Vetements' New Creative Director Is... Its CEO?
Vetements loves the spotlight. It'll be the first to drop a Fall/Winter 2022 collection or issue over 120 items in a single season just for the hell of it, because CEO Guram Gvasalia knows that all press is good press.
On that note, Gvasalia has just announced his new role at the company he co-founded with brother Demna: beginning with that aforementioned FW22 line, Guram Gvasalia is taking over as creative director.
In the interim since Demna left, Vetements' anonymous design team had overseen its clothing and accessory design. Guram's announcement again puts a public face on the Swiss brand's output.
In a long, cagey open letter — in which he asserts that "there were numerous attempts to take from Vetements what has always belonged to Vetements" — Gvasalia digresses about creativity, the fashion industry, and his childhood.
"I could have [taken my new role] secretly as I’m a very private person. But I felt I needed to come out publicly for all the kids out there who dream of fashion, but are too afraid to tell it to their parents who will not approve," he said.
"I’m a refugee. My family lost everything we had during the war. None of us spoke any language when we ran away to Europe. We lived in refugee camps. Going to fashion school was not an option for me, my parents would have never approved, as my brother was already considered to be the lost cause, and I was the only hope left to feed the family."
Aside from the revelation that Demna was apparently considered a "lost cause" by the Gvasalia parents, Guram also reiterates the anti-establishment ethos of Vetements' sub-label VTMNTS, rejecting investors and "big evil corporations" alike with his aims of conquering the fashion world with "creativity and passion" alone.
"I took the past two years studying and learning the technical side – from pattern making and construction to theoretical aspect of design," Gvasalia continues. "I invested all my private life, every weekend, every night, to learn and analyze not just how to make clothes, but how to make it better," aligning with VTMNTS' own quality-first messaging.
Vetements' star faded after Demna left for Balenciaga — it's difficult to maintain hype when your public face and star designer departs to do what he does best at a bigger scale.
But Vetements has hardly vanished into the ether: it's been tweaking fan favorite pieces and doubling down on its luxury retail partners, which include SVMOSCOW, Vitkac, SSENSE, AYIN, and MATCHESFASHION.COM.
Gvasalia's big move may signal a shift at Vetements.
I doubt Vetements will reclaim its throne as fashion's edgiest high-profile provocateur — that's Balenciaga's gig nowadays — and I'm kinda getting Philipp Plein vibes from all the talk of creativity and dismissing investors but, if nothing else, this big move is proof that Vetements is still capable of surprise.
