No products in the cart.
Kering named Martine Rose, creative director of Balenciaga, on 6 November, a day after Pierpaolo Piccioli’s exit from the Paris house was announced. She starts on 16 November. The hire closes a month in which Kering also lost the designers at Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen and neither of those houses has said who comes next. Behind the changes sits Luca de Meo, Kering’s chief executive since September 2025 and a former car company boss. The group reported third-quarter revenue of €3.345 billion, unchanged and down 1 per cent on a comparable basis.
Balenciaga’s release on Thursday 5 November gave no reason for the exit and no figure for Piccioli’s tenure. It did carry a line from the house’s chief executive, Gianfranco Gianangeli, crediting him with reasserting Balenciaga’s couture roots, and a promise of news on the creative direction shortly.
He left before the two-year mark, after three ready-to-wear collections, the first in October 2025, and a couture show in July. His most recent runway, on 1 October at the Tennis Club de Paris, was titled Les Coraux de la Liberté and arrived amid open speculation that it might be his last. The critical reception of his work as mixed.
Rose runs her own London label, founded in 2007, and is known for menswear rooted in subculture. Kering’s biography of her dwells on the venues and casting of her shows as much as the clothes and notes that she has consulted for other brands. Between 2015 and 2018, she worked with Demna at Balenciaga, including on the launch of his first menswear collection there. Demna, who held the job until 2025, now runs Gucci. Rose will oversee every Balenciaga collection, couture included, and will be based in Paris.
De Meo’s statement calls Balenciaga “a House of radical creativity” and credits Rose with a link to the new generation, without saying what the appointment is meant to fix. Marie Claire filled the gap itself, reading the hire as a return to the subversive, street-influenced edge that defined the house under Demna.
Vaccarello was appointed in April 2016, days after Hedi Slimane left, and the house grew fast under him. Il Sole 24 Ore put its revenue at just over €1 billion in 2016, and Reuters tied the surge to strong Chinese demand. Kering’s own results put it at €3.2 billion in 2023. After that came a slide, 9 per cent in 2024 and 6 per cent in 2025, according to Kering, followed by a largely steady 2026.
The announcement came on a Friday. Kering shares rose 1.8 per cent in Paris that morning, to €210.35.
No reason was given. The release thanked Vaccarello for ten years of work and spoke of a new chapter for the house, and his final collection, for spring 2027, had been shown on 29 September. He had staged runway shows against a lit-up Eiffel Tower. Away from the runway, he had pushed Saint Laurent into film production, including Emilia Pérez, which won at Cannes. The house now has more than 300 stores worldwide. The CFDA had named him its 2026 International Designer of the Year.
McGirr’s exit was announced about a week after Vaccarello’s. The Irish designer had joined in 2023 to follow Sarah Burton, who spent 26 years at the house, 13 of them as creative director, and showed his first collection about two and a half years ago, W noted. McQueen’s own chief executive credited him with reconnecting the house to London, and McGirr described a vision built on the tension between raw human beauty and the house’s precision. His time also brought a younger celebrity following, with Jenna Ortega and Zendaya among the names who wore the house.
Lee Alexander McQueen founded the label in London in 1992, and its design studio and atelier are still there. Kering’s statement promises a “bold new direction” built on the house’s tailoring and rebellious streak. The third-quarter release shows the plan already moving: a sharper British tailoring identity and a smaller distribution network. No successor has been named. The churn is not Kering’s alone: Veronica Leoni stepped down at Calvin Klein Collection about an hour before McQueen’s news broke.
Saint Laurent grew in the third quarter, led by North America and Western Europe with strong engagement from its biggest clients, and Kering lists it among the brands on a strong run. Vaccarello’s exit is the biggest personnel change at a major Kering brand since de Meo took over. Barclays analysts expect the next designer to concentrate on under-represented areas such as menswear and Asia.
In the third-quarter release, de Meo sorts the houses into two groups. Kering is doubling down on renewing Balenciaga and McQueen, he says, while Saint Laurent sits with the brands extending a strong run.
The group’s weight sits with Gucci, close to 39 per cent of the total. Its revenue fell 6 per cent on a comparable basis to €1.291 billion in the third quarter, with its own stores down 9 per cent, while retail sales across the rest of Kering rose 2 per cent. Kering blames lower traffic in Asia Pacific, Mainland China especially, along with Japan. De Meo ranks Gucci’s recovery above everything else. Its designer, Demna, is the one Rose worked with at Balenciaga. The group has closed a net 105 stores this year and plans for at least 125 by December.
Balenciaga changed designers last year, as did Gucci and Bottega Veneta, which left Saint Laurent as the last major Kering house to switch.
https://www.kering.com/en/news/martine-rose-appointed-creative-director-of-balenciaga/
https://www.kering.com/en/news/revenue-for-the-3rd-quarter-of-2026/
Stay inspired with exclusive brand features, luxury insights, and the latest in fine fashion and beauty — directly in your inbox.
