When Consistency Becomes a Cage
Sometimes we recognise a brand at first glance and, at that same moment, already know what the rest of the collection will look like. Consistency has done its job. Perhaps a little too well.
The first look introduces the theme, the second confirms it. By the fifth, we can already predict the thirtieth. The collection is clear, perhaps impeccable, yet our attention has begun to fade.
This happens when brand codes stop guiding the design process and start supplying ready-made answers.
A proprietary code can be a material, a proportion, a cut or a colour. On its own, however, it says very little. Tweed is not enough to make Chanel, just as a bow is not enough to make Gucci. What matters is how that element changes the body, moves across product categories and connects with the other signs in the collection.
A recognisable signature emerges through selection. Formula takes over when the same elements keep returning in the same position, with the same weight. The declared inspiration changes, while the product seems to have received its instructions already.
How Many Times Can You Design a Grey Suit?
For more than twenty years, Thom Browne has worked around an object that appears to offer very little room for surprise: the grey suit.
Its original construction is highly specific. A short, fitted jacket, sleeves ending above the wrist and narrow trousers cut to reveal the ankle. Browne began developing it in 2001 and has since turned it into a uniform, a continuing product and the foundation of his collections.
In the Fall 2024 Runway, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, that structure is opened, segmented and distorted. Some jackets appear to shed their skin, while other constructions take on insect-like volumes. A tuxedo is reduced to strips of mohair, silk, canvas, linings and labels to create a raven’s plumage. The suit remains recognisable even when it has almost stopped looking like a suit.
Birds return in the Fall 2025 Runway, but the atmosphere has changed. The first two models wear the familiar grey uniform; then colour, embroidery, paint, bias-cut satin and forty-five tweeds developed for the collection begin to appear. Jackets continue to hold the collection together. Some become wider, others move onto skirts or dresses with proportions far removed from the menswear suit where everything began.
Not every look has the same strength, but the code is still being tested. Grey remains while construction, function and its relationship with the body continue to change.
Thom Browne does not design an entirely new suit every season. He looks for another possibility within the same one. The difference may seem slight until you look at the pattern cutting.
When New Ideas Arrive Already Dressed
Gucci moved in a different direction under Alessandro Michele.
The Fall 2015 Ready-to-Wear introduced a figure far removed from the Gucci that came before it: sheer pussy-bow blouses, leather skirts, thick-framed glasses, fur-lined horsebit loafers and clothes that seemed to come from different eras and wardrobes.
The shift involved silhouette, casting and styling. Even the horsebit, one of the House’s best-known signs, appeared on a product that changed the overall perception of the brand.
That grammar soon became unmistakable. Layering, decoration, historical references and pop culture built a world capable of extending from clothing and accessories to campaigns and physical spaces.
Seven years later, the Spring Summer 2023 Twinsburg still had a great deal to show. Sixty-eight sets of twins walked along two runways divided by a wall. Only at the finale did the partition rise and reveal the doubled show. The collection brought together tailoring, activewear, chinoiserie, eveningwear, quilting, garters on menswear and Gremlins-shaped bags.
The staging worked. My reading of the product is more critical.
In the 2015 collection, the elements seemed to collide, and a new figure emerged from that friction. In Twinsburg, many of the references entered an arrangement that had become familiar: abundant decoration, eccentric accessories, layering and styling built through accumulation.
The ideas were still there. They had simply learned to behave inside the Gucci world.
The show could still surprise; the product less so. The wall rising at the finale created a clearer shift in perspective than many of the silhouettes. This does not diminish the quality of the collection or the strength of Michele’s work. It shows how difficult it can be to recognise when a highly successful signature has begun absorbing every new idea without allowing itself to be changed by it.
The Less Visible Work of Creative Direction
When editing a collection, protecting every recognisable code can seem like the safest choice. It is also the quickest way to give each one equal weight.
I start with a practical check: is that code still generating product, or is it simply confirming the brand?
If it continues to affect construction, fit or category, it still has a purpose. When it remains recognisable but appears too often, its presence can be reduced to a detail, moved onto an accessory or removed from selected looks. If it has been included out of habit, it is better left out.
A code can also rest. The customer’s memory does not disappear because a colour, monogram or silhouette skips a season. Its absence reveals how necessary it really was and, sometimes, restores its strength when it returns.
The clearest sign appears on the clothing rack. If the garments change colour and decoration but always preserve the same hierarchy, the collection is managing what the brand has already been.
Adding another recognisable sign will not help. The intervention has to reach proportion, material or frequency. And if the code no longer produces any design questions, it can remain in the archive for a season.
Romina Tosi
Disclaimer
The views expressed above represent my personal interpretation of publicly available information and, like any interpretation, may be shared, debated, or challenged.
The information referenced comes from public sources available at the time of publication, including official documents, union communications, press articles, and materials accessible to anyone. I do not disclose confidential information or facts learned through privileged access. I do not reveal protected information, nor do I attribute unlawful conduct to individuals or companies.
Any reference to specific cases is intended solely to provide context and analyze dynamics affecting the broader industry. It is not intended to target individuals or particular businesses.
Observations regarding industrial strategies, financial decisions, and production models fall within the right to express opinions and commentary on matters of public interest. They remain personal assessments, not definitive judgments.
Not all companies operate in the same way. Alongside businesses that may deserve criticism, there are many others that work with seriousness, consistency, and long-term vision.
If you notice any errors or inaccuracies, please let me know. I will be happy to review and correct them where necessary.
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