Nesting: the practice of re-shaping haute couture ateliers by resident creative directors

Creative directors and designers, appointed by fashion companies to produce collections, engage in nesting. They establish distinctive spaces with optimal conditions within existing ateliers to incubate ideas. They devise unique environments for each brand during their tenure, customising the workspace to foster familiarity and support their creative processes. Within the cyclical framework of fashion collection development, the environments they create serve to enhance creative motivation and enable strategic decision-making.

The focus of this investigation stemmed from an earlier research project, which analysed the fashion industry documentary Dior & I as the basis for a case study of fashion company—creative director dynamics. Insights gained from the semi-structured interview with the film’s director, Frédéric Tcheng, resulted in the emergence of nesting as a prominent theme. Films such as Dior & I, Battle at Versailles, Visionaries: Tom Ford, McQueen and I, along with interviews of creative directors, may offer insights into this organisational pattern nurtured by the Creative Directors as they move from one fashion house to another. In this talk, the authors share their exploration of the phenomenon of Nesting. Fascinated by this pattern of activities, the authors reflect on the questions surrounding this concept and share their creative pursuit of organisation studies through the ideas of aesthetics, poetry, and world-building.