2024 was a buzzy year for fashion, and not only because of the Brat/demure summer, Sabrina Carpenter-mania and Wicked collaborations.
John Galliano opened and closed the year; sports took centre stage; Miu Miu defied the odds; and campaigns that used big-name celebrities in intimate or quirky ways stood out. The biggest buzz of the year was created almost inadvertently by brands leaving their creative director posts vacant. “Aren’t the designer musical chairs what drove most conversations this year?” asks PR guru Lucien Pagès.
It culminated with the appointment of Matthieu Blazy as artistic director of Chanel. Through the choice of its designer, a house conveys its values. Blazy is widely said to be grounded with no overinflated ego; a hard worker and respectful, he has both experience and talent. “His audacious personality, his innovative and powerful approach to creation, as well as his dedication to craftsmanship and beautiful materials, will take Chanel in exciting new directions,” said Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel fashion, at the time of his appointment.
All of this reinforces fashion’s direction towards authenticity in 2025. “We don’t want to shop because an influencer or hundreds of influencers posted a bag the same day. Those days are over,” Benjamin Cercio, founder of the eponymous branding and communications agency who previously headed communications at Gucci and before that at Louis Vuitton, told me during an Instagram Live in November. “We don’t want to shop because a brand is investing massively on paid social and search. We want to have an emotional connection with the brands. Storytelling and authenticity are absolutely key.”
With that in mind, here is my pick of the creative directors, campaigns and moments that drove the biggest buzz in 2024.
1. John Galliano’s Margiela Artisanal show
In 2023, Pharrell Williams’s star-studded Louis Vuitton Men’s show on the Pont Neuf bridge won the year, demonstrating the convergence of fashion and entertainment. In 2024, the reveal of John Galliano’s Maison Margiela Artisanal collection stole the limelight early on. The show was held in January, under a bridge (the Pont Alexandre III) with a gritty vibe and a décor reminiscent of a “rancid Parisian nighttime joint”, according to Vogue’s Sarah Mower. “All the images and impressions from this show will be burned on the mind’s eye for many reasons. Firstly, because Galliano made such an all-out stand for the value of extreme creativity in a time when, all around, daring in fashion is at a low ebb,” Mower wrote. Vogue Runway and Vogue Business global director Nicole Phelps described it as a “fashion show that captured the world’s attention like absolutely no other”.
Galliano’s front row included megastars like Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian, but it was the creativity of the show that left an impression — from the extreme cinched-in waists and innovative use of materials to the striking doll makeup, courtesy of Pat McGrath. The show delivered significant impact, generating $18.7 million in earned media value (or EMV, the amount of advertising spend required to achieve the same number of impressions), according to influencer platform Lefty; and reaching an engagement rate of 3.62 per cent, significantly outperforming the 1.56 per cent average calculated across the 32 brands that showed during spring 2024 couture.
Creativity pays off, especially at a time when luxury is going through a crisis. The show considerably raised the house’s profile. Parent company OTB Group says the brand’s revenue grew 23 per cent in 2023, and sources estimate that it has now passed the €400 million mark.
Galliano announced his departure from Maison Margiela in December. “Ten years later, I am forever grateful for this safe space to create,” he wrote in a letter published on Instagram. The floor is open for 2025’s biggest runway moment.
2. Miu Miu’s hot streak continued
Miu Miu retail sales were up 97 per cent in the first nine months of 2024, a period when most other luxury brands witnessed a decline. Miu Miu was the hottest brand on the Lyst Index in the first and third quarter of the year, ranking second in the second quarter, behind Loewe.
Miu Miu creates excitement through both collections and the shows themselves. Miu Miu ranked fourth and sixth in the most-viewed shows on Vogue Runway for the AW24 and SS25 seasons, respectively. “It was a real mishmash of things that don’t belong together yet somehow work together. Western belts and waitress dresses? Vintage-look slips and sporty bikini tops? Yes and yes,” wrote Phelps in her review of the spring 2025 show.
Then, there are viral products: Miu Miu ignited the ‘tennis core’ trend with its AW22 collection. (Tennis core took the world by storm in 2024, most notably with the release of Challengers in April.) Miu Miu also kicked off the panties trend in 2023, as well as micro-mini skirts and crop tops with unfinished hems, 1950s dresses, ballerina flats and oval ’90s-inspired glasses (under license with EssilorLuxottica).
Miu Miu’s shows and campaigns are styled by Lotta Volkova, who ranked first in Vogue Runway’s Stylist of the Year poll. “She is the best merchant whose day job is being a stylist,” said one Volkova voter.
Let’s not forget the brand’s noteworthy summertime activations: the Miu Miu ‘Summer Reads’ pop-ups. “In an age inundated with constant imagery, fashion is leaning on the written word to regain — or, at least, embrace — a sense of intellectualism. It also taps into consumers’ desires to slow down,” wrote my colleague Madeleine Schulz, citing Francesca Granata, associate professor of fashion studies at New York’s Parsons School of Design.
