Renaissance men or control freaks?
This is what I kept wondering when I got the news that Christopher Bailey had stepped behind the camera to direct Burberry’s holiday mini movie. Because, you know, he does not have enough to do already what with being both the chief executive and chief creative officer of Burberry, a FTSE 500 fashion company.
The C.E.O.-designer-director joins Karl Lagerfeld, who just directed his third short Chanel film (following “Once Upon a Time” with Keira Knightley and “The Return” with Geraldine Chaplin). It stars Cara Delevingne and Pharrell Williams and will be shown during the brand’s “Métiers d’art” collection in December.
And, of course, Tom Ford arguably started it all with his 2009 feature, “A Single Man.” (Though that was something of a different case, being a full-length nonbrand story, it seems to have sparked a spate of me-tooism among his peers/competitors. Mr. Bailey has directed campaign videos before, but this is the first one presented as a mini film.)
As to why such celebrated designers seem to need to add the creative validation of filmmaking to their résumés, there are a number of possible reasons, some more logical than others. For example:
1. They are bored. With luck this is not true, especially in Mr. Bailey’s case. That would be bad news for shareholders. It may have been true for Mr. Ford, who made his movie during his hiatus from fashion (a fact that seems to have been lost on all the other fashion people dreaming of making movies), but otherwise it’s also hard to imagine, given designers’ day jobs.
2. They don’t trust anyone else to interpret their brands. This is more plausible. All three men are famous for having precise points of view. “Creative director” is a title that implies a certain iron-fisted vision for a brand. Perhaps they simply thought it was less risky to do it themselves.
3. Actors keep trying to be designers; why shouldn’t designers be directors? Take that, Sarah Jessica Parker! Take that, Olsen twins! Etcetera, etcetera.
4. They need a new outlet to express their creativity.
The latter is a favorite explanation for pretty much any moonlighting that goes on in the fashion industry, from taking a job at another brand (see: Alexander Wang and Balenciaga) to becoming a photographer (see: Hedi Slimane). And given the play-it-safe nature of fashion these days, it makes a certain amount of sense.
Still, it is a decision not without risk. After all, what if the films turn out to be terrible?
Mr. Bailey’s movie is not, as it happens, though it is a bit cheesy — it’s a big old Busby Berkeley dance number starring Romeo Beckham (who does have a certain something) as well as lots of umbrella twirling, done in a Rockettes-in-trenches-and-ballgowns kind of scene to a score by Ed Harcourt, who has performed at Burberry catwalk shows in the past. But then, Burberry Prorsum has never been an edgy brand.
Certainly the film’s direction is competent enough to suggest that it may inspire other such adventures on other such creative directors’ parts. Really, can it be long before Mr. Slimane gets in on the act?