Designers Switching Houses & Moving to New Brands

[bc collector]

As far as I am concerned, they will not be missed. For all their business-savviness and aura of NY cool they projected around them, I am at a loss at pinning down anything they should be remembered for (the logo/tiger embroidered sweatshirt? Please...)

 

[perhydrol]

Well, they lost their hype few years ago and Kenzo was getting more and more ireelevant due to the whole mess with the Memento collecions and those showed during the menswear weeks so it's time for someone new.

 

[dodencebt]

Marchesa Co-Founder Departs

NEW YORK, United States — Marchesa’s Karen Craig has left the company she co-founded with Georgina Chapman.

"While I have made the difficult decision to part ways with Marchesa, I have tremendous pride in the company, the team, and the many successes achieved,” she said in a statement. “I am excited to now begin exploring additional creative opportunities and to push my potential as a designer in new directions." Craig did not immediately respond to BoF requests for comment.

Craig and Chapman launched the eveningwear label in 2004 and became a mainstay on the red carpet. Since allegations of sexual assault against Chapman’s then-husband Harvey Weistein came to light in October 2018, the label has faced difficulties as the Daily Beast uncovered ties between the brand and Weinstein, red carpet appearances shrunk and it cancelled its New York Fashion Week show.
businessoffashion

 

[dodencebt]

Kenzo Names Felipe Oliveira Baptista Its New Creative Director

Just six days after Carol Lim and Humberto Leon presented their final collection as co-creative directors of Kenzo, the brand’s owner, LVMH, has named their successor. Felipe Oliveira Baptista will be Kenzo’s new creative director, taking over on July 1. Oliveira Baptista comes to Kenzo from Lacoste, where he was creative director from 2010 to 2018.

“What made us choose Felipe above other candidates is the fact that he has a global artistic approach,” Kenzo’s CEO Sylie Colin told WWD. “He has a 360-degree creative vision and will oversee artistic direction globally, dealing both with collections and communication.”

During his time at Lacoste, Oliveira Baptista turned the tennis brand into a runway mainstay, bringing a freewheeling sportiness and environmentalism to his collections. Bucket hats, anoraks, and bold graphics were the tentpoles of his final collections at Lacoste, as was a Supreme collaboration revealed in 2018. Born in Portugal and based in Paris, Oliveira Baptista also ran an eponymous line from 2003 to 2013, which won the Hyères prize in 2003 and the ANDAM Prize in 2003 and 2005.
vogue.com

 

[Pricciao]

Thank goodness, I'm glad for him.

 

[Deleted member 130879]

I'm very excited about this. He is extremely underrated.

 

[Lola701]

It’s good, LVMH is taking a chance with a talent.
I’m actually curious because I don’t know what to expect. His aesthetic is the opposite of Kenzo on paper and it could be great as I think he will challenge himself while pushing Kenzo forward.

 

[Marc10]

Happy for Felipe! He deserves it.

 

[Mathewthew]

Stella McCartney Teams Up With LVMH, in Plot Twist in Luxury Wars
By Elizabeth Paton and Vanessa Friedman

In a move worthy of the rivalry between the Montagues and the Capulets, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury group, said on Monday that it had entered into a new marriage with Stella McCartney, the British fashion house that was half-owned by its chief competitor, Kering, until last year.

The deal calls for Ms. McCartney, the house’s founder, to continue in her role as the brand’s creative director, and as the majority owner of the Stella McCartney business. She will also become a special adviser to Bernard Arnault, LVMH’s chairman, and to the LVMH board on the topic of sustainability, or how the fashion industry can reduce its famously negative impact on the environment.

Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed. The full scope of the agreement is to be disclosed in September.

nytimes.com

You can read the whole article online:
Stella McCartney Teams Up With LVMH, in Plot Twist in Luxury Wars

 

[RaisinBoy]

How is she still an interesting commodity is something I'd love to get grasp of.

 

[Benn98]

Sources Say Tod’s Has Hired a New Designer

Sources say former Bottega Veneta designer Walter Chiapponi has joined the Italian brand.

By Luisa Zargani on October 9, 2019


TOD’S CHANGES: Tod’s has hired a new designer to join its team, possibly leading it, according to Milan-based sources. Walter Chiapponi is said to have joined the company after working for years at Bottega Veneta with the brand’s former creative director, Tomas Maier. Carlo Alberto Beretta, a former Bottega Veneta chief executive officer, joined Tod’s in February as general manager of the brand, and is seen as a potential link with Chiapponi.

Beretta left his post as chief client and marketing officer of Kering at the end of 2017. He had taken up that post, a new one, in September 2016, when Claus-Dietrich Lahrs succeeded him as ceo of Bottega Veneta.

Details about Chiapponi’s role were not available at press time and Tod’s had no comment on the speculation.

Tod’s chairman and ceo Diego Della Valle last year started a shake-up of the brand’s executive ranks to help push a new strategy and business models of collaborations, introducing the No_Code project, which includes a trademarked “shoeker” — a mix between a shoe and a sneaker, and Tod’s Factory, in a reference to Andy Warhol, and eyeing a younger customer through capsule drops and limited editions. This has led to an overhaul of production, design, marketing and logistics facilities, to which the group’s 5,000 employees, plus another 5,000 to 6,000 “satellite” workers, have had to adapt. After Alessandro Dell’Acqua, Alber Elbaz designed a capsule of accessories under the Tod’s Factory moniker, launched last summer.

