This move seemingly kicked off a chain reaction across the upper echelons of luxury brands. Spooked by slowing sales, executives and creative directors across the industry sought new directions and a domino effect ensued, until almost every major house, including Chanel, Dior, Gucci, Balenciaga, Givenchy, Loewe, Alexander McQueen, Valentino, Bottega Veneta, Maison Margiela, Fendi and Marni had a changing of the guard.
“What has caused the significant creative reset is the fact that many soft luxury brands have simultaneously suffered setbacks, as Chinese consumers have moved to the back foot and western consumers have sobered up from the post-Covid euphoria,” says Bernstein analyst Luca Solca. “An improving global luxury demand environment shall eventually normalize creative churn.” By this logic, perhaps the reset will end when luxury market sales improve, he suggests. “When does a company cease to change CEOs? When it finally works. Ditto with creative directors.”
If that’s true, we could be in for a stabilization in the near term. According to forecasts from Bain & Company, the luxury slowdown is set to end in 2026, as the industry returns to growth, which could spell an end to the reset. Over the next 10 years, the personal luxury goods market is likely to grow by 4-6% per year, reaching between €525 billion and €625 billion, while overall luxury spending could span €2.2 trillion to €2.7 trillion.
It’s a compelling argument. But others feel this period of intense scrutiny on creative directors has irreversibly raised the pressure stakes too high, resulting in designers playing it safe and diminishing the creativity needed to stoke demand for fashion. While perhaps the financial situation and the creative reset are inextricably linked, insiders agree that there are other factors at play too.
“A modest market recovery may ease pressure on luxury brands, but it is unlikely to slow or stop the creative reset underway across the sector. Our outlook has consistently stressed that growth alone will not restore desirability,” says Federica Levato, senior partner at Bain & Company. “Brands need to reignite creativity and reestablish quality and purpose as non-negotiable pillars to fuel long-term appetite. That is a multi-year agenda, not a cycle that ends once demand improves. Put simply, a market recovery can buy time, but it does not remove the strategic need to reassert distinctiveness and cultural relevance.”
Applying too much pressure
The role of the designer has evolved considerably over the last decade, as creative directors take on new responsibilities outside of the design studio, and are made responsible for the brand image and immediate sales performance.
“Money is definitely part of it, but the creative reset has also come about because of how complicated the role of a designer has become,” says brand strategist and consultant Richard Gray. “They’re expected to be creative, commercial, communicative and strategic all at once, which makes alignment with CEOs harder than ever. Now there’s pressure to rethink creative direction quickly because creativity is being asked to fix deeper business problems,” he says.