Celebrities are arguably one of the most crucial elements of the Fashion Week machine. As the stars sift through their invitations and take up their coveted front row spots, Entertainment News and Fashion Monitor's Editor at Large Ariane Buteux looks at why the cultures of celebrity and fashion have become so entwined.
When models and designers are counted as some of the world's elite and fashion and beauty brands actively seek out celebrity ambassadors, surely the marriage of celebrities on the front row, catwalk and behind the scenes at fashion week is a natural progression within modern day culture?
Take last September, London's front row was graced with the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker, Olivia Palermo, Alexa Chung, The Saturdays, Pixie Lott, Natasha Bedingfield, Lily Allen and Jaime Winstone to name but a few. Certainly all were there to admire the clothes, but did they seek to attend as fans of the brand or friends of the designer, or were they invited to boost press coverage and thus the saleability of the brand in question? Perhaps they had a new single or project to promote and their management 'delicately' shoehorned them onto the front row to raise their profile? Maybe we shall never know.
One thing it is safe to say is that fashion front rows are getting starrier and starrier. Last week's New York Fashion Week shows boasted a revolving door of VIPs including Kelly Osbourne, Nicky Hilton, Samantha Ronson, Dakota Fanning and Ashley Tisdale and in London Burberry draws the VIP crowds in twice a year. So far s/s 2012 in the capital has boasted a crop including Alesha Dixon, Kelly Rowland, Livia Firth, Sarah Harding, Jennifer Tilly, Paloma Faith and Barbara Windsor - with many more confirmed.
One designer with credentials spanning both sides of this Fashion Week divide is Victoria Beckham. The British-born, former Spice Girl has fought a hard battle to achieve standing as a 'credible' designer, with a budding celebrity following and kudos from stylists leading fashion editors to sit up and take note. A rare triumph, she now shows in New York each September to international acclaim with her successful accessories line sold worldwide.
High profile backing is undeniably important for up-and-coming designers who cite celebrity interest as pivotal in getting their name out there, while established designers count celebrities as muses, friends and marketing tools - occasionally all three. And with LFW shows transmitted around the globe, what better way for a designer to appeal en masse to the consumer market?
Front row attendance guarantees press coverage; Nicki Minaj chatting to Anna Wintour at Carolina Herrera's New York s/s 2012 show saw simultaneous mentions for Minaj's vibrant outfit choice and her pre-show exchange with the notoriously icy US Vogue Editor. Further along from the pair sat Renee Zellweger, a Carolina Herrera red carpet devotee for years, and Olivia Munn - again supporting this celebrity/designer symbiosis.
Ultimately if it wasn't for this celebrity brand power, there would be no sense in the pursuit of collaborations. The romantic notion of the muse has been commercially transformed for the 21st century consumer; an individual simultaneously fixated on fashion and celebrity. Gone are the days of wishing to emulate Marilyn Monroe; now all little girls want is to smell like Britney Spears, dress like Avril Lavigne and swish their hair like Cheryl Cole.
Brand/celebrity link ups have historically been in an ambassadorial capacity, as in the case of Cole for L'Oreal, and were predominantly forged by fashion and beauty brands. However parameters have widened in recent years and now not only do celebrities lend their face to a brand to help promote the product, they capitalise on the potential of their name rights and instead link it with various brands to and market entire ranges, fuelling both their public image and their bank balance. Self-confessed business moguls Paris Hilton and Katie Price typify this model, with the appointment of Lindsay Lohan as Creative Director of Ungaro perched ominously further down the scale.
Pleasingly, this also extends to charitable causes where the proceeds from the sale of such celebrity-endorsed or designed garments are partially, if not wholly, donated to charity. Other celebrity-linked fashion initiatives also exist including Naomi Campbell's Fashion For Relief held each February, which in 2011 saw numerous figures from across the entertainment industry gracing the runway to benefit disaster relief efforts in Haiti, and Sarah Harding on the runway for Look over the weekend.
A common offshoot of the idea of celebrity-as-designer is the model-as-designer, with collaborations tending to sit on the periphery. Elle Macpherson Intimates, set up by supermodel Elle Macpherson in 1990, has withstood the test of time as both a business venture and a well-designed luxury brand, however despite her successes as a model, Kate Moss for Topshop divided the critics who were quick turn their noses up to the notion of 'celebrity' Moss as a bona-fide designer.
Without a doubt, whether front of house or behind the scenes, the main celebrity at Fashion Week must be the designer. Most have become celebrities in their own right - and why not so when the word celebrity derives from 'celebrated'? Although it must be noted that for every ten designers who court the spotlight, there's one who prefers to let the clothes do the talking. And then there's Martin Margiela. The Belgian designer would reportedly only communicate with press via fax, never attended any of his own shows and still remains something of an enigma to this day.
As ever the critics are swift to judge, with fashion purists feeling celebrity involvement detracts from the very aim and focus of a show, however it's clear to see that the notion of models and designers as celebrities, and celebrities as models and designers, means that neither can exist in a vacuum anymore. So purists, take note.
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