Angelina Jolie “overshadowed” St. John

Hollywood celebrity Angelina Jolie, the ex-spokesperson for St. John, allegedly “overshadowed” the brand, resulting in the company signing up British model Karen Elson as its new face.

St. John chief executive Glenn McMahon told WWD she “overshadowed the brand. We wanted to make a clean break from actresses and steer away from blondes and cleanse the palette.”

“We needed to show a modern point of view of St. John. We are evolving the brand,” McMahon said in another statement.

St. John this week launched a new spring 2010 print advertising campaign featuring Elson, 30, a redhead who is married to White Stripes singer Jack White.

The Relationship Between Celebrities and Fashion Brands

If there’s anything that has gone hand in hand for years, it’s the world of celebrity and the world of fashion. Whether you’re paying attention to certain designers swathing their favorite celebrities in couture brands or are keeping up with the ever-expanding Gaga empire and its foray into fashion, it’s never gotten old..

Everyone–from musicians to artists–has managed to score exclusive deals with designers eager to outfit them for the stage or screen, and everyone knows that the first questions being asked on the red carpet are often “who are you wearing?”

Even Monica Lewinsky’s first move after the 1990s Bill Clinton drama was to try to launch a handbag line; that’s a savvy businesswoman.

While it might have once been a unique idea for celebrities to not just sport the colors and wares of a favorite designer but to strike out on their own as the talent, today it’s becoming more commonplace.

Whether it’s rapper Sean “P. Diddy” Combs and his line Sean Jean or Madonna and her daughter Lourdes launching their own clothing line for teenagers and juniors, it seems like the concept of getting into the business of clothing is becoming as commonplace as releasing a Christmas album or a fragrance. And while there are some serious celebrity missteps, sometimes people actually manage to succeed at taking on the challenge of designing clothing.

It seems like those who have the best luck at combining the world of celebrity with fashion lines that actually work are native New Yorkers, and it’s definitely not just musicians who are getting into the game. Acclaimed and somewhat quirky actress Chloe Sevigny has managed to succeed quite admirably with her line of clothing for Opening Ceremony.

Though the inspirations are rather mid-1990s, the execution is surprisingly successful. From loafers inspired by her father’s old shoes to reasonably priced canvas bags, Sevigny definitely has better taste in clothing than she does in directors (Vincent Gallo, anyone?)

Of course, if there is anyone out there who understands the relation between the fame monster and fashion, it is definitely Lady Gaga. A former lower upper class Catholic schoolgirl turned international celebrity, Gaga has employed famous fashion photographers and designers alike to help craft her meticulously weird look.

Befriending (and exploiting) the names of those far more talented than she is, Gaga has managed to make plenty of friends and enemies with her approach to borrowing from fashion. The latest moves to get her name into the paper?

The design to launch a clothing line as part of the Haus of Gaga, and the never-ending approach to destroying Hermes Birkins, the Rolls Royce of handbags.

Considering that these go for tens of thousands of dollars, it makes sense that most celebs lucky enough to snag one of these highly-coveted bags would leave them as-is, but not Gaga. She opted to put spikes into one Birkin, and wrote about being a little monster in Japanese on another.

Whether it’s actually a fashion-forward approach to interacting with a brand or simply antics befitting a teenager, Gaga definitely manages to keep people talking. And that’s definitely one of the reasons that designers are so happy to hand over freebies to celebrities in the first place.

by Pauline Goodman

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