Like every other high-profile business, fashion of late has been immersed in scandals. As the industry has grown steadily more associated with entertainment and less directly preoccupied with creativity, the potential for disgrace and denunciation has increased. Earlier this century, the private lives of designers were considered of interest only among themselves. Coco Chanel's series of lovers for instance - including the Duke of Westminster - was not widely known about, although her affair with a German officer during the Nazi occupation of Paris led to self imposed exile in Switzerland for many years afterwards. The homosexual Christian Dior conducted a series of discreet liaisons throughout his lifetime, while such stalwarts of the fashion scene as Sir Hardy Amies have, until recently, been regarded as untouchable. However, designers now know that there is as much public interest in the minutiae of their lives as in the collections they produce. Some have opted to forestall any prurient speculation by being open about their sexuality. The majority of internationally successful male fashion designers are homosexual but only a certain number of them have openly declared this. JeanPaul Gaultier has never made any secret about being gay, and in the past year Alexander McQueen has also discussed his sexuality during every press interview. For older designers, this option may not have seemed either as simple or as possible. While few of them resorted to getting married in order to cover their tracks, a large number preferred to portray themselves as comfortably settled bachelors, surrounded by antique furniture, lots of small dogs and, just occasionally popping up in the background, a set of handsome young men friends.
For an unfortunate few, invasion of privacy is the eventual price which must be paid for dissembling to the general public. Last year, a new biography by Alice Rawsthorn of French designer Yves Saint Laurent revealed not only his homosexuality but also his long-time dependence on alcohol and drugs, as well as his history of successive nervous breakdowns.
Similarly, in 1994 a pair of American journalists investigated Calvin Klein's life and work; their book, Obsession, focused on Klein's many same sex affairs and, once again, his consumption of drink and drugs. Following the announcement last summer that he and his wife Kelly were separating after nine years, Klein's non-professional affairs were once again carefully scrutinised by the press.
And yet, despite all this supposedly negative publicity, neither Saint Laurent nor Klein have seen their respective companies' sales suffer. In fact, it could be claimed they have only benefitted from the attention since it brought their names to wider attention.
The consumer, evidently, is not overly troubled by what substances a designer chooses to consume or with whom he has sex. If the clothes are worth wearing, everything else is of secondary importance.
