fashion

Edgy designer Hussein Chalayan, who once held a runway show with mechanical dresses and LED lights, doesn't want to be called avant-garde, telling WWD, "I hate that term. It's a real hindrance because I don't think it expresses what we're about."

The London-based designer is also sounding off about the model-slash-designer term. Chalayan says that he is "weirded out" by the model-designer trend, saying, "If you have a really strong sense of style and people want to aspire to being like you, I can understand that. But if you are really doing it just because you think of yourself as a brand and you haven't had the training and you know nothing about clothes, it kind of demeans all the training that designers have had," reports WWD.

Apparently, of all the models-turned-designers (Elle Macpherson, Angela Lindvall and Amber Valletta, to name a few), Chalayan thinks Kate Moss is deserving of designing, but wishes that she had worked harder on her Topshop collection. (We beg to differ.)

"I don't think it represented her, and I didn't think she worked hard enough. I even told her to her face. She said, 'Oh, I'm just trying to do a light thing; I'm not trying to do anything serious.' But I said, 'That's not the point,''' the designer told WWD.

But Kate and Chalayan do have this in common: both designers have inked big deals with huge brands. Moss works with Topshop and Chalayan is currently collaborating with mega denim company J Brand.

Plus, last year, the designer signed on as the creative director of Puma, the sneaker company in turn bought a majority stake in Chalayan's signature line. Puma is owned by industry heavyweight PPR, which also controls fashion houses Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci and Alexander McQueen.