Kim Jones, the British designer, is to relinquish his role as artistic director of womenswear and couture at Fendi to “concentrate fully” on his position as artistic director of menswear at Dior.
In a statement released late on Friday LVMH, parent company of both Dior and Fendi, said: “Kim Jones has made significant contributions to the brand’s creative legacy, seamlessly integrating his modern and cross-cultural aesthetics with Fendi’s historical heritage.
“Under his leadership, the maison reinvented its ready-to-wear and couture collections, offering an inclusive and innovative approach to fashion that constantly renewed Fendi’s Italian codes. Throughout his four years, Jones’ work was wholly guided by passion and creativity.”
Jones had taken on the role at Fendi in 2020 taking over from the late Karl Lagerfeld, who held the position alongside his chief designer role at Chanel until his death in 2019. Jones had joined Dior from another LVMH house, Louis Vuitton, in 2018.
He is considered to be one of the pre-eminent design talents globally in menswear blending streetwear influences with tailoring and broad cultural references from his travels into his designs. His collections of womenswear at Fendi had, however, been met with a lukewarm critical response and speculation has been mounting for weeks that he was about to give up the role.
He presented his last collection for Fendi, blending 1920s flapper influences with 1990s minimalism, at Milan Fashion Week last month.
Nineties minimalism met Twenties flapper in Fendi’s spring/summer show.
LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault seemed keen to stress that Jones would remain in his role at Dior, amid widespread moves at the top of major fashion houses in recent months. “I would like to thank him for his contribution and look forward to continuing to witness his creativity for Dior Men’s,” Arnault said.
It has been speculated that former Valentino creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli could be in line for the top job at Italian house Fendi, having worked there in the 1990s. Piccioli teamed up with Maria Grazia Chiuri at both Fendi and Valentino before Chiuri was selected to head up womenswear for Dior in 2016.
Piccioli left Valentino earlier this year to be replaced by former Gucci creative lead Alessandro Michele. Chiuri’s position at Dior has been the focus of speculation too with sources suggesting she could soon be heading for the exit to be replaced by Northern Irish designer Jonathan Anderson who has worked wonders at another LVMH house, Loewe.
Last week, LVMH confirmed that super-designer Hedi Slimane had left Celine, where his designs had led to soaring sales. He was replaced by Michael Rider, who had worked at Celine under its previous chief designer Phoebe Philo. It was widely expected that Slimane (a former artistic director for menswear at Dior and creative director at Saint Laurent) would be heading to Chanel, where the top design job remains vacant. However no news on that position has been forthcoming.
Kim Jones – a career in fashion
2002: Jones, who had spent much of his childhood in Ecuador, the Caribbean and Africa due to his father’s career as a hydrologist, graduates from London’s Central Saint Martins
2003-2008: Creates his own menswear label and also collaborates with a number of big names in luxury, sports snd high street fashion, such as BOSS, Umbro and Topman
2008: Appointed as creative director of Dunhill and closes his own label
2011-2018: holds the position of style director of the men’s ready-to-wear division at LVMH flagship house Louis Vuitton
2018-present: artistic director for menswear at another LVMH power house Dior.
2020: adds artistic director of womenswear and couture at Fendi to his responsibilities
