Monday Hermès announced that their artistic director of womenswear, Christophe Lemaire, would be stepping down from his post in October to focus on his own label. While replacing Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton took some time, and Mulberry is still without a creative director, we were surprised to hear that just three days later, the first rumors were true: Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski, the current creative director at Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s The Row, will replace Lemaire after his four year stunt at Hermès.
While Vanhee-Cybulski may not be as popular as some of her contemporaries (who were undoubtedly considered for the role), she does have a successful history of design at other major outlets. Before her current duties as women’s design director at The Row, she was senior designer at Céline under Phoebe Philo and previously worked at Maison Martin Margiela. “Her talent and her creative track record will be great assets in the continued development of women's ready-to-wear. She will devote herself full-time to our house,” Axel Dumas, CEO of Hermès told WWD.
Lemaire’s last collection will be shown October 1 after which Vanhee-Cybulski will take over directorial duties for the brand.
