It’s all change in fashion, with 13 creative directors debuting their first womenswear designs for new brands this season, including Demna at Gucci, Jonathan Anderson at Dior and Matthieu Blazy at Chanel. For these designers, and the brands they lead, everything is on the line as much of the luxury sector continues to face shrinking sales and disengaged shoppers. Ultimately, the winners will be those who can reboot a brand’s image, set culture-defining trends and make profits for shareholders. The losers? Well, they may not be around for long.
“Fashion has turned these shifts into its favourite gladiator sport — part coronation, part execution — with social media as the Colosseum and the crowd baying for blood. The houses play musical executions: the critics cheer, the investors clap, and the poor designers . . . ” the stylist Katie Grand wrote on Instagram last month. “Behind the memes and headlines are creatives whose lives and work are pulled apart in real time.”
Here we give you the lowdown on these 13 industry movers, why they have been hired and what is at stake. Let the games begin.
Milan
Brand: Gucci
Name: Demna
Date: September 23
Format: Event
CV: Maison Margiela, Louis Vuitton, Vetements, Balenciaga
The stakes: Gucci is the biggest brand owned by troubled parent group Kering, accounting for about half of group sales and two-thirds of profits. It has also reported falling sales and operating profits since 2023 (revenue last year was €7.7bn). Demna, who in his 10-year tenure at Balenciaga transformed the label into the fastest-growing brand in the Kering portfolio before a controversial ad campaign in 2022 caused a temporary drop in sales, has been tasked with bringing back growth and zeitgeisty relevance.
Brand: Jil Sander
Name: Simone Bellotti
Date: September 24
Format: Runway
CV: AF Vandevorst, Gianfranco Ferré, Bottega Veneta, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Bally
The stakes: As the first creative director chosen by Italian group OTB, which acquired the label in 2021, Bellotti will be expected to reshape the brand’s visual identity while continuing the retail and category expansion spearheaded by the Italian conglomerate.
Brand: Versace
Name: Dario Vitale
Date: September 26
Format: Event
CV: Dsquared2, Bottega Veneta, Miu Miu
The stakes: Vitale was appointed as Versace’s chief creative officer in March 2025, a month before the Italian brand was acquired by Prada for €1.25bn. As the first external designer to take the helm of Versace, which has been led by Donatella Versace since 1997, Vitale finds himself continuing the legacy of one of the industry’s most historic and beloved labels, with an annual revenue of $821mn. The designer gave a sneak peek of his plans for the label during the Venice Film Festival this month, dressing Julia Roberts and Amanda Seyfried in his first ever Versace red carpet look: a blue tailored jacket worn with a striped shirt and jeans.
Brand: Bottega Veneta
Name: Louise Trotter
Date: September 27
Format: Runway
CV: Whistles, Gap, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Jigsaw, Joseph, Lacoste, Carven
The stakes: Bottega Veneta, the third-largest brand in Kering’s portfolio, has not been immune to the group’s woes of the past two years. However, its performance has been more resilient than others, with single-digit revenue growth in the most recent quarter. Trotter, who is known for her eye for tailoring and elegant but unpretentious designs, will have to accelerate the brand’s growth while preserving its credentials as the home of Italian leather craftsmanship.
Paris
Brand: Dior
Name: Jonathan Anderson
Date: October 1
Format: Runway
CV: Brown Thomas, Prada, JW Anderson, Loewe
The stakes: Anderson was appointed creative director of women’s, men’s and haute couture collections at Dior this June, the first designer to hold all three roles since founder Christian Dior. At Dior women’s and haute couture, Anderson succeeds Maria Grazia Chiuri, whose successful nine-year run helped grow annual revenues to £9.5bn, according to HSBC estimates. As the luxury market struggles with a global slowdown, LVMH is betting on Anderson to inject fresh energy and compelling storytelling into the megabrand, the second largest by size in its fashion and leather goods portfolio. His own label JW Anderson will go on an indefinite runway hiatus while Anderson takes on the biggest job in fashion.
