With the exit of Francesco Risso, Marni joins the club of fashion houses having to manage a creative transition. Which of course comes with challenges, such as the overlap of products that have been designed by different creative teams in stores.
“When the incoming designers present their debut collections this September, the stores will be full of the products designed by their predecessors,” notes Simon Longland, director of fashion buying at Harrods. This coming September will see an unprecedented line-up of designers presenting their first collections for different fashion houses, a dozen including Chanel, Balenciaga, Loewe, Dior, Gucci and Bottega Veneta. Come January/February 2026, though, store shelves will most likely see an overlap between the resort collections designed by their predecessors and the debut Spring/Summer 2026 collections.
Given the economic context, as well as the sustainability question, no one wants to sacrifice a collection, nor leave the stores empty for a few weeks. Still, a number of houses will face the challenge of implementing the new designer’s vision while keeping the current collections alive.
The next womenswear season will see a number of much anticipated debuts — from Matthieu Blazy at Chanel to Demna’s ‘first hint’ at Gucci and Pierpaolo Piccioli s Balenciaga. Vogue Business gauges the excitement level.
“What’s not easy is the mismatch in stores, especially if the aesthetics of the previous and current designers are different. You need to harmonise the assortment,” says Benjamin Simmenauer, professor at Paris’s Institut Français de la Mode. “Also, nobody knows if the new vision will be a commercial success, so you don’t want to put all of your eggs in one basket and remove bestselling pieces.” Ultimately, what’s at stake is retaining your existing clientele while shaping the future of the brand.
What should brands do?
There isn’t a right answer. While each house will have its own strategy, there are three routes: mixing the two, meaning harmonising the collections in the same space; having them live in parallel, in two different spaces (which translates to stores literally having the collections on different racks, if the size and layout of the boutique allows); or opt for a clean slate. (All of the houses mentioned in this story declined requests for comment.)
When designers stay in the same group, like with Jonathan Anderson moving from Loewe to Dior (LVMH) and Demna from Balenciaga to Gucci (Kering), the business has an interest in preserving the designer’s legacy as opposed to wiping it out entirely. What the company wants is to be able to show how it fostered these big talents and aided their ascent. And even though Matthieu Blazy may have left Kering for Chanel, preserving his legacy makes sense, too. The fact that Chanel has poached Blazy is further evidence that the group’s gamble on promoting designers previously in the shadows is the right strategy.
At Gucci, we expect a blending of products and a smooth transition, helped by both buffer time and the fact it’s an internal move. There have been two studio collections (AW25 and resort), since the exit of Sabato De Sarno. Demna is set to present his creative vision for the house in September during Milan Fashion Week. “In terms of products arriving at stores, we are working all together to bring novelty. Therefore, you don’t have to wait until 2026 to see some of those products,” Kering deputy CEO Francesca Bellettini said during the group’s Q1 earnings.
“But also, we are not waiting at Gucci to have Demna or not-Demna products. We’re going to have new products, progressively arriving at the stores and keep on working on the revamping of our carryovers,” said Belletini. Will Demna’s debut follow a see-now, buy-now model? According to a Gucci spokesperson, “It’s too early to say.”
Loewe could also opt for a blended approach. “The incoming designers at Loewe would be smart to embrace Jonathan Anderson’s products that remain relevant,” says Richard Johnson, chief business officer at LuxExperience, the umbrella company of both Mytheresa and recently acquired Yoox Net-a-Porter (YNAP). Loewe allowed a year between his last runway show for SS25 and the first runway show of Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. Anderson chose the presentation format for AW25, and the collection was largely based on accessories; it’s likely this collection will sell out before the October show, and the pre-collection, designed by the studio, will be the one on the shelves during the duo’s debut.
At Bottega Veneta, early hints (Louise Trotter’s designs on the Cannes red carpet and the latest ‘Craft is Our Language’ campaign) suggest a focus on timelessness, which enables a blending between Blazy and Trotter’s creations.
