Why Dior Needs a Change

This week, Dior announced it would part ways with men’s artistic director Kim Jones.

A masterful tailor and deft curator of men’s style, Jones reconnected Dior Homme with the brand’s founding codes — creating a regal fantasy filled with draped jackets, floral motifs and pearl embellishments — as well as a proposing utilitarian everyday luxuries like combat boots and bomber jackets. The brand cultivated a younger, more global audience by collaborating with brands like Nike, Birkenstock and Stone Island as well as animating its collections by teaming up with contemporary artists such as Peter Doig, Hylton Nel, Kaws and more.

Jones was prolific, creating two men’s shows in Paris each year, traveling shows for pre-fall, and countless commercial capsules. And his vision helped fuel rapid growth: Dior’s sales of men’s products grew by around five-fold, topping 1.2 billion by 2021 according to market sources (owner LVMH does not break out sales for individual brands).

It’s hard to imagine, then, why Dior would let Jones go. (The English designer’s next moves are not known).

But a broader shakeup is in the works at Dior, where sources say LVMH is preparing to transfer Jonathan Anderson, the star designer of its breakout Loewe unit, to a top creative role.

In addition to Jones’ exit, industry sources say womenswear artistic director Maria Grazia Chiuri is also on the way out. A pre-fall show in Kyoto in April and a cruise show in Rome, her hometown, in May are expected to be her last outings for the brand.

Chiuri, too, has transformed Dior with a collaborative, globally-minded and commercially potent vision. Her storytelling has elevated women artists, photographers, filmmakers and craftspeople, while a keen eye for product design helped the brand create a broader menu of commercial hits across categories, which powered rapid growth and reduced the brand’s dependence on its flagship Lady Dior range.

According to HSBC estimates, Dior’s overall sales almost quadrupled from €2.7 billion in 2018 to more than €9 billion in 2023. But the brand started to slip in 2024. While LVMH has only signalled that Dior’s growth is “slightly below average,” analysts say sales may have declined by a double-digit percentage in recent months.

At a press conference Tuesday, LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault emphasised that Dior continues to outperform other French couture houses in a rocky market. But his company is known for taking swift action at the first sign of softness at its fashion brands, often preferring to open a new cycle of growth than defend an old one.

The reasons Dior is ready for a creative shakeup go beyond commercial softness. At the brand’s haute couture show Monday, a key ingredient was missing amid the crowd crush of celebrity ambassadors and camera crews: genuine anticipation for the clothes. New silhouettes and masterful craft techniques proposed by Chiuri faded into the backdrop — literally in this case, as the collection was shown once more against a monumental tapestry in a black box behind the Musée Rodin.

After more than 8 years of Chiuri staging 6 collections per year across ready-to-wear and couture, the necessary tension between a fashion brand and its audience — where anticipation builds before each new collection — has eroded, giving way to an ethos of push, push, push.

Dior risks falling into a similar trap as Alessandro Michele’s Gucci, whose boom was driven by brushing off critique and staying true to its designer’s vision. But that support became counterproductive, and it found itself stuck in an aesthetic that felt increasingly time-stamped. Similarly, Dior stood by Maria Grazia Chiuri’s vision for a more casual, joyful and easy-to-wear couture house, giving the designer time to reinforce her vision with layers of research and craft that eventually won over many early critics.

The problem, then, becomes realising when the detractors are right. In recent seasons, the brand has continued to put its full marketing muscle behind its womenswear image, rolling it out across categories (including, for the first time, cosmetics and perfume), perhaps without paying enough attention to signs it was losing appeal.

The picture isn’t terribly different for Dior men’s, whose thundering string soundtracks and streetwear-inflected collaborations increasingly felt like business as usual.

As Dior struggles to respond to a softer luxury market with ultra-consistent creativity, CEO Delphine Arnault has brought in additional management support: including a new managing director hired from Miu Miu, Benedetta Petruzzo, and a new chief commercial officer, Nicolas Baretzski, as well as elevating longtime communications boss Olivier Bialobos to the role of deputy CEO. But in the absence of new stories to tell, teams are left to iterate faster and louder.

“Consistency, having collections that build on each other — that’s a good thing in fashion, but it can only take you so far. There’s the risk that the market will eventually lose interest,” said Alice Bouleau, partner at executive search firm Sterling International.

While details of the transition remain unconfirmed, sources say Anderson is gunning for sweeping authority across men’s and women’s — which would see the lines unified under a single designer for the first time since the creation of Dior Homme under Hedi Slimane in 2001.

Anderson understands that the context in which fashion collections are shown can be as important as their content. While Dior’s sprawling machine helped power years of recent expansion, an exacting, directional designer with a broad creative mandate may now be needed to update some of the more cheesy elements of the brand’s template.

Following up either Jones’ or Chiuri’s era-defining, best-selling visions is sure to be a Herculean task — to do both at once may be near impossible. But it just might work.

