Paris catwalks to witness a changing of the designer guard

If the past few years have seen the fashion industry engage in a prolonged game of creative director jigsaw, then this is the week when the pieces of the puzzle should – in theory – fall into place.

In 2025 more than 10 of the world’s most influential fashion brands – including Dior, Versace, Chanel, and Gucci – have awaited the arrival of a new head designer, creating an unprecedented limbo period that has left both the industry and consumers holding their breath.

In Milan last week, several new visions were outlined. Former Bally designer Simone Bellotti laid out his highly crafted vision at Jil Sander. At Versace, Dario Vitale filled the shoes previously worn by Donatella Versace for the past 30 years, showcasing his first collection in a decadent private home turned museum. Former Balenciaga designer Demna revealed his vision for Gucci via a Spike Jonze-directed film. And at Bottega Veneta, British designer Louise Trotter took the reins from her predecessor Matthieu Blazy.

Elsewhere in Paris, former Valentino designer Pierpaolo Piccioli will debut at Balenciaga; ex-Loewe designer Jonathan Anderson will present his first womenswear collection for Dior; double act Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez will unveil their new look at Loewe; and Blazy will chart a new chapter at Chanel.

The changes are taking place during what is widely acknowledged by industry analysts to be a time of reckoning for luxury brands, following periods of high inflation and consumer behaviour shifts. A lot is riding on these appointments generating immediate success for their owners.

“It’s critical for a brand that these collections land well, because brands will quickly recalibrate if it doesn’t translate to sales,” says Lewis Alexander, founder of the advisory firm, Alexander & Co, noting that it is “harder than it’s ever been” to make a fresh impression.

Following a recent and often criticised period of fashion brands offering short contracts to designers and dismissing them swiftly if their collections haven’t produced immediate financial reward, there is a growing consensus that newly-appointed creative directors need to be given time to find their feet to avoid a similar period of flux.

“You’ve got to give a designer time for people to get used to what they're doing, and to show their creative vision,” says fashion journalist, author and critic Alexander Fury, who notes the positive ripple effect that this recent period of flux has had across the industry.

“It’s a regenerating time because it’s going to be such a competitive season that designers have to do more to stand out and push themselves to do something bigger and better to try and grab some of that attention.”

According to Fury, there hasn’t been a shake-up of this magnitude in the fashion industry since the late 1990s.

“It was when John Galliano went to Dior, [Alexander] McQueen went to Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultier started to do haute couture, Karl Lagerfeld started to work with Amanda Harlech at Chanel, Michael Kors at Celine and Marc Jacobs went to Louis Vuitton,” he says. “There was this big shift of playing pieces that really shook up the industry and I think this is comparable, but it’s actually even bigger.”

Alexander agrees, pointing to “the combination of shorter contracts, CEO and creative director relationships, and economic downturns” producing “the fiercest creative arms race fashion has seen in decades – and we’re seeing this new reality unfold in real time. It is the most exciting moment in fashion I have witnessed since the 90s, and fashion is very much going to be back in fashion.”

Photographs by Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images, Justin Shin/Getty Images and Giovanni Giannoni/WWD via Getty Images