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the luxury industry's talent war continues. on september 9, lvmh's givenchy announced that it had poached sarah burton, the creative director of alexander mcqueen, a competitor of kering group, to fill the position that had been vacant for nearly a year. sarah burton served as the creative director of alexander mcqueen from 2010 to 2023, and she was also the junior of the brand founder alexander mcqueen at central saint martins college.

sarah burton, who has just completed a one-year non-compete agreement, will become givenchy's eighth designer and the second female fashion designer after clare waight keller. she will take up her post in the studio on avenue george v in paris this week, and her first collection will be released at paris fashion week in march 2025.

givenchy's former creative director matthew m. williams announced that he would step down at the end of 2023. as a celebrity in the fashion circle, he was ye's right-hand man and lady gaga's stylist. during his tenure, he injected many iconic trendy elements into the brand, such as the lock logo, allowing this old french brand to reach more customers in different fields. this appointment also means that givenchy will return to the high fashion route from the street style under the former creative director matthew m. williams.

obviously, lvmh group is putting more efforts into givenchy. on july 2, lvmh group announced the appointment of alessandro valenti, former president of louis vuitton europe, middle east and africa, as the new ceo of givenchy. alessandro valenti has decades of rich experience in the luxury industry. he has held important positions in louis vuitton and successfully led the brand's business growth in europe, the middle east and africa.

zhou ting, director of yaoke research institute, believes that this appointment indicates that givenchy's brand positioning and product style will change, and also shows that lvmh group has high hopes for givenchy, hoping that it will become a high-end fashion brand like louis vuitton and dior. "consumption polarization directly leads to brand polarization. traditional luxury brands will face the choice of high-end and mass-market. obviously, givenchy chose the former. yaoke research institute is more optimistic about luxury brands that take the high-end route, while luxury brands that take the mass-market route have a worrying future prospect and their brand life cycle will be greatly shortened."

recently, personnel changes in the luxury goods industry have been particularly frequent. not only givenchy, but also dior, a brand under lvmh, announced on september 3 that former miu miu ceo benedetta petruzzo will serve as the brand's managing director, responsible for the supply chain and product team. this has undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to miu miu and the prada group. after the news was released, the prada group's stock price once fell by nearly 10% to hk$49, setting a new low since february.

at the same time, gucci is also poaching a lot of talent from the lvmh group. the brand recently appointed davide buzzoni to replace benjamin cercio as global communications director, reporting to alessio vannetti, executive vice president and chief brand officer of the brand. davide buzzoni previously served as global public relations and vip director at loro piana, a brand under the lvmh group, and has also held related positions in luxury groups such as prada, burberry and moncler. benjamin cercio also came from lvmh and worked at louis vuitton for more than 16 years. in april this year, gucci also announced that stefano cantino, former louis vuitton public relations director, will become gucci's first deputy ceo, effective may 2.

not only that, on september 4, burberry announced that jonathan kiman, the current chief marketing officer of gucci, would join the company to take up the same position. jonathan kiman had previously worked at gucci for more than ten years and also served as chief brand officer at versace. in addition, burberry also announced the appointment of laura dubin-wander as president of the americas. she has work experience at maison margiela's parent company otb group, coach and dior.

behind the revolving door of personnel changes is the turmoil in the entire luxury industry. at present, luxury consumption is slowing down, and the performance of major groups is also in trouble.

zhang peiying, an expert in the fashion field, pointed out that the change in talent also proves the intensification of industry competition and the pressure on performance, but fundamentally, it is beneficial to the industry, especially the position of creative director is crucial to the development of the brand.

zhou ting said that the core reason for the current personnel turnover in the luxury industry is that brands are facing tremendous pressure and hope to change the current situation by replacing people. it also shows that the entire luxury industry is in a state of confusion and lacks judgment about the future. "poaching and copying the success of others may not be the most effective way. luxury brands should fully understand the development cycle of the market and the life cycle of the brand itself, and design forward-looking business models based on business trends, rather than expecting to find opportunities in the successful experiences of others."

beijing business daily reporter lin yuwei