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Who will be Loewe's next creative director?

According to many fashion oracles, we should speak of “creative directors” in the plural

Who will be Loewe's next creative director? According to many fashion oracles, we should speak of “creative directors” in the plural

Fashion in 2025 is in a state of flux. Alliances are being tied and untied, brands are being sold and others bought, creative directors are jumping ship and being installed – much like what is happening in tech and politics. There is an increasing sense of being in a new climate, or rather, a new world where everything can be rewritten and undone. And so we come to the issue: rumors now almost confirm Maria Grazia Chiuri's departure from Dior, along with the news that the brand's womenswear has started selling less than Kim Jones' menswear; and replacing her is expected to be LVMH’s miracle designer, Jonathan Anderson, who will leave Loewe. The point, however, is this: when Anderson arrived at Loewe, the wider fashion audience had never really heard of either. Ten years later (give or take a month), the former is considered the best designer of his generation, and the latter one of the world's most desirable brands. But if Anderson does indeed move to Dior, who will Loewe fall into the hands of?

The answer to this question is crucial since the brand is one of LVMH's moneymakers and must maintain its momentum – not to mention how in recent years the brand has become a laboratory of experimentation and innovation that simply cannot change now. Fortunately, however, the bookmakers and fashion oracles have already identified successors – in plural. The rumors do not speak of a single creative director but of two pairs of creatives: the first is expected to be Luke and Lucie Meier, whose contract at Jil Sander might be nearing its expiration; the second, according to Miss Tweed, usually quite reliable in predictions, is the creative duo behind Proenza Schouler, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. Both options make fundamental sense. The Meiers are highly regarded designers who, during their creative leadership, managed to fill the proverbial shoes of founder Jil Sander, not only interpreting her famous minimalism but also offering their own version of the more whimsical and imaginative side that the brand explored in the early 2000s. Their task was fairly monumental, considering that a brand like Jil Sander has an identity as precise as it is versatile, which is not easy to handle.

On the other hand, the duo behind Proenza Schouler created a brand from scratch, making it one of the most fascinating names in contemporary fashion as well as one of the most promising brands on the scene – practically a modern classic. Both pairs of designers share a similar taste for taking simple garments and designs and elevating them to new conceptual heights – but perhaps of the two pairs, the Meiers are the ones more comfortable with vivid use of colors and bold play of proportions that is now part of Loewe's spirit. To this, one should add LVMH's tendency to favor designers already accustomed to corporate fashion and thus capable of working on six collections a year (Jil Sander shows in a co-ed format, but the pre-fall and resort collections are divided into menswear and womenswear), navigating the complicated universe of a commercial brand made up of perfume lines, eyewear, and serial collaborations. This does not mean that McCollough and Hernandez are not up to the task, but rather that, as designers and businessmen, they have shown a preference for independence, even going so far as to buy back their investors' shares in 2018 to avoid interference in their business. In their case, LVMH might propose buying a minority stake in Proenza Schouler – which would be a classic Arnault move. But nothing has been confirmed yet, so nothing can be stated with certainty. Regardless of what the news will be, we know that news is coming. The unofficial wait to learn the future of Anderson and Loewe has already begun.