"REVIVING" FASHION'S PAST. GUTTING ITS FUTURE.

The fashion industry has become a parade of the walking dead.

A WWD cover from 1983 marking Karl Lagerfeld's first collection for Chanel. Fairchild Media / Guy Marineau.

After nearly a year of relative silence following his departure from Gucci, rumors began to swirl around Alessandro Michele in late 2023. The Roman designer had been an obscure, behind-the-scenes talent specializing in bags before being plucked from the Italian behemoth’s rank and file to enjoy his tenure in the sun as creative director. We now know that Michele is next at bat at Valentino, but before that news broke, more than one industry trade speculated he might go to Walter Albini. The name sound unfamiliar? You’re not alone.

It’s a funny thing what names represent. Or at least, what they’re supposed to. If you went by what major luxury groups espouse, you’d think they were ensigns of “heritage,” guarantors of quality or even the manifestations of certain aesthetic philosophies. And over the past few decades (with increasing frequency) you’ve likely heard names enter the public discourse that haven’t been uttered by anyone other than historians in half a century or more. Regardless, you’re made to feel you ought to know those names and how IMPORTANT they are.

Revivals have become the playbook of the contemporary fashion landscape. But how did we get here? At what cost is this (sometimes) lucrative scheme coming to the future of fashion? And why are we even supposed to care again?