4 luxury brands that filled empty creative seats in 2024

A handful of fashion’s biggest brands started 2024 without creative directors after the designer decks shuffled at multiple labels in 2023.

This year, the industry played a months-long guessing game about who would fill empty seats and where free agents would land. In 2025, most of these designers will debut their first collections for their new brands, which means it will soon be time to see if the hires were worth the wait.

Adrian Appiolaza to Moschino

In March 2023, designer Jeremy Scott left Aeffe-owned Moschino after a decade with the brand. His position was vacant until the company hired Davide Renne, who took on the role on Nov. 1, 2023. However, Renne died 10 days afterward, leaving the brand without a designer and the company’s in-house design team to release a pre-fall collection in December 2023.

The brand spent the first month of 2024 without a creative director before announcing that the position would be filled by Adrian Appiolaza, formerly women’s ready-to-wear design director at Loewe.

Appiolaza, who oversees the women’s, men’s and accessories collections, got to work immediately, and presented his first show, titled “Collezione 0,” in February. Since his hire, Appiolaza has produced four collections.

Peter Copping to Lanvin

Designer Bruno Sialelli left his role at Lanvin in April 2023 after four years with the company, and the brand left the artistic director position vacant until June, when it hired Peter Copping.

In the interim, Lanvin appointed musician Future as guest creative director of its Lanvin Lab incubator project, and saw the December 2023 departure of Joann Cheng, the group’s founding chairman and CEO.

Prior to joining Lanvin, Copping was head of couture at Kering-owned Balenciaga, and before that, he was creative director of Oscar de la Renta, where he was the first designer to step into the role following de la Renta’s death in 2014.

Copping is expected to present his debut collection for Lanvin in January, and the co-ed show will mark the return of the brand to Paris Fashion Week following a two-year hiatus, according to Vogue.

Paul Andrew to Sergio Rossi

Angelo Ruggeri left his position as design director at Lanvin Group-owned footwear brand Sergio Rossi in 2016, and the position remained open until July, when Paul Andrew was named creative director.

Andrew, who previously worked at Salvatore Ferragamo in various roles including creative director, is only the fifth creative director to serve at the brand. Previous design directors included Francesco Russo, Edmundo Castillo and founder Sergio Rossi.

Andrew’s first collection for the label will be for the fall 2025 season.

Sarah Burton to Givenchy

At the beginning of 2024, Matthew M. Williams stepped down from his role as creative director of LVMH-owned Givenchy after three years with the label, showing his final collection almost a month before his departure. 

The position remained open until September, when Sarah Burton was announced as the house’s new creative director, overseeing the women’s and men’s lines.

Burton left her position as creative director of Kering-owned Alexander McQueen in 2023 after spending 13 years in the position. However, her tenure at the brand was considerably longer. She began there in 1996 as an intern and worked alongside designer Alexander McQueen until his death in February 2010, after which she was appointed to the top design role.

Her first collection for Givenchy will be shown in March 2025.