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Sarah Burton has been named creative director of Givenchy, the LVMH-owned fashion house said in a statement Monday.
Burton, who exited Alexander McQueen last year after over 25 years at the London-based brand, is known for mixing poetry and utility in her precisely tailored collections.
After years as founder Lee McQueen’s right hand, Burton became creative director of the Kering-owned Alexander McQueen label after McQueen’s 2010 death. Burton brought a softer and more luxurious take to the confrontational, high-drama brand. Her collections often mixed easy-to-wear wardrobe items like blazers and combat boots with chunky, punk-inflected jewellery and accessories as well as extravagant show silhouettes, such as a high-collared gown draped with giant taffeta roses.
At Givenchy, Burton finds herself yet again following the footsteps of her late mentor: McQueen was creative director of the house from 1996 to 2001 in a controversial tenure that shook up the brand with dramatic, eclectic collections that had little to do with conventional good taste.
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Burton will be the brand’s fourth designer in less than ten years as it struggles to define a path between pared-back Parisienne glamour and contemporary urban glitz. After the label grew to new heights under Riccardo Tisci, whose pop-culture-savvy marketing and streetwear-inflected merchandising drove sales for over a decade, successor Clare Waight Keller reconnected the brand with mid-century French elegance from 2017 to 2020. Most recently, American designer Matthew Williams did something in-between: chic suiting belted with chunky utility hardware, faux fox-fur overcoats, classic kitten heels styled in kinky stockings.
Burton’s appointment ends a year-long search for Givenchy’s new designer: LVMH announced that predecessor Williams would exit the brand last December, following several seasons of industry chatter after the group brought in stylist Carine Roitfeld to support Williams and began exploring other options for the label.
Where the creative director hire can often take months due to the web of contracts and non-competition clauses surrounding high-profile names, this appointment took even longer as LVMH navigated management turnover in its fashion properties. Sidney Toledano, CEO of LVMH’s Fashion Group unit overseeing nearly all its labels except Louis Vuitton and Dior, retired in early 2024 only to return to his role in an unofficial capacity weeks later, as plans for his succession fell through.
In July, Givenchy sought to open a “new chapter” with the appointment of a new chief executive officer, Alessandro Valenti, most recently Louis Vuitton’s EMEA president.
Disclosure: LVMH is part of a group of investors who, together, hold a minority interest in The Business of Fashion. All investors have signed shareholders’ documentation guaranteeing BoF’s complete editorial independence.
