Yesterday influencer Molly-Mae announced her new role of Creative Director at Pretty Little Thing.
Since 2019, she has had three collections with the brand – and now she is taking on a bigger role within the company.
Many people wonder what the role of Creative Director entails and what leverage she will have over aspects of the brand.
A Creative Director is someone who oversees all the creative decisions at a high-level within a company. This includes advertisements, products, logos and creative strategies.
As the Creative Director of PLT UK and Europe, Molly-Mae will be involved in over-seeing all the high-level creative decisions seen above. Within the role it is likely she will be more heavily involved in the designs of the clothes across the brand as well.
Her appointment has been met with criticism from some who question her choice to work with the fast fashion brand. Political activist Gina Martin took to Twitter and urged Molly-Mae to use her role to push for equal pay for their workers. In 2020 it was revealed that Pretty Little Thing paid their Leicester workers £3.50 per hour, the national Living Wage is currently set at £8.72.
But is it fair to criticise her for taking a role she hasn’t even started? And does she have any scope to change things at PLT, if that's what she wants to do?
Well, it depends on what, exactly, her arrangement with PLT is - and what sort of celebrity Creative Director she hopes to be, and that's what we don't know yet. She's certainly not the the only celebrity Creative Director in town - Jennifer Aniston is the Chief Creative Officer at collagen powder company Vital Proteins. Cara Delevingne joined sex-toy company Lora Dicarlo as co-owner and creative adviser.
According to fashion news website Fashionista, ‘Instead of traditional celebrity brand deals where a brand might pay a famous face to star in its ad campaigns and wear its clothes at public appearances, post on social media or create a one-off collaboration, some brands and celebrities are now linking up in more permanent ways.
‘In these new arrangements, celebrities convey a vested interest in the company, and the company may hand over some responsibilities and even a title to the celebrity.’
But as much as we love so much about Molly Mae's success story, we'd love it so much more if she could use her rapidly growing influence to change how things work at PLT. Perhaps lobbying internally for better working practices, and to encourage the powers that be to consider the impact their fashion fashion business model has on landfill. Just as what the role of creative director means is rapidly changing, we're expecting more from our influencers these days.
READ MORE:'Don't Make The Same Mistakes I Did': Molly-Mae Hague On Reversing Her Fillers
READ MORE: Here's Why Molly-Mae Declined A £2Million Fashion Deal...