By Aysha Ibtasam

If Michael Angelo, Leonardo de Vinci or Pablo Picasso were alive today, they would have definitely been tapped by fashion, jewelry and footwear houses or designer themselves to create a limited edition of categories for their brand at one time or another.

It seems that, either designers are running out of their creative juices or they need fresh and innovative products to lure their customers. No doubt, fashion companies are up against each other when it comes to competition and winning the bucks from customers.

Infusing celebrities influence in design is one thing to create a collection but to own a piece of collection by them is not so valued in my eyes as opposed to owning a product from a true designer

Lately, not only artist but celebrities, athletes, socialite and models are offered to give their input or personal preference in the process of designing from concept to completion. Nowadays, almost every rapper, singer, most models, actresses and athletes have clothing, footwear and accessories collection under their belt.

It has become a trend in the fashion world to inject ideas, inspiration and influence of individuals who have no professional training or education in Fashion but somehow they shape the fashion world tremendously. Today, famous people are looked up for inspiration by designers to build a collection for the season. Such iconic people were and are Jackie Onassis, Audrey Hepburn, Michael Jackson, Andy Warhol, Marie Antoinette, Madonna and many others.

Recently, Movado a watch brand which offers clean, modern timepieces for their customers collaborated with painter, sculptor and performance artist Kenny Scharf. This is not the first time for the watch maker Movado to infuse art and popular culture into their designs; in the past the company invited artists including Warhol, James Rosenquist and Arman. Scharf is another name on the company’s roster of artist collaborators. As for Kenny Scharf, he is a protégé of Andy Warhol, who is known for injecting pop culture icons like Judy Jetson into psychedelic color schemes.

Scharf is one of the pioneers of graffiti art. Efraim Grinberg, the firm’s chairman and chief executive officer is an avid art collector who stated in an interview with WWD that, ‘Graffiti is about painting on something and improving it by adding life and color to a background. We thought; let’s use the cleanliness of the Museum Dial as a canvas.’

The limited edition of watches created by Scharf is inspired by iconic Nathan George Horwitt designed, Bauhaus-inspired Museum watch and illustrated the dials with his signature appeal.

It seems that, either designers are running out of their creative juices or they need fresh and innovative products to lure their customers

Another facet of fashion design is apparel where new and upcoming brands by celebrities are becoming a norm more than graduating students from fashion schools. A recent launch of clothing line by Kenny Chesney will be displayed in MAGIC at Las Vegas for buyers and retailers to view and carry in their specialty stores. Chesney who is a country singer and a four-time entertainer of the year of both the Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association has chosen the name Blue Chair Bay for his collection which comes from his 2005 album ‘Be as you are: songs from an Old Blue Chair.’

Chesney described his collection as something you live in, you can wear the clothing if you were on an island, on the road or to the beach and just be yourself and be comfortable. Clothes you wear day to day and have a look as if baked in the sun or sea water. His collection consists of Vintage tees, baseball caps, and baggy khaki’s and to give it a touch of country vibe the collection offers slouchy cowboy hats.

I am sure we will see more celebrities turned designers in the future. But my question is are these so called TURNED DESIGNERS truly the likes of the ones who acquired professional training and appropriate education such as Christian Dior, Coco Chanel, John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Tom Ford, Norma Kamali, Muccia Prada etc? Personally, I don’t believe so, just as a doctor who goes through proper school and training to run a practice can not be compared to a Physician Assistant or Homeopathic consultant.

Infusing celebrities influence in design is one thing to create a collection but to own a piece of collection by them is not so valued in my eyes as opposed to owning a product from a true designer.