Yearly overview: Musical chairs of creative directors in 2020

Although the focus of many during 2020 was on the corona pandemic, a lot of non-corona related events also happened. For example, quite a few designers played musical chairs with different brands. Have you lost track of who went where? FashionUnited lists it all here.

January - Yolanda Zobel leaves Courrèges, later succeeded by Nicolas di Felice

After barely two years, Yolanda Zobel quits fashion house Courrèges. The decision was made jointly by the fashion house and the designer. Zobel wants to focus on other creative projects. It will take until September of 2020 for the successor to Zobel to be announced: Nicolas di Felice . Felice states in a statement that he has always dreamed of the fashion house. Before his appointment at Courrèges, he worked at Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton and Dior, among others.

February - Raf Simons becomes co-creative director at Prada and Olivier Theyskens to Azzaro

February starts with the news that Belgian designer Olivier Theyskens is moving to Azzaro. The designer has experience with Nina Ricci, Theory and Rochas, among others, but also still has his own brand that he breathed new life into in 2016. Theyskens will therefore continue to work on his own brand, in addition to his position at Azzaro.

Someone who continued to work for his own brand in addition to a new appointment is Belgian Raf Simons. Simons will be announced in February as co-creative director of Prada. He will design the new collections together with Miuccia Prada. Simons was initially mentioned in media reports for the fashion house Miu Miu, which falls under the Prada Group, but in February the confirmation came that Simons is going to Prada.

March - Johnny Coca leaves Mulberry, later joins Louis Vuitton

Johnny Coca, the creative director at Mulberry, announced he will leave the British brand at the end of March. Two months later it turns out that he is switching to Louis Vuitton.

May - Tom van Dorpe to The Kooples

It is a good year for the Belgians: designer Tom van Dorpe will be appointed as creative director of fashion brand The Kooples in June 2020.

June - Rebekka Bay new creative director of Marimekko

The most famous Finnish brand Marimekko has a new creative director as Rebekka Bay takes over the position. The designer had previously gained experience at Everlane, Cos, Gap and Uniqlo.

July - Sébastien Meunier leaves Ann Demeulemeester

After ten years with Ann Demeulemeester, Sébastien Meunier announced his departure. The designer who was trained by Demeulemeester herself has not yet announced what his next steps will be.

October - Glenn Martens to Diesel, two new co-creative directors at Joseph and three at Aigle

Three special appointments took place in October. Firstly, Glenn Martens, from the cult label Y-Project is appointed as creative director at Diesel. The two have known each other for several years because Martens already designed a collection for Diesel's Red Tag Project in 2018. Also special: Martens will be the first ever creative director for the brand. In addition to his work for Diesel, he also continues to design for Y-Project

Luxury fashion house Joseph did not go for one creative director, but two. The brand appoints Anna Lundbäck Dyhr and Frederik Dyhr as creative directors. At that time, Lundbäck Dyhr had been with the brand since 2018.

The French brand Aigle even goes one step further and appoints three people as creative director. It is about the Études Studio trio: Aurélien Arbet, Jérémie Égry and José Lamali. Because the artistic direction is no longer given by one person, but by a trio, Aigle appropriately calls the designers the new creative direction.

November - Lawrence Steele to Aspesi

Former Marni creative director Lawrence Steele will make the switch to Aspesi at the end of the year. Steele has experience with Moschino and Prada, among others.

December - Natacha Ramsay-Levi leaves Chloé, succeeded by Gabriela Hearst

After four years of service at Chloé, Natacha Ramsay-Levi will step down as creative director of the fashion house in December. The designer indicates that she sees her future differently and wants to pursue new opportunities. When the departure of Ramsay-Levi is announced by Chloé, no statements have been made about her successor, but a few days later Gabriela Hearst appears to be taking on the task.

This article was originally published on FashionUnited.NL, translated and edited to English by Kelly Press.

Image: Calvin Klein Spring / Summer 2019 © Catwalkpictures.com