Creative director musical chairs mirrors an unchanging world

“Big fashion is on a fool’s errand,” Enrique Menendez, global editor at Jing Daily, wrote recently.

That follows what has become a season of new appointments and reshuffles as luxury behemoths experience a time of turbulence. As profits fall and consumer preferences change at an accelerated rate, brands have experienced a slew of short-lived designer tenures in a bid to stop the fallout.

Gucci last week announced the appointment of Demna (Gvasalia) as artistic director. Demna, who only goes by the mononym, is the famed, at times controversial, maverick whose time at Balenciaga created significant transformation and revitalisation. Kering, the parent company of the two brands, is hoping Demna can do for Gucci what he achieved at Balenciaga. 

Gucci reported a 12% drop in revenue in the 2024 fiscal year, and was projected to continue making losses in the first quarter of 2025. Demna succeeds Sabatto de Sarno, who presided over Gucci’s decline for only two years after taking over from Alessandro Michele in 2023. 

Gucci and Balenciaga aren’t the only ones going through changes.

Soon after Gucci’s announcement last week, news broke that Jonathan Anderson would be stepping down as creative director at Loewe. There has also been Simone Belloti’s appointment at Jil Sander, Glenn Martens at Margiela, and Michael Rider returned to Celine after Hedi Slimane’s exit late last year. Soon we will become familiar with Versace sans Donatella, as Dario Vitale of Mui Miu has been named as her successor. 

Only three months into the year we’ve already seen new collections from big- name designers making their debut at new brands. They include Sarah Burton and Haider Ackerman at Tom Ford. Late last year, we saw Alessandro Michele’s Valentino debut and later this year we’re expecting Louise Trotter’s at Bottega Venetta.

However, all these recent creative appointments reflect a continued trend of selecting predominantly white male designers, underscoring the industry's challenges with diversity and representation. Many are noticing.

Last month, Vogue Business ran an article questioning the trend, stating the “latest wave of creative director hires shows diversity remains on the back burner, despite growing demand from luxury consumers for originality, storytelling and connection”.

The writer noted only three female designers out of nine who were expected to debut new collections at a new maison in 2025. The number has risen to include a person of colour, Haider Ackerman, who is Colombian. Of course, one must also note Pharell Williams as the incumbent creative director for Louis Vuitton.

However, by pointing out storytelling, originality and connection, the writer at Vogue Business precisely diagnosed the problem with such a small number of diverse appointments. The rapid HR changes demonstrate the brands are aware something needs to change, but somehow it hasn’t occurred to the powers that be that perhaps more drastic changes are required. 

That’s not to say the more than capable designers appointed to lead the brands cannot inject a new energy, or connect. However, in many ways, these are safe choices, and the lack of diversity means fashion may just continue on a path where it isn’t reflecting the consumer demand for new perspectives. In 2025, the resistance can be contextualised in a global culture that seems to be experiencing a reversal in gains where diversity is concerned.

A few days ago, The New York Times published a long list of words the DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) averse administration of US President Donald Trump has effectively banned from use in government communications.

“As President Trump seeks to purge the federal government of ‘woke’ initiatives, agencies have flagged hundreds of words to limit or avoid, according to a compilation of government documents,” the newspaper reported.

A few examples of those close to 200 words include, but are nowhere near limited to: antiracist, antiracism, bias, black, community equity, equity, equality, intersectionality, LGBTQ+, marginalised. You get the picture.

As you may be aware, right-wing political ideological movements, including AfriForum and Solidariteit in South Africa and the far right in Europe, are becoming increasingly louder, buoyed by Trump’s US election victory last year and Elon Musk’s insistence on using X as a personal platform to extol his virtues as a US government power broker. At the same time, US Vice-President JD Vance has also been urging the rejection of multiculturalism in Europe. 

As I have argued, luxury fashion has never been a paragon of diversity, but the recent hiring development demonstrates a resistance to change that is reflected more broadly in society. While the brands are undoubtedly optimistic about the change their hiring practices might bring, economists are sounding the alarm on Trump taking a wrecking ball to America’s economy and politics and the potential disastrous consequences for the world, and I’m willing to bet that fashion may, too, be on a fool’s errand.