From Tom Ford to Chanel, luxury brands rocked by creative upheaval

When Peter Hawkings was announced as the successor to Tom Ford, who bowed out as creative director at his eponymous label last April having sold it to Estée Lauder in a whopping $2.8bn deal in 2022, the designer was viewed as a good fit.

A longtime associate who had worked with Ford for more than two decades, Hawkings was considered by fashion insiders as a reliable and seasoned choice. Even if the designs he presented during his tenure were safe, they were executed to a high degree of quality. Last September, he told Vogue that he had been “preparing” for the role his “entire life”.

At a preview of the Tom Ford spring 2025 collection this month, presented in London for the first time instead of its Milan showroom, new bag styles featuring a more prominent “T” logo were on display. There were plans to roll out new beauty products and categories. A new fragrance had even been developed to align with the upcoming catwalk show in September.

But then came the unexpected announcement on Monday that Hawkings, after only two collections, was out. A successor has not yet been announced, and the brand now plans to eschew its Milan Fashion Week show and instead present its next collection via its showroom.

Hawkings’ departure from Tom Ford is the latest in a string of high-profile designer exits in recent months: the creative director position at Chanel — arguably the most covetable and highest-profile gig in fashion — remains vacant after Virginie Viard stepped down in June, capping a career of almost three decades at the French luxury house.

Givenchy is yet to appoint a successor to Matthew Williams, who exited the company in December 2023 after three years as creative director. (The arrival of a new CEO at the LVMH-owned brand this month suggests that a designer appointment could be under way soon.) And then there is Dries Van Noten, who retired after his final men’s show in June. A replacement at his Puig-owned namesake brand has yet to be named.

At least Lanvin, which after a year of collaborative collections without a clear creative steer, has a new artistic director in Peter Copping as of June. And Valentino wasted no time hiring former Gucci star designer Alessandro Michele a mere week after its long-serving creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli announced he would step down after more than 25 years at the brand.

The shake-up at brands, while thrilling for newness, marks an unprecedented period of change. Against the backdrop of a cooling luxury market, broader economic uncertainty and rapidly changing consumer preferences, the pressure for companies to turn a profit has increased, setting off revolving doors for the designers behind their products.

“As brands are trying to navigate that environment, it can have an impact on creative director recruitment because they’re looking to recruit the community of a designer,” says Alice Bouleau, partner at Sterling International, a boutique executive search firm specialising in luxury fashion and retail. Indeed, the arrival of a new creative director can bring new customers. But it takes time to see results.

Typically, it takes at least three seasons (about one and half years) for a new designer’s vision to be fully realised, but executives are keen to see faster returns, says Stephanie Jackson, co-founder of luxury fashion recruitment firm SJR, whose clients have included Prada and Hermès. “Stakeholders expect clear results on their investment and there is a shorter space of time in which these designers have got to prove themselves,” she says.

“It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen this much uncertainty on the part of brands and talent,” adds Karen Harvey, founder and CEO of her eponymous consulting group, which has worked with top luxury brands since the 1990s (recent clients include Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Valextra). “The drop in consumption at the luxury level is something companies are either prepared for, or they’re going to have a sort of knee-jerk moment to make a change.”

The difficulty for today’s creative directors is that expectations range far beyond just bottom-line growth. Designers including Viard and Maria Grazia Chiuri, currently creative director at Dior, have been subjected to much vitriol from online (often amateur) critics, despite their respective commercial successes. (At Chanel, sales grew from $11.1bn in 2018, just prior to Viard’s arrival, to $19.7bn in 2023; the Dior group boasted sales of €86.2bn in 2023, up from €39.5bn in 2016, when Chiuri started in the role.)

There’s also the trouble of replacing talent, such as Tom Ford or the late Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel, whose larger-than-life personalities were inextricably connected to their brands. (Such will be the challenge with finding a successor for Van Noten.)

“While sales are important, maintaining a positive image is vital and a designer’s popularity can significantly impact a brand’s reputation,” says Jackson. She attributes part of this to globalisation and the democratisation of fashion. “There’s so much more exposure.”

Beyond creating strong product, designers are now required to be entrepreneurs who can balance creativity with commercial success and also act as public-facing ambassadors. But the glorification of one individual can be problematic, as designers are simply one part of a larger equation for success that also includes pricing, merchandising, communicati

“It’s as if some brands are waiting for a saviour who will come in and change everything. But [a designer] is just one person,” says Bouleau. “And at the end of the day, these are a lot of different functions.”

Sometimes, a change is required. While Hawkings had proved to be an excellent executor of menswear, Italy’s Ermenegildo Zegna Group, which runs Tom Ford’s fashion arm, may have ambitions to expand the brand’s womenswear sales.

“Tom and Peter built menswear together and they did a brilliant job,” says Harvey. “But the world is changing. Should Tom Ford womenswear today reflect the exact same codes that Tom Ford had developed in a very different time and place? Should there be more of a woman’s point of view? Perhaps, by Peter following so strictly the codes, something was missing now.”

She adds: “There’s a huge opportunity with womenswear and beauty is so connected to that.”

Cristina Baruzzi, a partner at Sterling International who has a decade of experience working in HR for Prada and Valentino, sees the recent movements as an opportunity for companies to refresh their strategy and reset their business model. “Everyone in the luxury segment is following the same route of concentrating on younger generations and elevating their brand positioning. But the pyramid at the top is very small.”

Despite these wide-ranging expectations, ultimately, product remains key, says Bouleau. “It’s a business and you want to be profitable. Of course you have CEOs who care about the clout of having a cool designer, which can lead to being a cool brand. But at the end of the day, [there’s no point] if you’re not selling and not able to pay the salaries of your employees.”