Success always occurs under specific conditions and is difficult to replicate
At the worst moment in the luxury goods industry, the few brands that maintain growth have become the target of sniping.
After Miu Miu, which achieved a doubling growth against the trend, had its CEO Benedetta Petruzzo suddenly poached by Dior to serve as the general manager in early September, sources revealed last week that the current design director Dario Vitale will also leave the position at the end of January next year. He has informed the team of his decision to leave the brand on Friday evening, and Francesca Nicoletti, who has worked with him for a long time, will succeed him.
Although the Prada Group has not responded to the rumors so far, it has caused market concerns, and the Prada Group’s share price fell by 2.5% at one point today.
If the rumors are true, two talents belonging to the creative department and management of Miu Miu have left one after another during the crucial period when the brand’s potential is on the rise. Even if it does not necessarily cause a huge shock to the brand’s operation, it has exposed the passive situation of this Italian family business in protecting talents.
Dario Vitale worked with Fabio Zambernardi, the former Prada design director, for many years. He is a low-key person, and his other resume experiences are rarely known to industry insiders. Last October, Fabio Zambernardi chose to leave the Prada brand after working for it for 40 years. Subsequently, Dario Vitale was promoted to the design director of Miu Miu.
Prada co-creative directors Raf Simons, Miuccia Prada and design director Fabio Zambernardi
Industry rumors suggest that Fabio Zambernardi’s departure might be due to his disappointment at Miuccia Prada inviting Raf Simons from outside to be the co-creative director instead of promoting him.
Dario Vitale has just completed one year as the Design Director and Brand Image Director of Miu Miu. However, this past year has also been a period of crazy growth for Miu Miu, with an increase of 89% in the first quarter, as high as 95% in the second quarter, 105% in the third quarter, and it has achieved a high growth for 15 consecutive quarters so far. In the first three quarters of this year, Miu Miu’s revenue soared by 97% to 854 million euros, and it will undoubtedly enter the one-billion-euro club this year.
At the same time, the luxury goods industry is experiencing one of the toughest winters in history. The performances of luxury giants including LVMH, Kering Group, Richemont Group, etc. have slowed down significantly. Prada Group outperformed its peers, with a growth rate in the third quarter exceeding 11.3% of Hermès. Within the Prada Group, the performance of the Prada brand was flat in the third quarter, with a year-on-year growth of 1.5%, meaning that Miu Miu, which soared by 105%, has become the absolute driving force for the group’s growth.
Miu Miu former CEO Benedetta Petruzzo and brand design director Dario Vitale
Some industry insiders believe that Benedetta Petruzzo and Dario Vitale are not actually the mainstay roles in Miu Miu. In terms of creativity, Miu Miu relies more on the creations of the brand’s founder Miuccia Prada and the collaborative stylist Lotta Volkova. Dario Vitale’s departure will not have a significant impact on the brand. Due to the characteristics of the Prada family business, the former CEO Benedetta Petruzzo had relatively limited say during her tenure, and the brand’s rapid growth in the third quarter is proof of this.
Nevertheless, Miu Miu, which stands out in the market downturn, continues to be targeted by competitors, causing the market to be worried about this small brand with an unstable foundation.
The brands that have fallen into such a passive position are not only Miu Miu, but also Bottega Veneta, the only growing brand of Kering Group.
Two weeks ago, the news that Chanel was about to hire Matthieu Blazy, the creative director of Bottega Veneta, suddenly spread in the market, surprising many industry insiders and fashion enthusiasts.
In the previous speculations about the successor of Chanel’s creative director in the fashion industry, the name Matthieu Blazy was hardly mentioned. However, several reliable sources recently claimed that Matthieu Blazy has a very high possibility of joining Chanel, and Chanel plans to officially announce the appointment on December 16.
Bottega Veneta Creative Director Matthieu Blazy
In the third quarter of this year, BV’s revenue increased by 5% to 400 million euros, performing better than other brands in the group. Gucci’s revenue dropped by 25% to 1.64 billion euros in the third quarter. The revenue of the second-largest brand Saint Laurent fell by 12% to 670 million euros in the third quarter. The revenue of the other brand division where Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen are located also dropped by 14% to 690 million euros in the third quarter.
