How to Practise Creativity as a Skill
Written by Maya Avram.
The fashion industry has always glorified the creative genius, cultivating a sense of wonder around past legends like Martin Margiela and Alexander McQueen, and present-day icons like Jonathan Anderson. Yet, this attitude fosters the illusion of these talented creators being prodigies rather than hard-working, experimental practitioners who dedicated their lives to honing their craft.
While there is no denying talent is a crucial differentiator in fashion, it is also tablestakes. In order to propel an artistic vision into meteoric success, creatives must also have strict discipline and overarching commercial savvy. “The problem is that we see creativity only linked to art,” says our founder and expert career coach Sacha Milazzo Mercier. “[It isn’t,] because the most successful model in luxury mixes creativity with a strong strategic consideration.”
The model in reference is the financier-chief executive-creative director trifecta, which, when aligned, drives innovation and growth. A notable example is Bernard Arnault, Yves Carcelle and Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton in the late 90s-early aughts, which saw the brand transformed into a global force and quadruple in size. “It’s this kind of perfect triangle that [marries] commercial strategy and creative direction,” says Milazzo Mercier.
To help you think about creativity in concrete terms and learn how to practise it as you would any other skill, below are recommended steps to bolster your creative practice.
Reframe “Creativity”
To dispel the ambiguity around “creativity”, it is important to think of it as a skill you can hone through practice, rather than an inherent form of “genius” bestowed on a chosen few.
Dr Teresa M. Amabile is a professor at Harvard Business School whose seminal Model of Creativity breaks down the creative process. It lists three components to creativity: domain-relevant skills, creativity-relevant skills, and task motivations, which you can obtain through pragmatic action.
For example, to acquire domain-relevant skills, individuals must gain knowledge and technical know-how within their domain. Whether your field is design, marketing or journalism, seek formal and informal educational opportunities to bolster that skill set.
Creative-relevant skills pertain to your cognitive style, so divergent thinking, memory and perceiving novelty — in other words, understanding how you generate new ideas and the type of work style you find most effective through experimentation. Finally, within task motivation, you must be aware of your motivation to undertake a given task, and believe the task is worth pursuing.
Understand the Science Behind Creativity
Gaining skills and awareness is a first step towards optimising your creative practice. Next, it is essential to understand the cognitive process that allows you to put those into action and employ your knowledge to cultivate innovation.
Neuroscience tells us creative cognition has two components: convergent thinking, the process of finding concrete and familiar solutions to problems; and divergent thinking, the thought process of generating original ideas and new possibilities. While both play a role in our creative output as we rely on familiar concepts and tried-and-true methods to inform our work, to produce novel, innovative ideas we need to tap into divergent thinking that goes beyond what has worked for us in the past.
Recent research indicates that before people view a problem that they will eventually solve through divergent thinking, the brain’s anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is activated, detecting non-obvious, weakly connected ideas and signalling to the brain to switch attention to them. However accessing those neuro pathways requires us to be in a good mood, meaning to feel safe and secure. Then, the ACC is more sensitive to odd thoughts and strange hunches, allowing us to explore and take creative risks.
Diversify Your Way of Working
Creativity is synonymous with adaptability and agility, qualities that can be nurtured by diversifying the setting and manner in which you typically work. The late Steve Jobs was an advocate for walking meetings; Pixar’s famous “Braintrust” is considered a blueprint for creative brainstorming. What these methods have in common is that they allow you to step out of your comfort zone and express your thoughts intuitively. Doing so can help you create new neural pathways and encourage divergent thinking.
On a personal level, stepping out of your comfort zone may translate to reading books that challenge your belief system rather than reinforce what you already know; immersing yourself in new experiences such as exhibitions, shows or classes; learning a new skill outside of your professional remit for inspiration.
When it comes to exploration with peers within your network, however, try and diversify who you collaborate with to gain fresh perspectives and learn from others’ lived experience. Capitalise on fashion being a lodestone for people of different backgrounds to “foster the development of more complex forms of thought, including the ability to think critically,” suggest researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Candid discussions where everyone can share their thoughts and opinions freely often result in wiser outcomes.
Invest in Your Mental Health
Caring for your mental health will directly boost your mood and overall resilience, which as we have established, is imperative for your creative practice.
From basic self-care like maintaining a regular sleeping schedule and exercise regimen to more mindful activities such as journaling, meditating and spending time in nature, explore and figure out what helps you manage stress levels and invigorate your brain so you can explore new ways of thinking — and creating.
Written by Maya Avram.