Where Are All the Women? Fashion’s Current Lack of Female Creative Directors

A variety of moments stand out from this past fashion month. From Miu Miu’s star-filled lineup to the first Alexander McQueen show post-Sarah Burton, audiences were abuzz over the new Autumn-Winter 2024 collections. However, at the largest luxury design houses owned by major fashion conglomerates, a pattern has begun to emerge—there is a clear lack of female creative directors.

Over the past six months, four new creative directors have made their debuts at major fashion houses—Sabato De Sarno at Gucci, Peter Hawkings at Tom Ford, Sean McGirr at Alexander McQueen, and Chemena Kamali at Chloe. These recent appointments mark the end of a 2010’s era rife with female creative directors and suggest a potential upheaval on the runway. Sabato de Sarno’s appointment signals the end of Alessandro Michele’s reign at Gucci and McGirr’s hiring cements the end of Sarah Burton’s tenure at McQueen. Fans have mourned the loss of these talented designers, and with their stepping down, a new era has begun to emerge.

Despite all of the changes, McGirr’s appointment as creative director at McQueen means that now all six of the fashion brands owned by the second-largest fashion conglomerate in the industry Kering—Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, McQueen, and Brioni—are run by white male designers.

This homogeneity of perspective is not a new phenomenon in an industry where many luxury houses have historically been run by men, yet it stands out as a setback in an era when the fashion industry has attempted to push for diversity. These new appointments of creative directors from very similar backgrounds have contributed to the status quo of male directors.

Designers are the public-facing representatives of luxury fashion houses and despite the ample supply of female designers, women are few and far between at major brands. These recent creative director appointments only continue to widen the gender gap. The problem seems to lie in the hiring and interview process for new appointments.

Many of the chief executives who hire creative directors are men, like Kering owner Francois Pinault or LVMH’s Bernard Arnault, and often turn to candidates who are from exclusive fashion schools like Central Saint Martins. At LVMH, only two of the womenswear divisions at their fashion labels are led by women: Maria Grazia Churi at Dior, and Camille Micieli for Pucci.

2020 was a time of pushback against a lack of inclusivity in the fashion industry, and widespread criticisms led many major houses to make pledges for diversity and inclusion. But, in the four years since, the industry has become increasingly male-dominated.

Nevertheless, the fashion industry has no shortage of female talent. The long history of female designers is currently being honored at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s “Women Dressing Women” exhibition. The exhibition explores “the creativity and artistic legacy of women fashion designers'' by “highlighting celebrated designers, new voices, and forgotten histories alike.” Featuring the work of over seventy womenswear designers from Elsa Schiaparelli to Rei Kawakubo, the exhibition feels particularly necessary at this moment.

However, that is not to say that there are not countless female designers succeeding and producing groundbreaking shows at the moment. This past fashion month, Chemena Kamali debuted her first collection at the Chloe show in Paris. The collection was met with rave reviews that applauded her updated takes on traditional house codes like patchwork jeans and Kaftan-like dresses.

Victoria Beckham also showed her fall 2024 collection at London Fashion Week, showcasing her dedication to her craft as she took her final bows while on crutches. Beckham’s collection centered on a variety of silhouettes and a combination of proportions designed to flatter women’s bodies.

From Kamali to Beckam, to the Olsen twins of the Row, to Miuccia Prada’s empire, and to the up-and-coming Dilara Findikoglu, there is no shortage of incredibly talented female fashion designers. It is up to major fashion houses and labels to hire and recognize female talent, as their stubbornness to retain the status quo causes them to continuously miss out on a wealth of artistic expression and revolutionary designs.

Featured image courtesy of The New York Times