Could Sarah Burton be Givenchy's next creative director?

As of today, the three most important job opportunities in fashion are at Chanel, at Dries Van Noten, and at Givenchy. All three brands are currently without a creative director, and while the first two have recently parted with theirs, Givenchy has been without one since January 1st. Meanwhile, Matthew Williams has returned to work with doubled efforts at 1017 Alyx 9SM, which now has a new patron in the young Hong Kong magnate, Adrian Cheng, while the brand he directed until last year has already produced three collections by the team. These days, however, a rumor has started circulating that a familiar face might fill the role: Sarah Burton, former creative director of Alexander McQueen. Although Burton herself has not commented on the matter, the rumors reignited when, in May, a series of Givenchy looks from the McQueen era appeared on key figures (Zendaya, Kendall Jenner, Anya Taylor-Joy, for example) at highly publicized events – leading many to wonder if this renewed interest was actually a soft launch.

Burton was naturally present alongside Lee McQueen during his difficult period at Givenchy and over time has often brought looks to the runway that referenced those collections: the opening look of McQueen's FW22 was a facsimile of one from Givenchy's FW97; an all-over print suit from SS23 replicated a very similar one from SS99, and in the same collection, there was a black suit from which a sort of bridal skirt, present in Burton's SS20, emerged from the jacket. Typically, the non-compete agreement for Kering's creative directors lasts about a year, so it should be expiring around the end of September. Imagining the timeline, and assuming the hypothesis is correct, an announcement could be made in time for the next Paris Fashion Week which begins in early October. This would bring attention to the brand (the SS25 collection will likely still be designed by the team) but would provide enough time for a potential Pre-Fall show around December or, even better, a new Haute Couture collection in February.

Of course, all these steps happen away from the public eye – and we can only speculate. Nonetheless, the appointment of the next creative director of Givenchy should be imminent and generally arrive by the end of the year. There are also those who say that given the current climate of uncertainty, LVMH might delay the choice of a creative director further, allowing the beauty and fragrance divisions to do the heavy lifting, in a market scenario where ready-to-wear sales do not promise high margins nor push large groups to take entrepreneurial risks. Either way, the brand will not remain on autopilot forever, and so we just have to wait.