Creative Carousel: Fashion’s Year of Change

Are the comings and goings of designers at the helm making your head spin? We report on the latest flurry of departures and arrivals in the high echelons of fashion.

When Peter Hawkings, clad in ’70s-style orange-tinted sunglasses, confidently strode out to rapturous applause at the end of his debut show as Tom Ford’s womenswear creative director last September, few could have predicted that just 10 months later the designer would be out of the role. Not only was Hawkings, who has been with the American designer for more than 25 years since his days at Gucci, seen as the perfect bridge in the brand’s post-founder era – Ford exited after sale of his clothing business to Estée Lauder Companies in 2023 – but his continuation of the brand’s ’70s glam appeal seemed popular. In a surprising announcement last month, it was revealed he’d be leaving the brand after just two seasons at the helm.

Hawkings’s unexpected departure comes on the back of a domino effect of high-profile designer exits in 2024. Fashion, by nature, never stands still, but this year the industry’s tectonic plates have never felt so restless – and it’s only August. At the time of writing, Chanel, Givenchy, Tom Ford and Dries Van Noten are bereft of creative directors. Margiela is missing from the official Paris Fashion Week schedule, further fuelling rumours of an imminent move for John Galliano, though his next destination remains a much-discussed mystery. The future of Celine’s Hedi Slimane is also buzzy, given the designer’s penchant for changing roles every five years.

The wave began in March, when Dries Van Noten announced his retirement after nearly 40 years at the helm of his namesake brand. One of the original “Antwerp Six”, Van Noten has made a monumental contribution to contemporary fashion, distinguished by his proclivity for print, colour and embroidery. Now, he’s turning his attention outside of the fashion world: “I want to shift my focus to all the things I never had time for,” he wrote in a statement. His emotional final menswear collection was shown in Paris two months ago, when the industry paid its respects.

Although to Van Noten acolytes it’s impossible to imagine Dries without Dries, the business – in which Spanish conglomerate Puig acquired a majority stake in 2018 – will appoint a new creative director. “I feel it’s time to leave room for a new generation of talents to bring their vision to the brand,” said the designer. What that will look like remains unknown; for now, the studio team will present the womenswear spring/summer 2025 collection at Paris Fashion Week in October.

No sooner was the dust settling on Dries when, just days later, news broke that Pierpaolo Piccioli would be leaving Valentino after 25 years, eight of which as sole creative director – he previously shared the role with Maria Grazia Chiuri. Piccioli’s final collection (though that wasn’t known at the time) comprised 63 all-black looks that in retrospect spoke of his funeral with the Italian house. It didn’t take long for the mourning to stop, however, when shortly afterwards Alessandro Michele, who left Gucci in 2022, was named his successor.

More surprising still, came news in June that Virginie Viard was leaving Chanel with immediate effect, marking the end of her five-year tenure as creative director. Although the designer had been with the house for 20 years, Viard was by no means a household name when she was hired for what’s arguably fashion’s – and certainly haute couture’s – top job. Stepping into Karl Lagerfeld’s shoes was never going to be easy, but while considered more approachable, Viard’s designs were criticised for lacking her predecessor’s progressive vision and grand ideas; she was often subject to unkind vitriol on social media too. As long-time fashion critic Suzy Menkes wrote when the news broke: “With an interest in art and music, she [Viard] can find a more attractive life than being criticised for not being Mr Lagerfeld.”

As red smoke still billows from 31 Rue Cambon, Sarah Burton, John Galliano, Hedi Slimane and even ex-Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott’s names have all been thrown into the ring. But given the epic pressure that comes with trying to replace Lagerfeld, you might ask who would want to.

“Today people have much higher expectations of creative directors than before,” explains Tracey Cheng, vice president of merchandising at the multi-brand retailer I.T. “Brands are expecting them to bring in newness, excitement in terms of marketing values as well as sales revenue. It’s a lot. They’re not just creating merchandise, but they also have to think outside the box. It’s no longer just having your vision on the brand. So, to me, it’s definitely a very difficult job.”

Lengthy tenures such as Lagerfeld’s at Chanel and Van Noten’s are becoming a thing of the past. Cycles of fashion designers seem to be getting shorter, with new directions announced almost constantly. Last year saw Chloé call time on the three-year reign of Gabriela Hearst, the end of Riccardo Tisci’s five years at Burberry and Matthew Williams’s three-year stint at Givenchy.

