Hussein Chalayan - Artist vs Artisan

Last night I read a great interview by FT on Hussain Chalayan. Hussain Chalayan is a brilliant and inspiring fashion designer. However he has not met with the level commercial success comensurate with his talent. His clothes are not as saleable as some of his less brilliant but more commercially successful peers. This is a hard place to be. A pure artist who takes risks and creates intellectually and technologically inspired clothes and pushes the frontiers - but yet struggles to achieve mainstream success. As Hussain himself said in the interview - I don't want people to come to my show for inspiration. I want them to BUY !!!! Oh what a pity !!! Maybe the key is not to stop being inspiring and inspired - but to find a way to bottle and sell that inspiration. Maybe that is exactly what the world needs in these gloomy times - not more products but more passion !!! Hussain starting thinking along the lines of Motivational Gurus and hitting the speaking circuit. That could be a real lucrative parallel career.

The inability to fit a creative genius within a corporate production cycle and quarterly revenue numbers has often made fashion stocks unpredictable and unsuitable for public listings. But designers just like all artists often want commercial success - not just praise and lavish museum sponsored exhibitions about their work. How does one strike the balance - keeping the fun of doing what you love within the discipline imposed by a corporate model which really was not designed to accommodate niche talents?