, the man credited with reviving a dying fashion house with his design vision, left the group in late 2003, the brand vs designer row became public. “Money had absolutely nothing to do with it. It was a question of control, and fortunately or unfortunately, I realised that I have nothing to learn about luxury from Serge Weinberg

  

(CEO of Gucci’s parent company PPR).” Corporates run fashion houses worldwide with designers being hired and fired at whim. Louis Vuitton, a luxury brand, employs designer Marc Jacobs in what has turned out to be one of the most successful fashion marriages of the decade. Chanel, created by designer Coco Chanel, is now a company which continued to keep Karl Lagerfeld on the rolls many years after Coco’s death. Micheal Kors was replaced at Celine (also owned by LVMH) by Roberto Menichetti, though he did not get the same reception from critics as Kors. There is lateral movement of designers across the board as couture houses keep changing crew. End result: The brand reigns supreme. And even in the case of Gucci, brands under them which bear eponymous names like Stella McCartney and Alender McQueen are reportedly floundering in terms of business. But what of India? It was silent dissent. Designers like Rajesh Pratap Singh, J.J. Valaya and Rohit Bal sat in the audience when Polet gave his verdict. Valaya, for instance, said, “You cannot undermine the designer, as does Pratap.

  

 Both believe, like many designers in India and abroad, it is one man’s vision and point of view that must carry a fashion house through, however, commercially successful it may be.” There’s point here. Lagerfeld designs for Chanel, but he has imbibed Coco Chanel’s design philosophy, from the tweed suits to hidden luxury themes. And Gucci’s success story is incomplete without Tom Ford. India, however, is a different story. In the absence of enduring brands and consumer-relevant designers, the debate will continue to rage.