Unsurprisingly, competitors are trying to poach its talents. Earlier this year, Christian Dior Couture hired Miu Miu chief executive Benedetta Petruzzo to succeed Charles Delapalme as the house’s managing director. And now, Dario Vitale, ready-to-wear design director at Miu Miu, is to leave the brand at the end of January. All eyes will be on where he is headed next— and who will take his spot.
3. Fashion meets sport
The Paris Olympics were a grand display of just how intertwined the worlds of fashion and sport have become. It started with Vogue World Paris, held a month before the Olympics kicked off. Then, around five billion people tuned in to watch the games, according to the International Olympic Committee.
LVMH — which spent €150 million to seal its premium partnership — was the biggest winner, proving once again its firepower. Celine Dion performed Édith Piaf’s ‘Hymne à l’Amour’ at the opening ceremony in a white silk Dior gown; Lady Gaga and Aya Nakamura also performed in Dior; and a scene featured the making of the medals trunk in the Louis Vuitton ateliers as well as its journey from the Pont Neuf to the Trocadéro. It was the maximum exposure for LVMH and its two largest houses. “LVMH’s influence at the Paris 2024 Olympics was unmistakable. Their presence dominated the event, with five of the top 20 brands being LVMH-owned, showcasing the conglomerate’s strategic impact,” Launchmetrics wrote in a report citing Dior, Louis Vuitton, Chaumet, Berluti and Sephora.
Some athletes didn’t just win medals — they created online buzz, “readying themselves for potential further deals from fashion and beauty players”, Vogue Business reported. Paralympic breakout stars also caught the industry’s attention, from Team France sprinter Timothée Adolphe to Italian wheelchair fencer Beatrice Vio.
On the heels of the Olympics deal, LVMH became a global sponsor of Formula One in a decade-long agreement. The deal involves Louis Vuitton, Moët Hennessy and Tag Heuer, with a big presence expected of these brands at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, running from 13 to 16 March 2025; the Miami Grand Prix, running from 2 to 4 May; and the Monaco Grand Prix from 23 to 25 May.
By collaborating with sport, brands celebrate values of hard work, self-improvement and healthy competition. Among the other sporting events that fashion and luxury will look at next year are the Super Bowl where Kendrick Lamar is set to perform, the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, where Olympic gold medalist Léon Marchand might shine once again and the Women’s Euro 2025 football tournament in Switzerland.
4. A new twist on ad campaigns
This year, Rihanna became the face of Dior’s J’adore fragrance, succeeding Charlize Theron after a 20-year run. The campaign film, directed by Steven Klein, accounted for $8.5 million of the brand’s total media impact value (MIV) for the year ($1.1 billion), according to Launchmetrics. (MIV calculates the monetary value of likes, posts and social media interactions.) Rihanna shared the news on her social media, with the top placement scoring the brand $845,000 in MIV. The film was shot in the Palace of Versailles, with the music artist emerging like a queen in a golden gown created by Maria Grazia Chiuri and embroidered with pale sequins. It felt like a cultural moment — and proved Dior’s media influence.
At odds with the extravagance of the Dior campaign was Bottega Veneta’s, featuring Rihanna’s husband A$AP Rocky at home with their two sons for Father’s Day, shot by Carrie Mae Weems. It was intimate and personal. A$AP Rocky was already part of Bottega’s successful paparazzi campaign alongside Kendall Jenner in late 2023. A$AP Rocky attended Bottega’s AW25 show in September — and the afterparty, with Rihanna in tow — instigating further buzz and underlining the authenticity of the partnership.
Then Bottega Veneta creative director Blazy also tapped Jacob Elordi as a brand ambassador in May. The first visual — starring Elordi holding his hands above his head in a terracotta sweater — has been the talk of the town (generating $1.7 million in MIV, per Launchmetrics). In October, the house released visuals of Elordi by Alec Soth in the desert, and the actor attended the maison’s show in September. Elordi was spotted wearing Bottega Veneta long before his official appointment as brand ambassador, “therefore illustrating a long-time — and seemingly organic — relationship with the brand”, GQ’s Eileen Cartter wrote. “The implication here, presumably, is that this partnership must be a natural fit… This is practicing ‘soft launching’ their celebrity ambassadorships,” Cartter also wrote, “think of it as the marketing equivalent of test-driving an Italian sports car around the lot.”
Another memorable campaign was the Loewe autumn ad starring Daniel Craig and photographed by David Sims. In it, the actor’s image contrasts with that of James Bond and therefore created a surprise. It was in line with Loewe’s out-of-the-box casting when it comes to celebrities. Remember the irresistible campaign starring Maggie Smith in late 2023? “There’s a quirkiness and great consistency to them,” says Serge Carreira, associate professor at Sciences Po Paris. Expect more quirkiness from campaigns heading into 2025.
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