We’re also seeing the rise in the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it tenures. Last May, Ludovic de Saint Sernin announced he was leaving Ann Demeulemeester just two months after his debut collection. And in March, Walter Chiapponi stepped down after only one season at Blumarine, when he even redesigned the brand’s new logo. Whether caving in under the pressure of the role, misalignment of vision, or not yielding the required sales results or social-media hits, today it seems our patience with designers is reduced to the brevity of a TikTok video.

“Through social media, the customer has more information and is exposed to more things than before, so loyalty towards just one brand isn’t as strong anymore,” explains Cheng. “This makes it difficult for brands to sustain in terms of business, because the customer comes and goes. That’s why they want to bring in new things when maybe they feel the old things are slowing down or not working. Especially after Covid, brands are suffering – and they’re trying different strategies to attract new customers and bring in sales.”

Given the global outlook, it’s not surprising that brands can no longer afford to give creative directors sufficient time to get into their stride. Luxury fashion has been particularly hit by the end of the post-Covid “revenge spending”, especially in China, a market brands previously relied upon to offset lacklustre growth in North America, but where consumers are now being cautious in the face of a flailing economy.

Recent Q2 results suggest the gloom is set to continue. LVMH’s revenues fell for the second consecutive quarter, including a 14 percent drop in sales in Asia – excluding Japan, where the low yen has made it an attractive destination for Chinese luxury bargain-hunters. Similar woes befell Kering, where overall Q2 sales dropped 11 percent, with sales at Gucci hitting hardest, falling 19 percent. Burberry witnessed a 22 percent drop in Q2 sales that sent share prices plunging to their lowest level in 15 years. Such results ramp up the pressures for new creative directors Daniel Lee at Burberry and Gucci’s Sabato de Sarno, who are still finding their groove.

The fast turnover also anguishes buyers and merchandisers who work six months ahead and use data to inform the next season’s purchases. “When we buy into a brand that then changes its creative director, we have to neglect all the sales data we used to have, because it might be a completely different collection with a completely different price point,” says Cheng. “This coming September we’re buying into spring/summer 2025. So we’re ahead of seeing the results of the merchandise when they hit the floor.”

As well as being hard for retailers, such switches can harm a brand’s DNA, especially if a new vision is wildly different from the last. Not only is it now commonplace for new creative directors to wipe the brand’s social-media platforms when they arrive, but some reinvent the logo and branding – like Ricardo Tisci at Burberry and, in the case of Hedi Slimane, dropping the “Yves” from Saint Laurent and the accent from the é of Celine.

We think we know what Valentino will look like under fashion magpie Alessandro Michele, when in June he released his first resort collection for the Italian house. The 171 looks exuded his signature maximalist hippy-chic aesthetic, with ’70s-style paisley and leopard prints and fur-coated pea coats. But so far, so Gucci.

Such an overhaul of a brand’s DNA can feel especially difficult when people are so emotionally invested in a brand’s legacy. Take the reaction to Slimane’s first collection at Celine, where he replaced Phoebe Philo’s sophisticated yet understated feminine wardrobe with a parade of wafer-thin models in indie-sleaze skimpy mini dresses. The outrage even caused the brand to issue a statement after the show and the creation by Philo’s followers of an @oldceline Instagram account.

Similarly at Paris Fashion Week in March, Seán McGirr’s first Alexander McQueen collection was met almost with horror on social media. He took the Kering-owned brand back to Lee McQueen’s East London beginnings with his take on “Rough Glamour”. Although the designer had just three months to work on the collection, fashion commentators heavily criticised the looks for lacking the finesse and tailoring savoir-faire of his predecessor Sarah Burton. Interestingly, respected industry voices such as Cathy Horyn admired the new aesthetic. We’ll have to wait and see whether consumers buy into it. But it’s difficult to see past brand acolytes, such as the Princess of Wales, taking up with McGirr’s new vision.

Compare McGirr’s shaky debut to that of Chemena Kamali’s at Chloé just three days previously. She replaced Gabriele Hearst, whose sustainability-focused vision for the French house didn’t stir sufficient excitement. Kamali’s glorious debut featured ruffled blouses and ’70s-inspired accessories and marked a return of boho fashion and a triumphant new era for the Chloé girl. Aside from critical acclaim, the show was the third most viewed brand on fashion search engine Tag Walk at fashion week, just behind Miu Miu and Chanel.

As the industry searches for the new generation of talent to fill such significant vacancies, Kamali’s name is surely out of the running. For the moment, it seems Chloe’s game of musical chairs has come to a rightful standstill.

(Hero Image: from left PierPaolo Piccioli, Peter Hawkings, Virginie Viard) (credit: Getty)

This article was first published in Prestige Hong Kong