In the months that followed the Spring/Summer 2026 season, we have seen a series of new hires in the communications, marketing and design departments of all major houses. Our new series ‘Fashion’s Real Reset Starts Now’ looks at all these changes and how they will redefine the fashion industry in the years to come.
Rose gold, girl bosses, ankle socks, photo dumps, listicles, side parts… Millennials seem to be the most-ridiculed generation in history, partly because nobody cared about generational discourse as much as millennial media companies did in their heyday. (See: pretty much all Buzzfeed quizzes, Vice op-eds and Vox explainers of the 2010s.) In a way, we are the creators of our own demise.
The thing is, we are also now parents, home owners and, increasingly, people’s bosses. Of the 19 creative director appointments that took place in 2025, 13 were millennial designers, and 11 of which were at the helm of a legacy fashion brand.
What does this generational shift mean for fashion? We asked 14 Gen Y fashion insiders to reflect on the new status quo.
Leanne Elliott-Young, CEO of the Institute of Digital Fashion
Everything is being reinvented and rewritten, from governments to payment systems to how we fundamentally communicate, and build relationships and communities. Humanity has changed, and fashion is a reflection of that always. So the old, dusty system had to innovate and host the people that understand that space, millennials.
Millennial creative directors are effective because we sit between worlds. We respect heritage and brand equity, but we also grew up alongside the internet, platforms and perpetual disruption. We understand that authority today is earned through relevance, fluency and responsiveness, not mystique and perceived perception.
As the millennial leaders build teams, the Gen Z pathways become embedded and uplifted; community-first thinking, gaming, social responsibility, digital identity and creator economies reframe fashion from a broadcast industry to a participatory one. My own approach as CEO reflects that reality. Staying close to emerging tech isn’t optional, it’s how brands remain competitive, credible and culturally alive, especially with the rise of sustainability-based compliance.
Charlie Smith, chief brand officer of Nothing
The industry is in need of modernization, because it has a lot of legacy systems and processes in place that feel outdated in today’s world. Having grown up through the birth of the internet, the fracturing of the media landscape and the advent of social media, millennial designers inherently understand how to engage the new generation of luxury customers. Designers’ biggest challenges will be how they adapt to the new reality of the AI revolution.
Hopefully, a new generation of executives will work alongside them to not just rethink the creativity and approach to world-building, but also how to structure a brand to cater to the new generations of customers and their expectations of service, experience and relationships.
My own approach is much more informal, collaborative and iterative than I think ways of working have been historically. I aim to empower all team members, but most importantly the youngest, to harness their creativity. This is increasingly important, as us millennials are no longer young and cool, so we need to rely on the next generations to keep us in step with the latest behaviors and trends that are going to resonate with their peers.
Daisy Hoppen, founder of DH-PR
Change is good for all industries, but it did feel seismic this year. I think many brands were looking for new ways to grow their businesses and audiences. Though it seemed to coincide with a huge shift, which I can only hope will end up being positive for the industry. Covid certainly created a stagnation with creative ideas, and there was a reliance on data over creativity at times, along with huge changes in the wholesale industry — all of this created a need for change.