At Balenciaga, even though the aesthetics of Demna and Pierpaolo Piccioli may differ, Piccioli, on the day of his appointment, seemed to suggest a continuation: “I want to embrace the past, because I feel that it’s very important to have respect for what Nicolas [Ghesquière] and Demna did before me. The story of Balenciaga is a story of designers that I respect. This is more a passing of [the] torch rather than a game of chairs, and I feel very lucky to be a part of it,” he told Vogue Runway and Vogue Business global director Nicole Phelps. In light of this comment, we think Demna and Piccioli’s creations may end up living in harmony across stores.
The former creative lead of Valentino is to succeed Demna at the helm of Balenciaga. A few hours before the announcement, Piccioli spoke exclusively to Vogue Business and Vogue Runway about joining the Kering-owned fashion house.
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As for Dior, the scenario of a reset is more likely considering the house’s big bet on Anderson as sole creative director, which hasn’t been the case since the days of Christian Dior. An industry observer assumes: “He will reinterpret the strong heritage and codes of the brand and merge them with his very distinctive artistic and cultural approach. During this transition, the house will most likely highlight timeless icons such as the Lady Dior bag and the Bar jacket over more seasonal products.”
In the case of Chanel, there were a number of studio collections between the departure of Virginie Viard and the arrival of Blazy, meaning the transition may be smoother as their designs won’t overlap.
“Usually, it’s not a clear switch from the outgoing to the incoming designer, it’s a two-step approach. You have got a pre-collection that’s designed by the studio and that’s a palate cleanser [heavier on the carryover, without the injection of the new designer’s vision but sometimes edited by them],” says LuxExperience’s Johnson. “It’s also a pragmatic decision as it often depends on the contracts of the designers and the timing.”
The rush to grasp the final collection
Do final collections work commercially? Is there a ‘collector’ factor? “There are so many variables,” says Harrods’s Longland. “If the outgoing designer was on a high when leaving, the final collection could be a huge commercial opportunity. You often even have two seasons to buy into — the penultimate and the final collection — to get your fix before the designer leaves.” Dries Van Noten’s last menswear collection before he retired, practically sold out, according to the house.
“Jonathan Anderson’s Loewe pieces remain in extremely high demand,” Longland continues, citing the success of the Puzzle bag reissue that marked the design’s 10th anniversary. (The pieces featured in Harrods’s window display and sold out in just a few days, including the Anime re-edition, inspired by Anderson’s visit to Japan for the SS16 menswear collection.) “In other cases, a designer’s departure doesn’t move the dial. Typically, we wouldn’t increase our buy when a designer leaves — but we wouldn’t reduce it either.”
Johnson agrees: “With designers like Hedi Slimane at Celine, there was a rush to grasp the last pieces. As a brand or a retailer, you want to be able to satisfy the demand but there’s a bit of a conflict because that’s not the message that the brands want to send.”
Secondary market
It’s not just the final collection. When the designer leaves on a high, it can reignite interest in their entire tenure, says Sofia Bernardin, co-founder of Resee, a Paris‑based luxury resale site specialising in curated fashion.
These days, Resee witnesses consumers celebrating Demna’s tenure at Balenciaga by investing in his past pieces. There’s clearly momentum. When Balenciaga held a private sale in London earlier this month, Demna’s creations were instantly snapped up, according to British Vogue acting fashion features editor Mahoro Seward.
The house is capitalising on the aficionados’s nostalgia. The last ready-to-wear collection by Demna for Balenciaga was inspired by his key designs for the maison over the last 10 years. Expanding on this collection, the house is also set to open a retrospective exhibition, titled ‘Balenciaga by Demna’, retracing his decade-long run as creative director (open from 26 June through 9 July at Kering HQ).
Bernardin also expects resale demand for Blazy’s Bottega Veneta to climb sharply once his first Chanel collection hits the runway in October.
Bernardin notes that on the Resee website, you can filter by creative director or brand. “If you filter by brand, it’s like walking into a store and seeing these different periods of the house,” she explains. “If you look up Celine, you have got these two vibes — Phoebe Philo and Hedi Slimane — that have nothing to do with each other. But it’s always very refreshing to see the way a designer brings back the brand heritage and DNA, even though they do it in such very different ways.”
She adds: “The juxtaposition can be very interesting and an opportunity to see how that could come together.” It also suggests the beginning of a new era in fashion, one of blending perspectives. Is it better for the industry? It remains to be seen — but no doubt it will be an exciting time to browse the boutiques.
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