High End Luxury? Sure. High End Creativity? Ehhh
Allow me to start by saying this.
I'm either too broke, or too frugal for anything featured in this article.
Now that that's out of the way, luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Christian Louboutin are facing an issue in not only creating products that are strong and striking in reference, but yet can also be purchased by the average person who loves the reference - without costing them a mortgage payment.
Christian Louboutin recently announced a shoe that is "inspired by 90s basketball" (shown above). While I'm sure that your favorite rappers, insta-socialites and the internet will tell you that these are hot and a must cop...allow Jazzy and I to tell you that they ain't hot. Like, AT ALL.
While they may not be hot, they are definitely an indication of the desperation and lack of innovation the brand is suffering from. If you were to look at these without knowing they were Louboutin, you might think they were a relaunch of the Pastries brand that ran the mid 2000s.
You gotta admit they look very similiar
On the other end, we have Jeff Koons taking classic paintings and transforming them into handbags and scarfs. Gold and Silver accents showcase the artist's name, making them an instant hype accessory. While gauging the temperature of the market, some creatives consider the work "genius", while other consider the design effort no more than "museum gift shop" level. As a whole, the ideas are great...but they do lack a certain level of quality that you expect from luxury brands.
My advice as a consumer? Maybe the luxury market needs to take a step back and evaluate their creative departments. While continuing to use established entities such as Jeff Koons, Supreme and Mr. West seems to be an easy win, you can no longer rely on that safe bet to continue to be successful. WE'RE WOKE NOW.
Simply put, go back to the basics. Brands like Louboutin became what they are by taking risks and being different. By challenging the status quo. Go back to the beginning with some fresh talent.
Take a risk on a young designers. Try doing a collab with someone that is so left field and out of the box that it shocks everybody. Do you again.