THE NEWS IN BRIEF

FASHION, BUSINESS AND THE ECONOMY

LVMH growth boosts luxury outlook. The sector bellwether beat expectations with a 1 percent rise in fourth-quarter sales. The growth outpaced an expected 1.6 percent decline, according to a consensus forecast cited by Morgan Stanley.

LVMH and Stella McCartney brand part ways. The designer is buying back LVMH’s minority stake in her namesake label but will continue to advise the group on sustainability issues as a Global Ambassador on Sustainability.

Burberry soars after US demand pickup. Retail sales fell 4 percent on a comparable basis, Burberry said in a statement Friday, better than the drop of almost 13 percent forecast by analysts. Sales in the Americas unexpectedly climbed, while China fell less than estimates.

Zegna Group returns to growth in the fourth quarter. The group’s fourth-quarter revenue reached €589 million ($619 million), up 3 percent year-on-year. The return to growth in the fourth quarter is driven by the strength of the Zegna brand, where revenue rose 8 percent.

Ferragamo’s sales were down 4 percent in the fourth quarter. Sales in the North American region, which accounted for 29 percent of total revenue, were up 6.3 percent in the quarter. Overall preliminary revenues reached 1.03 billion euros ($1.07 billion) in 2024, in line with analysts’ estimates.

Mytheresa to rename parent company after YNAP acquisition. Mytheresa is planning to rename its parent company, MYT Netherlands Parent B.V., to LuxExperience once its deal to acquire its luxury e-commerce rival Yoox-Net-a-Porter closes in the first half of the year. The company’s flagship site, Mytheresa, will keep its name.

Alessandro Michele staged his couture debut for Valentino. The star designer opted for a multimedia performance over a traditional couture defilé. The garments were more convincing as costumes than clothes, reports Angelo Flaccavento.

Black-owned brands urge US consumers not to boycott Target over end of diversity efforts. The companies and entrepreneurs urged against a boycott, saying they would lose revenue and consumer exposure, which would harm the brands more than the retailer. Some backers of a Target boycott call for buying directly from Black-owned brands’ websites instead.

Levi’s full-year guidance disappoints analysts. The San Francisco-based retailer is expecting revenue to fall 1 percent to 2 percent in fiscal 2025. The company cited the weakness of foreign currencies, one fewer week in the fiscal year, an exit from the footwear business and the discontinuation of its Denizen brand as reasons for a possible drop.

VF Corp beats quarterly estimates as turnaround plan pays off. For the quarter ended Dec. 28, the company’s revenue rose 2 percent to $2.83 billion from a year ago, beating analysts’ estimates of $2.75 billion. VF Corp has now beaten revenue and profit estimates for three successive quarters.

H&M shares tumble as sales growth continues to disappoint. Sales, which edged up 3 percent for the fourth quarter, rose by less than analysts had projected during the crucial Christmas trading period. The sales weakness came even as the company posted operating profit for the three months ended November of 4.6 billion Swedish kronor ($420 million).

Milan court to try influencer Chiara Ferragni for fraud over charity claims. Ferragni was fined almost €1.1 million ($1.14 million) in 2023 by Italy’s competition authority AGCM over sales of Ferragni-branded Pandoro Christmas cakes with packaging mentioning a children’s hospital. The trial was scheduled to begin on Sept. 23 at a court in Milan.

Trump to hold off on 25 percent Colombia tariffs. His administration abruptly pulled the threat after reaching a deal on the return of deported migrants, a move that rattled global markets. Trump’s action upended decades of warm relations between the US and Colombia.

Jewellery-shipper Ferrari group kicks off Amsterdam IPO plans. The controlling Deiana family will sell a 25 percent stake in the IPO, according to a statement. A valuation of more than $1 billion may be sought, Bloomberg reported.

THE BUSINESS OF BEAUTY

Estée Lauder reviews brands amid management change. The company is working with Evercore Inc. on the review, which could lead to the sale of some brands, according to people familiar with the matter. Shares in Estée Lauder rose as much as 4.7 percent in New York trading on Monday.

Silas Capital invests in J-beauty brand Damdam. Damdam has raised $3 million in a seed funding round led by private equity and venture capital firm Silas Capital. The firm is responsible for the successful exit of Ilia Beauty.

Nykaa expects strong growth as shoppers keep spending on luxury beauty. The company has seen annual revenues jump nearly fourfold to 64 billion rupees ($739 million) post-pandemic. Nykaa said it expects net revenues from the beauty business to grow “higher than mid-twenties.”

PEOPLE

Kim Jones was awarded Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur. The award was presented to him by Anna Wintour. Jones became a knight in the process. Before the ceremony, he described it as a “life milestone,” though he said notoriety was not his endgame.

Glenn Martens named creative director of Maison Margiela. The Belgian designer, known for his work at Y/Project and Diesel, succeeds John Galliano as creative director of the French luxury house. Galliano announced his exit from Margiela in December after a successful ten-year run at the maison.

Compiled by Yola Mzizi.