This past year has been a never-ending game of creative director musical chairs that had us all tossing bets into hats and wondering which talent would end up where. But with the recent confirmation that Pierpaolo Piccioli will succeed Demna Gvasalia at Balenciaga and Jonathan Anderson will take over for Maria Grazia Chiuri at Dior, most of the chess pieces have finally made their unpredictable moves and landed in new homes.
As of this moment, Marni and Fendi are now two notable luxury brands without an officially appointed creative director (Fendi’s 100th anniversary womenswear collection was designed by the accessories and menswear artistic director Silvia Venturini Fendi, who also briefly stepped into womenswear following Karl Lagerfeld’s death). Hedi Slimane, John Galliano, Kim Jones, Luke and Lucie Meier, Maria Grazia Chiuri, and most recently, Francesco Risso are the remaining big-name free agents. With men’s spring 2026 and couture fall 2025 show seasons just around the corner, industry insiders are buzzing about the long-awaited debuts.
Chiuri’s final show for Dior, earlier this month in Rome.
Jones’s final collection for Dior during the fall 2025 season.
Anderson will kick off the season with Dior Men on June 27, followed by Michael Rider for Celine at the top of couture week in July, and Glenn Martens’s first standalone couture show at Margiela. September’s womenswear runways will bring Piccioli at Balenciaga, Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta, Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, Demna at Gucci, Simone Bellotti at Jil Sander, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez at Loewe, and Anderson again at Dior.
While the aforementioned names and the maisons at which they will be taking the helm no doubt garner excitement amongst stylists and retail fashion directors, one thing about the group stands out to Sonya Abrego, a fashion historian and part-time Associate Professor at FIT and the New School. “I am most excited and curious about Louise Trotter,” she says. “She’s the only woman designer in the group and has been more under the radar than the rest, which feels like a good fit for Bottega.” Though women are still vastly under-represented at the luxury creative director level, Trotter will now keep company with Sarah Burton at Givenchy and Veronica Leoni (formerly of The Row) at Calvin Klein, both of whom debuted earlier this year during the fall 2025 season.
Trotter began teasing her Bottega designs on the red carpet at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, as seen here on Julianne Moore.
It’s Trotter’s predecessor, Blazy, that Nordstrom VP, Fashion Director Rickie de Sole has her eye on. “[His] appointment at Chanel is truly exciting,” she says, adding, “His dedication to craftsmanship and distinctive creative vision makes him one to watch.” Having successfully pushed Bottega Veneta to new heights with his refresh of the house’s signature Intrecciato weave technique (a hit both commercially and on the red carpet), there are high hopes for what the French-Belgian designer will do at Chanel. “There’s immense potential for him to reinterpret the maison’s timeless elements, from the interlocking C’s to the tweed fabrications, offering endless possibilities for exploration and reinvention,” says De Sole.
Stylist and ELLE contributing editor Jan-Michael Quammie has her eggs in an entirely different basket. “There’s something incredibly chic about wearing Gucci right now, and not just bags and shoes but Gucci runway,” she says. “I think Demna is the only creative director that can make me a Gucci girl again.”
Sabato de Sarno’s final collection for Gucci.
Hints of Demna already on the runway at Gucci cruise 2026.
Fashion is no doubt facing an interesting period, one unlike any other in history. “We’re in a moment of significant change in fashion,” says De Sole. “This industry thrives on evolution and fresh ideas, but what makes this time stand out is the sheer number of shifts happening all at once.” Abrego equates it to the ’90s, when a similar re-shuffling was happening at Dior, Givenchy, and Alexander McQueen. “What’s so different now is in today’s landscape we have so much more buzz and speculation on social media (and beyond) beforehand,” she says.
All of this pre-season contemplation and anticipation is likely to add pressure for these wildly innovative talents, who are already walking into roles that require so much of their time and energy. Beyond the typical challenges that go along with creating multiple collections a year, and monitoring the sales that their work generates, there is also the need to live up to all of the internet hype. Quammie has reasonable expectations. “I’m hoping to see class again, new POV’s and anything that feels chic,” she says. It’s even more straightforward for De Sole: “Embrace the codes of the past but in an unexpected and bold way.” Let the games begin.
