How Louis Vuitton will crown a new designer

The Future. LVMH, the owner of Louis Vuitton, has been searching for a designer to run creative at the brand after the sudden passing of Virgil Abloh. Considering Abloh’s monumental impact not just on Louis Vuitton (and his ability to make the brand cool to a new, diverse generation of consumers) but on the industry at large, the post may be the biggest shoes to fill in fashion.

The annals of Abloh

Business of Fashion breaks down the quest for Virgil Abloh’s successor.

• LVMH has been on the hunt for nearly a year to find a replacement.
• It’s reportedly considering Martine Rose (who runs her own self-titled label), Grace Wales Bonner (who runs Wales Bonner), and Telfar Clemens (who runs TELFAR).

The group expects to make a decision in the coming weeks.

Fashion an heir

How does a major fashion house like LVMH choose its next clothing chief?

• First, the company’s leadership — the CEO, the board of directors, the founders — must decide if they’ll “evolve” the brand (usually, elevating someone inside the company, or “overhaul” it (usually, hiring someone outside the company).
• Then they look for someone who has a clear vision, is a good communicator, and can work in a corporate environment — all things that are a bit more important than being technically proficient at design.
• Potential candidates are then given a creative assignment to execute, which could be anything from creating a brand book to “conceiving a room in the brand’s essence.”

After taking into account the candidate’s ability to simultaneously run their own label, the power of their own personal brand, and hearing from the label’s CEO, it’s the group’s CEO that makes the final decision.