Business | Features

Creativity and money power lock horns in fashion world

The fickle world of fashion has experienced many differences between creatives and money men.

  • By Vincent Boland and Vanessa Friedman, Financial Times
  • Published: 23:06 June 1, 2009
  • Gulf News

Milan/New York: The fickle world of fashion has experienced many differences between creatives and money men.

Often the money men come out on top, as when Francois Pinault's PPR Group parted company with Tom Ford or Valentino "retired" from his own fashion house after it was taken over by Permira, a private equity firm.

But at Versace, the creatives rule. After a boardroom clash with the Versace family, which controls the Milan-based fashion house, Giancarlo di Risio, chief executive, will step down shortly.

In his battle of wills over the group's strategy with Donatella Versace, the label's creative director, he was always likely to lose. At Versace, the family and the label are the same thing.

"There is an inherent tension between business interests and creative interests at many of these firms, and it takes a remarkable talent to manage that," says Richard Baker, a partner at Premium Knowledge Group, a consultant to the luxury industry.

That talent had seemed to animate the relationship between di Risio and Versace for many years, which is why so many in Milan are surprised by the sudden breakdown of the bond.

All seemed fine until recently, having combined to bring stability and growth to a label that had drifted for several years under different chief executives following the murder in 1997 of Gianni Versace, founder of the house.

"They didn't see everything eye to eye but they had a very good working relationship," says a person who knows them both.

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