Hollywood and Fashion--A Match Made In Clothing Hell?

I was pleased to see that the film industry blogger Nikki Finke is as cynical as I was about the news in WWD that the future of fashion is held in the hands of the Hollywood elite. There are really only two examples of Hollywood execs investing in fashion right now. Harvey Weinstein has bought a piece of Halston along with the private equity group Hilco, but has named fashion industry workers Tamara Mellon (the president of Jimmy Choo) and Rachel Zoe (celebrity stylist extraordinaire) to the Halston board.

The Future of Halston is in Their Hands: Tamara Mellon and Rachel Zoe. Photo by John Shearer/WireImage.com

American Idol founder Simon Fuller joined forces with Roland Mouret after he lost his own brand to his former backers. The new venture, RM, will debut in July.

What surprised me the most was that none of the industry executives quoted in the WWD piece were equally cynical.

Robert Burke, the former senior vice president of fashion and public relations at Bergdorf Goodman who now runs his own consulting firm said:

"They certainly have an advantage in terms of getting exposure, and we all know the right celebrities help sell fashion. Managed correctly, [fashion] can be a very profitable and successful business. There's also a certain allure and sexiness to buying fashion that you're not going to get from buying a cement company."

Concetta Lanciaux, the former head of human relations at LVMH who now also run her own consulting firm said:

It's a very good sign they're buying brands. It can help revitalize fashion. Someone who brings a cinematic eye on a fashion brand -- it can be very strong."

Of course there's a chance that they're saying nice things because they're hoping that said Hollywood executives will hire them in future.

I'm really looking forward to watching how Halston does under Harvey, Tamara and Rachel's guidance, but I'm a little afraid for the brand. Fellow blogger stylescribble is too for her own set of reasons. I've heard the sum paid was astronomical, perhaps as much as $20 million for a company with negligible sales. But what scared me even more was hearing Hilco's Jamie Salter tell me during an interview in April that "fashion is not a difficult business."

Fashion is a difficult business, it is just difficult in a way that is difficult to explain to people who don't understand it. The making and delivering of clothes is something any MBA worth his tuition could master in a couple of months. The making of an image is something that even the people at some LVMH and Gucci Group brands have struggled with for years and years and years. Entertainment executives seem to think that because celebrities are so important to brands right now that it's an easy step for them to move from managing the stars to managing the clothing labels. The celebrities in this case look like the smart ones. When they do their own collections they do them with partners -- long term players in the garment business who know what they're up against. And when celebrities look smart everyone involved should be very, very afraid.

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