Flamboyant couturier Jean-Paul Gaultier is leaving Hermes to be changed by Lacoste’s in-house stylist, Britain’s Giles Deacon is to join Ungaro — in times of crisis, and fashion appears to safe designers and wearable garb.

These men are stylists who think fashion must do more than shine, it must have meaning, and this is a direct significance of the (global financial) crisis, Jean-Jacques Picart, a consultant who works with the world’s top luxury goods firm, LVMH, told AFP.

They don’t even like being called creators, they illustrate themselves as designers, he said of Deacon and Lacoste’s Christophe Lemaire.

Egos, over-the-top styles, unwearable stuff — it’s all turn into unfashionable.

Gaultier’s departure as artistic director of the luxury ready-to-wear brand Hermes was proclaimed last week. That’s it, the end of a beautiful story which lasted seven years, he told AFP. His last Hermes collection, spring-summer 2011, will be offered in October this year.

They’re innovative generation of fashion designers, Picart said. They have a fresh attitude that’s a result of the crisis.