If everything is a reference, what exactly is ours?
Published: January 2026
When I have an idea for a campaign, I open Pinterest, feed the research bar a bunch of words, and scroll until I come across someone who coincidentally has realized the very same idea I once considered unique. Then, I save it and put it into a folder to create a moodboard—or is it a vision board? These days, it seems to vary depending on who you are asking.
But then, what is really mine? When does inspiration become your own creation, which in turn becomes someone else’s inspiration?
The Illusion of Originality.
In marketing communications, nostalgia is the cheat code to engagement. We often say that for creatives, what matters is not the content you create, but what people feel after they’ve been exposed to what you’ve created. We forget most of the information we are exposed to anyway. In fact, according to German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve, we forget about 50% of new information we receive within an hour of being exposed to it. So what I say—what you say—doesn’t really matter that much. What matters is that something happens in your audience’s head after being exposed to your media.
That’s why nostalgia works so well. It bypasses logic and goes straight to emotion.
It also explains Disney adults.We all know one, and if you don’t, look in the mirror because it is probably you.
On a serious note, Walt Disney is literally the father of nostalgia.
Mr. Disney did not invent fairy tales. He simply took existing folklores and published stories, adapting them to a family-friendly audience with compelling storytelling. And really, that’s just Hollywood. Reboots, remakes, adaptations, reimaginings…the list goes on.
For example, look at the biggest films that came out in 2025:
- Frankenstein
- Wicked
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
- The Housemaid…
We love nostalgia because it makes us feel good. It is low risk, easily digestible, and leaves us satisfied because we are simply re-exposing ourselves to positive stimuli. Again, execution doesn’t matter that much. Who cares if you think the Barbie movie is woke feminism propaganda or the best real-life adaptation of the last decade? What made the Barbie movie special is that it resonated with every child who grew up with those dolls, or one of its replicas.
2025 : Creative Director Musical Chairs.
Everything needs to be a reference to ev-er-y-thing.
2025 was a very interesting year in fashion. Whether you’re interested in clothing or not, witnessing a billion-dollar version of musical chairs was fascinating.
What intrigued me most wasn’t the changes themselves, but people’s reactions to them. Quickly, references, archives, and legacy became the primary signs of creativity. Every move needed to justify itself through what came before. Every silhouette, color, or casting choice had to prove that it “understood the house,” as if creativity needed permission before it could exist.
And if it didn’t?
Then it meant the director didn’t understand the essence of the brand.
This expectation creates a strange paradox for creative directors: you’re hired to bring vision, but only within a very specific mold. You’re expected to innovate, but not too much. To disrupt, but only in ways that feel familiar. To be yourself, as long as that self can be traced back to an archive.
A bit like how some called Alessandro Michele’s first collection at Valentino “Gucci, by Valentino.” But, the critique wasn’t really about the clothes themselves. It was about discomfort. Discomfort with an artist who didn’t erase his visual language enough to satisfy the idea of continuity.
And yet, isn’t that what we claim to want from true artists?
So again…What Is a Creative Director?
This isn’t a fashion critique. It’s a reflection on creativity itself, what it means to be creative today, and how authenticity can realistically survive in an industry that demands more, faster, with fewer resources and endless references.
Today, everybody is a creative director. Or director of creation. Or artistic director—whichever you prefer. We all want direction titles, and to be honest, they’re not that hard to get. Unlike other fields, the creative world can be very accessible without true experience in the industry, if you have the right connections or influence.
Or lots of money.
But real creative direction isn’t about moodboards. It isn’t about trends. And it definitely isn’t about stacking references until originality disappears.
It comes from protecting ideas long enough for them to exist before they are optimized to death.
Again, I wish my co-workers could simply see inside my head.
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