Spicy Design

Celebrity designers have been creeping further and further into my turf over the last several years, dismantling the integrity of real designers one fake fashion collection or product at a time. But now they've gone too far.

I was never rattled when the likes of pop-starlettes like J Lo and Gwen Stefani begun putting out clothing lines. I'm not a fashion designer so I didn't really feel threathened. Then Cindy Crawford starting designing furniture and I became a bit nervous. When Diddy put out a line a car wheels, I really started to shake. But now, I really think it's time to get extremely worried. Victoria Beckham has been appointed Chief Design Executive for Range Rover.

I guess it was only a matter of time before someone with no design degree or car design experience would prance into an historically rich company like Range Rover and become a member of the decision makers. But hey, she's a celeb. Stars can do anything. The people who have sacrificied years to learn the trade of car design and worked endless hours on prototypes and production cars have got nothing on ex-put-together pop-stars. A-listers don't need training or talent just an invitation to walk in and look pretty.

It truly saddens me that a company as venerable as Range Rover has chosen to devalue its talented design staff by giving the ex-Spice Girl a title with the word "design" in it. I have no ill-feeling towards Ms. Beckham or any celebrity and I put more blame on the company's executive board than on the starlette. What message does that send to their styling studio and to the design community? We need gossip column cuties to spice up (pardon the pun) our products rather than managerial design vision and innovation?

Let's hope Posh's design career is an exception lest we want Mel B sketching up Lamborghinis.