Brand: Mugler
Name: Miguel Castro Freitas
Date: October 2
Format: Runway
CV: Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin, Dries Van Noten, Sportmax
The stakes: Castro Freitas is the first designer to be appointed at Mugler by L’Oréal, which acquired the label from Clarins in 2019. For decades, the house has been largely known for its popular fragrances Alien and Angel, but its fashion division was revitalised under Castro Freitas’s predecessor, Casey Cadwallader, gaining social media buzz and celebrity traction. Castro Freitas was most recently creative director of Max Mara-owned Sportmax, where he specialised in sculptural silhouettes and body-con dresses that share an affinity with Mugler.
Brand: Carven
Name: Mark Thomas
Date: October 2
Format: Runway
CV: Neil Barrett, Burberry, Joseph, Givenchy, Helmut Lang, Lacoste, Icicle
The stakes: French label Carven still needs to find its place in the fashion firmament, having been bought out of bankruptcy by Chinese group Icicle in 2018. The British designer, who worked closely with his predecessor, Louise Trotter, at Carven but also at Joseph and Lacoste, is expected to fully develop the label’s aesthetic codes.
Brand: Loewe
Names: Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez
Date: October 3
Format: Runway
CV: Proenza Schouler
The stakes: McCollough and Hernandez have big shoes to fill. Their appointment follows the departure of Jonathan Anderson, who led the LVMH-owned label for 11 years and is credited with boosting its revenues from €230mn in 2014 to €1.07bn in 2024, according to Morgan Stanley estimates. The American designers, who founded Proenza Schouler in 2002, have the right credentials to take on a brand known for its focus on craftsmanship, art-school design ethos and commercially successful accessories.
Brand: Maison Margiela
Name: Glenn Martens
Date: October 4
Format: Runway
CV: Jean Paul Gaultier, Y/Project, Diesel
The stakes: Martens joins Maison Margiela following a critically acclaimed decade for the brand under John Galliano. In his first, well-received haute couture collection for the label’s Artisanal line in July, Martens combined tributes to house founder Martin Margiela with his own penchant for deconstructed and distressed looks. He now has to translate that vision into ready-to-wear.
Brand: Balenciaga
Name: Pierpaolo Piccioli
Date: October 4
Format: Runway
CV: Fendi, Valentino
The stakes: Piccioli takes over from Demna, who transformed Balenciaga into one of the most provocative and hyped brands of the past decade with hit accessories such as the Triple S and Speed sock trainers, collaborations with mass-market brands such as Ikea and Crocs, and viral marketing moments, some of which backfired. Piccioli shares this commercial prowess: at Valentino, he also created hit accessories, such as the Rockstud style and a signature colour, Valentino Pink PP. Aesthetically, however, Piccioli is expected to reset the brand’s current streetwear-led image.
Brand: Jean Paul Gaultier
Name: Duran Lantink
Date: October 5
Format: Runway
CV: Duran Lantink
The stakes: Lantink is the first designer to permanently fill the position of creative director at the label after founder Jean Paul Gaultier retired in 2020. Since then, the label has lived on under collaborations with guest designers including Chitose Abe, Simone Rocha, Glenn Martens and Ludovic de Saint Sernin. Lantink, who under his eponymous label made a name for himself by reworking deadstock clothing into surreal and playful creations, shares a similar avant-garde and irreverent spirit to Jean Paul Gaultier. In his new role, Lantink will have to build a cohesive identity for the brand while keeping its heritage alive.
Brand: Chanel
Name: Matthieu Blazy
Date: October 6
Format: Runway
CV: Balenciaga, John Galliano, Raf Simons, Maison Margiela, Céline, Calvin Klein, Bottega Veneta
The stakes: Chanel has been more immune than others to the luxury market slump, with revenue declining 4.3 per cent to $18.7bn in 2024, so Blazy’s challenge is less financial and more stylistic. His predecessor, Virginie Viard, a close collaborator of Karl Lagerfeld who has been at the helm of the house since his death in 2019, designed some commercially successful collections that received a lukewarm reception from critics. After his brilliant reboot of Bottega Veneta, Blazy, a Frenchman who is known for his focus on craft rather than branding, is expected to inject the French label with a fresh and exciting perspective.
Photographs: Getty Images; David Sims; Olivier Kervern; Stef Mitchell; Robi Rodriguez
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