Through the expression of craftsmanship, materials, and art, Matthieu Blazy demonstrates his outstanding artistic taste. Coupled with the brand potential left by the previous creative director, the boost of the quiet luxury trend, and Bottega Veneta’s strategic positioning adjustment to return to the super luxury category after the departure of the previous creative director Daniel Lee, it has driven Bottega Veneta to maintain growth.
Pushing Bottega Veneta to become the only growing brand in the Kering Group at present, Matthieu Blazy is naturally a contributor, but his outstanding performance is inseparable from the promotion of comprehensive factors.
For Chanel, Matthieu Blazy seems to be a safe choice. On the one hand, luxury brands are increasingly worried that the influence of star creative directors will overshadow the brand, and “it is easier to invite a Buddha than to send one away”. Compared to well-known names, the management will undoubtedly have stronger control over Matthieu Blazy.
On the other hand, some industry insiders say that as a haute couture house, Chanel’s strict requirements when selecting a creative director include an understanding of fashion cutting and having participated in haute couture production. Although the mature team of a luxury brand can help realize product creativity, to establish leadership in front of the senior artisans in the haute couture team, the creative director needs to have a deep understanding and practical ability of fashion itself, rather than just creating concepts.
Senior media professional and brand consultant Leaf Greener (Yezi) said that Matthieu Blazy served as the Artisanal designer of the haute couture series during his tenure at Maison Margiela, which may be one of the important reasons why Chanel is interested in him. In addition, the adaptability, innovation, and teamwork ability he demonstrated during his tenure at different brands also prove that he may be able to unleash more unknown potential at Chanel, especially compared to some star designers who are well-known in the industry for being difficult to work with.
But in any case, Chanel is taking a gamble. No one knows whether Matthieu Blazy can lead a giant fashion house with an annual income of 20 billion US dollars from a fashion house with less than 2 billion euros.
After the previous creative director left, Chanel had only six months to find the right person. The same is true for Bottega Veneta, which lost Matthieu Blazy. It only has a few months to search.
But some sources say that BV has chosen Louise Trotter, the creative director of the French fashion brand Carven, to succeed Matthieu Blazy as the brand’s creative director. Bottega Veneta and its parent company Kering have not commented on this rumor.
Louise Trotter has worked for brands such as Lacoste, Joseph, Calvin Klein, etc. She joined Carven, which was acquired by the domestic clothing group ICICLE in 2023. Her first collection was released at Paris Fashion Week in September 2023, and a total of 4 collections have been released so far.
Carven Spring/Summer 2025 Collection
Although Louise Trotter’s minimalist designs have been recognized by some in the industry, they did not create a synergy with the Carven brand. The new collection was priced too high, resulting in poor sales. Recently, its stores in several cities including Beijing, Suzhou, and Chengdu have been closed.
According to reports at that time in 2019, the ICICLE Carven Group, which was established after ICICLE’s acquisition of Carven, planned to open 40 new stores for the brand in the Chinese market within two years. However, in the following two years, the brand only opened three stores in shopping centers such as Chengdu IFS and Shenzhen Mixc.
Some sources claim that Carven, backed by ICICLE, can no longer afford the huge development costs of Louise Trotter. The brand has recently conducted a round of sample sales for the new collection, with prices as low as a 10% discount.
The design concept of Louise Trotter may overlap with that of BV. However, just like the case of Carven, it takes time to establish the bond between the creative director and the brand, and the organizational turmoil caused by the transition of creative directors may have a greater impact on a brand in its growth stage than what is visible to the outside world.
The widespread impact of the current talent reshuffle on the industry ecosystem is even more difficult to calculate. Many people are worried that consumers have encountered cognitive difficulties in the face of the drastic changes in creative directions due to the replacement of creative directors and brands. This has caused individual brands to lose their individual characteristics, leading the industry into homogeneity and making consumers no longer loyal to brands.
