Kim Jones, the man behind Louis Vuitton’s Supreme collaboration is exiting the french house after seven years as men’s Artistic Director for the brand. Jones will move on after showing his autumn/winter collection for Louis Vuitton on Thursday in Paris.
The British designer has been with LVMH’s flagship brand since 2011 and since then, the brand has seen its amplification in streetwear sensibilities, more emphasis was being given to tracksuits, graphic tees and sneakers. Before Jones, Marc Jacobs, who was then the Creative Director of the brand, introduced collaborations with popular artists like Takashi Murakami and designed sneakers with Kanye West to attract the streetwear audience but LV still was a large traditional luxury brand that relied on wallets, belts and occasional suits of men. After Jones joined, the brand realised that T-shirts could be the right selling point, which further culminated last year’s much talked about collaboration with Supreme, a brand that’s known as “the Louis Vuitton of streetwear.”
“It has been a huge privilege to work with Kim. His ability to set trends is impeccable and his talent and determination have ensured that Louis Vuitton is firmly placed as the leading brand in luxury menswear today. All of us who have been fortunate to work with Kim wish him continued success in his next venture,” said Michael Burke, Chairman and Chief Executive of Louis Vuitton, in a statement.
Since Kim Jones joined LV, his self-titled label has been on hold. Can we expect his return to his own label? Sounds unlikely because of the exciting rumours spreading out of Europe that the 44-year-old is heading to Burberry or Versace.
Not that Burberry hasn’t seen its share of exits. In October, it was announced that the brand’s Chief Creative Officer and designer, Christopher Bailey is stepping down after 17 years. As both Jones and Burberry have their roots in London and Burberry, as a luxury brand, much like LV has been looking forward to picking on streetwear market. It recently unveiled a collaboration with Russian designer Gosha Rubchinskiy. For now, we look forward to seeing Jones’ latest collection for Louis Vuitton.
LV and Burberry aren’t the only luxury brands to see markable exits, lately. In December, Jonathan Saunders, Chief Creative Officer of DVF moved on from Diane Von Furstenberg just after eighteen months of joining. Last year, in April, J. Crew’s Chief Design Officer Jenna Lyons left the company after 26 years.
If we go by the past experiences, with all the luxury brand shuffling, shoppers can expect more interesting collaborations and fresh designs. As the trend in luxury brands is heading towards more and more streetwear aesthetics, we can wait for more options in the same direction.