Della Valle has been reviewing the role of a creative director of the women’s collections after the exit of Alessandra Facchinetti in 2016, leaving the job to the brand’s team. As reported, after five years, Andrea Incontri left his role as men’s wear creative director of the brand at the end of June.

WWD

 

[StoneSkipper]

Alessandro Dell’Acqua Departs Rochas

BY
STEFF YOTKA
December 6, 2019


After six years at the helm of Rochas, Alessandro Dell’Acqua is leaving the brand. His last collection, for the fall 2020 season, will be shown at Paris Fashion Week this February. “I am extremely grateful to the Maison Rochas for the path taken from 2013 to the last show to be held in February 2020,” Dell’Acqua said, in a release. “It gave me the opportunity to associate my name with a French brand with such an important historical legacy. I thank all those who have supported me since my debut.”

The designer took up the role of womenswear creative director from Marco Zanini in 2013. Dell’Acqua’s collections were marked by lively palettes, blooming ’50s silhouettes, and cheeky accessories. His paillette flats from 2015 became one of fashion’s most recognizable shoes, recurring season after season in exuberant new textures and materials.

The brand has not yet named a replacement for Dell’Acqua, who will continue designing his own label, No.21. In late 2018, Rochas launched menswear under Federico Curradi.

voguerunway

 

[Lola701]

^^
I really liked his work for Rochas...It really had the spirit of Helene Rochas who is the forever muse of the house. Even if his shows were always overstyled, the clothes were good.
If now, he can infuse some of the Couture aspect of Rochas in N21, I would be very pleased.

 

[dior_couture1245]

Imagine if Olivier had never left ....

 

[Lola701]

Imagine if Olivier had never left ....

He was meant to leave. The crisis in 2008 would have made him leave anyway...

Olivier is great talent but he was a bad cast almost all his career.

 

[GivenchyHomme]

I'm not disappointed about Rochas. It was essentially No.21 2.0. He never developed a separate identity for the brand. The shoes were the only thing keeping the brand relevant.

 

[dior_couture1245]

He was meant to leave. The crisis in 2008 would have made him leave anyway...

Olivier is great talent but he was a bad cast almost all his career.

Yes. He’s a bit like Lacroix in that way.

Both are designers who’s work is almost too rarefied for this world. Financial success in this industry was/will always be out of reach for them. But we are blessed to have gotten the work we did from them, anyway.

Lacroix Couture and Theyskens’ time at Rochas and Nina Ricci is the kind of fashion that almost exists beyond the industry. It’s not “Art,” per se...in that pretentious Comme des Garçons way...but it was also too beautiful for mere mortals to ever wear.

 

[tatouejeremie]

Courrèges Parts Ways With Yolanda Zobel

PARIS — Yolanda Zobel is leaving Courrèges.
The creative director, who took over the French fashion house in February 2018, is stepping down from her role, according to a company statement.
The decision was mutual, the statement said, with Zobel to focus on “other creative projects.” Neither Courrèges nor the designer was available for further comment.
Zobel’s last collection for the house, corresponding to fall 2020, will be presented at the end of January and will be distributed to selected points of sale.
Relatively unknown before joining Courrèges, Zobel — who grew up in Germany — has for two decades been developing fashion collections for various brands, including Jil Sander, Acne Studios and Chloé, where she served as senior designer under Paulo Melim Andersson between 2006 and 2008.
Upon joining Courrèges, the designer, intent on upping the brand’s sustainability credentials, pledged she would discontinue its production of textured vinyl. The material had become synonymous with the Space Age label, which was founded by André and Coqueline Courrèges in 1961.
Instead, the creative director chose to focus on giving a second life to the brand’s extensive archive of existing plastic garments, as well as working with more natural fabrics such as pure cotton or, for spring 2020, algae-based.

EXCLUSIVE: Courrèges Parts Ways With Yolanda Zobel

 

[donyan]

EXCLUSIVE: Courrèges Parts Ways With Yolanda Zobel

I was expecting this, sadly. Wonder who will follow her, Courreges has now become complicated property, like Lanvin. Its stupid because it seems like such a non brainer, a strong brand with a very clear DNA.
I would LOVE Lutz Huelle there if he wasn't at Delpozo, although tbh he seems to be doing nothing there, a huge disappointment as I had high hopes

 

[Lola701]

I was expecting this, sadly. Wonder who will follow her, Courreges has now become complicated property, like Lanvin. Its stupid because it seems like such a non brainer, a strong brand with a very clear DNA.
I would LOVE Lutz Huelle there if he wasn't at Delpozo, although tbh he seems to be doing nothing there, a huge disappointment as I had high hopes

They had a great potential with the cute couple from Coperni. As usual, the suits ruined everything...
They had a great strategy and good products at decent prices AND a great buzz! They just needed time...
Look at Paco Rabanne nowadays...I’m very impressed with what has been done there. An almost niche business that is doing good financially (from what I’ve heard) and that can exist on his own without being like a black stain for the highly lucrative perfume business...