The Road to the Top
By Kate Betts
Fall 2005 Style & Design
It's hard to talk about fashion power brokers without mentioning
industry titans like Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani and Christian Dior.
All three have had a hand in shaping the business into what it is today.
Where would we be now, for example, if Dior had not had the bright idea
to lend his name to products as varied as lipstick and hosiery? And who
would ever have thought about lifestyle branding before the Polo pony
came along? What's so impressive about both Lauren and Armani is their
fierce independence in a business now dominated by luxury "groups."
True, Lauren runs a public company, but he runs it himself.
In fashion, power often comes from the courage to think outside the box.
Mavericks like Armani, Lauren and Dior presented the consumer with a new
vision, a new way of doing business. Those who take the less traveled
route to the top often leave the more indelible impression. Today's
underdogs are tomorrow's power brokers, and this special supplement to
TIME is dedicated to such talents. One of my favorite success stories in
this genre concerns new L'Oréal chief Jean-Paul Agon. He started his
climb to the top with one brilliant move: as the manager in Asia for
L'Oréal, he introduced Japanese women to Maybelline Wonder Curl mascara.
Now he's running the show. Then there's the refreshingly
self-deprecating Alber Elbaz, who just five years ago crept out of Paris
humiliated and rejected by an industry that now cannot get enough of his
fragile frocks.
The fashion and beauty businesses are changing so fast that it's hard
for any kind of Old Guard to hang on to power. For example, digital
imaging has revolutionized the way trend spotters work. Celebrity style
has become as important as what is seen on runways, if not more so. The
result is that editors who once possessed the ultimate power to dictate
fashion now find themselves trolling the Internet to see the latest
paparazzi pictures of Jennifer Aniston and whatever T shirt or pair of
jeans she may be wearing. Thanks to Aniston, C&C California sells more
than 400,000 Pandora tank tops a month. Now that's power. —Kate Betts
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