What Fashion’s Creative Talent Needs to Know Today

Discover the most relevant industry news and insights for fashion creatives, updated each month to enable you to excel in job interviews, promotion conversations or impress in the workplace by increasing your market awareness and emulating market leaders.

BoF Careers distils business intelligence from across the breadth of our content — editorial briefings, newsletters, case studies, podcasts and events — to deliver key takeaways and learnings tailored to your job function, listed alongside a selection of the most exciting live jobs advertised by BoF Careers partners.

Key articles and need-to-know insights for creatives in fashion today:

1. Pierpaolo Piccioli Is Exiting Valentino

Pierpaolo Piccioli walks the runway during the Valentino Menswear Autumn/Winter 2024/25 show at Paris Fashion Week in January 2024. (Getty Images)

Pierpaolo Piccoli is parting ways with Valentino after almost eight years as the Roman couture house’s sole creative director, according to the company, which called the move a “joint decision”. A new creative configuration will be announced soon, the company said.

Following Piccioli’s exit, which comes on the back of former ready-to-wear director Sabato De Sarno’s departure last year, observers will be keeping a close eye on whether key behind-the-scene figures like Yvan Mispelaere — who helms the brand’s couture operation — or Gabriele Cusimano — who oversees women’s ready-to-wear and celebrity design — remain in place.

Content & Art Director, Cou Cou Intimates — New York, United States

Associate Creative Recruiter, Gap Inc. — San Francisco, United States

2. What Happens to Fashion After It’s Sold at Auction

Over the past decade, fashion has become more of a priority for top auction houses such as Sotheby’s, Bonhams and Christie’s, playing a key role in their strategy to attract a new generation of customers, who can place their bids online.

There isn’t a simple answer to where fashion items end up after they’re sold at auction, but buyers typically fall into a few buckets: museums and institutions; private collectors; vintage dealers and super fans. The more significant the item, the pool of potential buyers shrinks. “This world is a very exclusive club where those in the know really know,” said Bishop.

Team Leader Global Art Buying & Casting, Hugo Boss — Metzingen, Germany

Head of Special Collections & FIT Archive, Library, Fashion Institute of Technology — New York, United States

3. Marine Serre: From Radical to Pragmatist

Marine Serre is Pitti Uomo’s next guest designer. (Getty Images)

Marine Serre, who grew sales by 20 percent in 2023, has been named Pitti Uomo’s next guest designer. Men have always played a part in her shows — she’d even taken to showing her collections on the men’s calendar — but it was only two months ago that she launched an entirely separate menswear range. And now this, already.

It’s been eight years since Serre launched her brand as an idealistic alternative to the fashion industry’s destructive impact on the planet. She’s only 32, but a mature pragmatism has taken over. “The challenge is not greater, it’s just different,” she says. “I think I’m a bit in my own bubble anyway. Producing differently, being fully independent, I don’t need to make all my choices based on money. I have a freedom that is really powerful to me.”

Related Jobs:

Production Assistant, Another Community — London, United Kingdom

Director of Events, Americas, Tiffany & Co. — New York, United States

Manager, Art Direction & Brand Creative, Banana Republic — New York, United States

4. Luxury Brands Flock to the ‘Most Remote City in the World’

Perth Australia city skyline from Elizabeth Quay. (Tourism Western Australia)

Perth has traditionally been stuck in fourth place in terms of gateway cities into Australia. This rang true from a retail perspective, for international brands keen to open in Australia and for those looking to expand. [...] For most brands, both local and international, the logical order of store openings is either Sydney or Melbourne, then the other, then Brisbane or another city in Queensland in third place. This makes logistics down the east coast of the country fairly simple.

But that is changing, especially at the luxury end of the market. Jeweller Van Cleef and Arpels opened its first store in the city in December. It already has stores in Sydney and Melbourne. Instead of opening in Brisbane next, Hugues de Pins, managing director Asia-Pacific for the brand, suggested that it made more sense to open in Perth. [...] Christian Dior will [also] reportedly open a two-storey flagship in the fourth quarter of this year, while Fendi and Cartier are said to be in the next wave of openings.

