We should probably brace ourselves for the imminent launch of a luxury hospital with interiors decked out by Roberto Cavalli. Or how about a school styled by Ralph Lauren? Think how Cavalli’s animal prints would jazz up the average operating theatre (can't have real pets in a MRSA-sensitive zone? How about the next best thing?); picture the reassuring whiff of Ivy League parquet flooring and the pleasing symmetry of the Ralph Lauren games pavilion.

These days, everything has to be designed by Somebody. Cavalli’s already done hotels (so have Armani, Donatella Versace and Christian Lacroix); Alexander McQueen’s come up with a mobile phone (so have Armani, Prada and Dolce & Gabbana). There isn’t a celebrity with a single business molecule in their body who hasn’t conceived, sketched, planned and manufactured (in the loosest possible sense) a clothing collection, perfume or swimwear line. But why stop there? Funerals designed by Tim Burton, medical equipment endorsed by Jane Seymour – this is a concept in its infancy.

Which is kind of interesting when you consider that, not so long ago, the Gucci Group management was predicting the death of the designer as star. Mind you, this was shortly after it had parted companies with Tom Ford, the designer as star. And, at the time, they had a point. Under the helm of the then anonymous Frida Giannini, Gucci’s sales surged after Ford’s departure, encouraging other houses to appoint below-the-parapet names. But below-the-parapet names have a habit of eventually peering over the parapet and one day capturing the castle. The more their collection sells, the better known they become –­ witness the ascendancy of Phoebe Philo, who, when she succeeded Stella McCartney at Chloé, was unknown outside the fashion industry. She’s such a star now (albeit not the kind that gets mobbed in the streets, but maybe in these days of ubiquitous celebrity, that’s the chicest fame of all) that the industry is currently agog with the news that she might be about to sign to Celine.

The truth is not that we are witnessing the rise of Renaissance man, but that we are in a time when more people than ever before seek reassurance that the dream they are buying into is the right dream. If Nicole or Cate or Cheryl or Kerry makes the consumer feel that, then fine. It’s easy to sneer about these things, but in the old days, fancy brands were accessible to a tiny elite. Now it’s more democratic. That means there are a lot of people buying a pair of designer sunglasses encrusted with fake gems because a grain of insecurity is telling them they’re the ones to have. But it also means that more of us than ever before are taking an interest in design. And that can only be a good thing.

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