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.

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

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