Operations Coordinator, Tiffany & Co. — Perth, Australia

Assistant Store Manager, Murray Street, Hugo Boss — Perth, Australia

5. Can Gucci’s Turnaround Plan Still Work?

In recent calls and presentations, Kering had prepared markets for another lacklustre year as it works to give its brands a more timeless, upmarket positioning. But Gucci’s sales performance was far worse than expected: most analysts had forecast revenues would decline by around 4 percent this quarter, with the most pessimistic among them projecting a 10 percent drop. On Wednesday, Kering shares plunged 12 percent in Paris trading, wiping €6.3 billion off the company’s market value.

Gucci is also trying to reboot itself in a deteriorating climate for high-end brands. US credit card spending on luxury goods declined 15 percent last month, following a 19 percent year-on-year drop in January, according to purchasing data from Citi. The key Chinese luxury market also remains sluggish as the country navigates slower economic growth and depressed equity and real estate values.

In-House Photographer & Videographer, La DoubleJ — Italy

Art Director, Apparatus — New York, United States

6. The Real Reasons LVMH Is Embracing Entertainment

A smiling model wearing Dior's famous bar jacket walks the runway. — A still from "The New Look" on Apple TV. (Apple)

Viewers are as hungry as ever for entertainment, but how they consume it is changing. Fashion is part of the stream of content they’re gobbling up alongside — and often in connection with — music, art and sport, a state of affairs Louis Vuitton underscored with its appointment of musician Pharrell Williams as men’s artistic director.

Some of the industry’s biggest players are now creating more formal ties to the entertainment business. Last April, Saint Laurent announced a film production unit, while in September, Artémis, the holding company of Kering owner François Pinault, bought a majority stake in Hollywood talent agency CAA.

Related Jobs:

Senior Vice President, VIP, Talent & Events, Purple — London, United Kingdom

Italy Entertainment Industry Relations Specialist, Gucci — Milan, Italy

Internship Creative Content & Production, Hugo Boss — Metzingen, Germany

7. Claude Montana: Triumph, Tragedy and Cancellation

Claude Montana and Christy Turlington at his Spring/Summer 1992 show. (Getty Images)

In the late 70s, Claude Montana re-defined French fashion with his linebacker silhouettes cut from black leather, fearless in the face of accusations of fashion fascism. In the 80s, he softened the shoulder, perfected a cut so precise that it left even the master Yves Saint Laurent so breathless he insisted Montana was the only designer he could ever imagine taking over his house.

Montana always represented fashion in its most distilled form, sculpted minimalist purity. But at the same time, he was unhinged by his quest. Bobby Butz, who lived with Claude for 15 years, remembers him torturing himself after every show. “Was it too simple? It could never be too simple. That’s what he was afraid of. He wasn’t going to do little shift dresses. People didn’t come to him for that.”

Related Jobs:

Head of Brand Creative, Refy Beauty Ltd. — Manchester, United Kingdom

Collection Coordinator, Moncler — Italy

Art Director, Modern Media Studio, Chalhoub Group — Dubai, United Arab Emirates

8. Cameron Russell Confronts Sex, Power and Exploitation in Modelling — Book Excerpt

The front cover of Cameron Russell's memoir, "How to Make Herself Agreeable to Everyone. A cut out of Russell is shown on a white background. Only part of her face and crossed arms are visible. Where her body should be is the title of the book. — Cameron Russell's memoir, "How to Make Herself Agreeable to Everyone," published earlier this month. (Oneworld)

On my first shoot the stylist says to his assistant: Let’s go for an S-N-M vibe. Mom, do you remember? I go to the toilet and call you and say, They want to put a belt around my neck, it’s an S-N-M vibe, and you say no belt around my neck, S and M is a sexual fetish. So I say no to the belt, and he thinks I’m ungrateful. By way of explanation I say: I want to run for president. I have to be careful about the kind of pictures I take. He looks me in the eye and I look back. Normally adults are pleased or amused when I tell them this. But he rolls his eyes and takes off the belt. He gives me a tiny black bikini. Go! he says, and turns his back.

I’ve never worn a bikini before. I didn’t know I would be wearing one, but I don’t have enough pubic hair yet to need to shave. On set I suck my stomach in until my ribs poke out. How do I stand when my stomach is showing? The photographer keeps telling me, Relax. He has a fart-machine prank he does. I laugh because I’m supposed to. When the photo comes out, my agent makes it my comp card and sends it to clients. I carry it around to castings to give out. Your body looks amazing, she says. The stylist won’t work with me for another seven years. When he finally books me again, he jokes: You were such a spoiled brat.