WeChat Official Account LADYMAX wrote in the article “The Brutal Big Fish Eating Small Fish in the Fashion Industry” that for mainstream luxury brands towards alternative luxury brands, and alternative luxury brands towards independent designer brands, it is a cycle of bloodsucking and aggression.
Although Renzo Rosso, the boss of OTB Group, the parent company of Maison Margiela, was the benefactor of creative director John Galliano during his difficult times, sources say that John Galliano will not renew his contract with Maison Margiela after it expires in October. Despite Renzo Rosso’s repeated attempts to persuade him to stay, John Galliano has made up his mind to leave. He once had close contacts with LVMH and was planning to return to Dior under the persuasion of Anna Wintour. However, industry insiders recently said that this possibility has been abandoned by LVMH.
The result of this decision is that Glenn Martens, the current creative director of Diesel, may enter Maison Margiela, and the position of Diesel’s creative director is vacant. And Y/Project, the independent designer brand that made Glenn Martens known in the industry, has gradually lost its earlier creativity after Glenn Martens entered the OTB Group and had difficulty balancing his energy. It filed for bankruptcy in September.
According to sources, in response to Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel, Dior is considering transferring Loewe’s creative director Jonathan Anderson to the fashion house that the group values the most.
Jonathan Anderson’s achievements at Loewe in the past ten years, especially Loewe’s renewed strength in the past year, have repeatedly proven his ability. Transferring veteran Jonathan Anderson to Dior may be able to reverse the latter’s current weak situation, but the price is to sacrifice Loewe’s current hard-won rebound momentum.
According to the data submitted by Loewe in the commercial registry, the brand’s revenue in the fiscal year 2023 soared by 30% to 810 million euros, its operating profit jumped by 77% to 250 million euros, and its net profit rose sharply by 62.5% to 210 million euros, attracting widespread attention in the industry.
Driven by the outstanding brand performance this year, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Loewe will enter the one-billion-euro club this year, and it has been nearly 30 years since LVMH acquired the brand in 1996.
In the second-quarter brand popularity list released by Lyst in July this year, Loewe regained the top spot after a year, surpassing the current dark horse brand Miu Miu. During this period, Loewe’s online search volume increased significantly by nearly 30%. Loewe, which was acquired by LVMH in 1996, and Miu Miu, which was founded in 1994, these two brands that broke through with creativity after the epidemic, are facing increasingly fierce competition.
Loewe Spring/Summer 2025 Collection
Loewe is indeed an important counterweight for LVMH to defend against Miu Miu. However, in the eyes of LVMH’s boss Bernard Arnault, the importance of Loewe is obviously far less than that of Dior. The latter’s current size has exceeded 6 billion euros and has tripled in the past five years.
As a benchmark of a high-end fashion house, the appointment of Dior is irresistibly attractive to Jonathan Anderson. However, just like Kim Jones led the rise of Dior Men’s Wear and was later assigned by Bernard Arnault to also serve as the creative director of Fendi Women’s Wear, but with mediocre results in the end, if Jonathan Anderson joins Dior, his performance will also be highly uncertain.
Compared to Maria Grazia Chiuri, the current creative director of Dior’s women’s wear, Jonathan Anderson lacks experience in handling haute couture collections, while the Valentino where Maria Grazia Chiuri used to work has haute couture collections.
Therefore, success always occurs under specific conditions and is difficult to replicate. Mainstream brands may be able to recruit proven talents, but they cannot reproduce their previous achievements one hundred percent.
The fashion brand Alaia, under the Richemont Group with Pieter Mulier as the creative director, is on the rise. According to the Lyst Q3 list, Alaïa advanced 12 places, defeating Bottega Veneta to land in fifth place. However, according to industry insiders, Pieter Mulier also interviewed for the position of creative director at Chanel and became a strong candidate. If he successfully enters Chanel, it also means that the momentum of a new dark horse will be interrupted.
Any sign that emerges is regarded as a target to be sniped at. Fewer and fewer small brands will be able to challenge the status of giants in the future, and the virtuous innovation cycle in the industry is being broken.
The fashion industry is known for its glamorous appearance, but the true nature of the Colosseum has been revealed.