Conversations: Creative Direction from Fashion to Fine Art
In this installment of our Conversations series, Merry from the Globaledit team sat down with NYC-based creative director Mélanie Davroux. Currently at Christie’s, Mel brings a wealth of experience from the fashion and luxury worlds, having worked with global brands and publications including Vogue Italia, Louis Vuitton, AnOther Magazine, AnOther Man, and The RealReal. She shares insights on building a strong creative team, navigating the business side of creative jobs, and finding inspiration in New York. Watch the interview below or read on for more!
Merry: To kick things off, I’d love to learn more about your current role.
Melanie: Right now, I’m a creative director at Christie’s for the Americas, where I oversee all of our creative campaigns. I work with a team of photographers, designers, editors, copywriters, and strategists to ensure our collections are visually strong and cohesive across all platforms, and that they align with our global presence.
What skills or lessons have you carried from the fashion industry into your current role?
A lot of it is management skills that I learned on set, like navigating relationships with all the people you work with and understanding the best way to motivate and direct a team without “helicoptering” them. Through the years, as creative directors, you end up doing less hands-on design yourself, so you have to learn to delegate and trust your team more and more to take your ideas forward. Overall, I’ve learned how to assess what I need to build that really strong creative team.
3.1 Phillip Lim
FW 2020 Campaign
Creative Direction, design, polaroids and disposables: Mel Davroux
Lookbook photography: Piczo
Still life & BTS photography (polaroids & disposables): Mel Davroux
Stylist: Nancy Rohde
There’s often a disconnect between studying to be a ‘creative’ in school versus the reality of actually having a job in the creative industry. How did you navigate that transition?
Personally, what I was taught in school was very conceptual and creative, which is great for developing your own taste and point of view—but the whole business side of things wasn’t really addressed. In school, you have all these ideas of what it is to be a creative, and the reality is that you have to compromise way more than you’d think. We’re not so much taught how to maintain client relationships or navigate creative conversations with non-creative people. That’s something that I’ve learned through practice and making mistakes on the job.
The importance of a strong portfolio is another thing that I feel wasn’t emphasized in school, but it’s something that people need to focus on. It’s the first impression you give, so you need to be able to present your work in a way that communicates your ideas and your vision. Now that I’m on the other side, it’s very easy for me to spot a good portfolio. Pretty much every creative ends up doing freelance work at some point, so it’s very important to learn all the business tools to have a successful professional career.
Vogue Italia issue 829
Art Direction & Design Direction: Mel Davroux
Creative Direction: Ferdinando Verderi
Photographer: Gioconda & August
You’ve lived and worked in a couple of major cities, namely New York and Paris. How did living in those different cities shape your career or your work?
New York just offers so many opportunities that other cities don’t. In Paris, most of my design work was for museums, galleries, or agencies; in New York, there are way more opportunities around luxury, fashion, and design. And it’s especially important to network in New York—you never know who you’re going to meet or what it could lead to. Personally, most of my jobs have come simply from meeting someone, talking about work, and then hearing from them a few months later with a job request. You get projects by building relationships.
How has the creative community in New York changed over the past 10 years that you’ve been here?
That’s a tough one. As the years go by, you do realize that it is such a small community; you end up knowing everybody. I think that’s specific to just being in the city. What I’ve noticed in general is that a lot more people refer to themselves as art directors or creative directors, in that everybody can access tools to put mood boards together. As professionals, we can tell when something’s been done really well and if the typography, color, and photography look good. What I look for in good creative is quality craftsmanship, attention to detail, and technical skills, because that’s what makes the difference when you look at a strong campaign or design product.
Vogue Italia issue 829
Art Direction & Design Direction: Mel Davroux
Creative Direction: Ferdinando Verderi
Photographer: Mert & Marcus
Where do you go for inspiration? How do you keep up with the creative world?
I always find museum visits and gallery shows extremely inspiring—not just looking at campaigns or graphic design specifically, but looking beyond that, at everything around me. We have access to so many great things in this city, so taking advantage of that to see other people’s perspectives is a great way to feel that inspiration hit. I also get a lot of inspiration from books; I love looking at cool layouts, photography, or cover design. There’s a quality in really good books that you can’t really get through social media. Going beyond your own field is a great way to get inspiration.
You must get to view some incredible pieces of art and exhibitions that come through Christie’s as part of your work. Is there anything that has really stuck with you?
For sure. Every day that I’m on set, there are gorgeous pieces of art or really rare pieces from personal collections that we sell. Creating a campaign feels somewhat abstract, but once you see the pieces in person, you understand the relationship between those pieces and the work you’re doing, and you realize how important the work is. Knowing that the pictures we’re taking and the campaigns we’re creating are for these gorgeous artifacts that I’ve been able to see myself up close and even touch—I find that really powerful.
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Merry Gu leads content marketing at Globaledit. Check out more of Mel Davroux’s work for Christie’s here.
The Conversations series highlights the work, insights, and creative process of peers, clients, and friends across various industries. Follow us on Instagram or LinkedIn to stay up to date on future installments!