The second quarter of 2026 brought the first clear signs of a recovery in luxury fashion after two years of continuous slowdown, as the world’s biggest fashion houses posted quarterly growth for the first time in a long while — at the same time as a wave of major creative appointments reshaped design leadership at these houses within that very same year.

The Q2 Numbers: From Decline to Early Signs of Recovery

LVMH, the world’s largest luxury group, reported revenue of €38.6 billion for the first half of 2026, down 3% in reported terms but up 2% organically once currency effects and portfolio changes are excluded. More importantly, its Fashion & Leather Goods division — the backbone of the group — brought in €18.146 billion over the half, down 1% organically for the half-year as a whole, but posting 1% organic growth in Q2 alone — the division’s first quarterly growth in two full years.
Kering posted its own first positive quarter in three years, up 2%, sending its Paris-listed shares up 10% immediately after the announcement. Gucci, which accounts for the largest share of the group’s revenue, fell just 2%, compared with an 8% decline in Q1 of the same year and a 19% drop across all of 2025 — a marked improvement that coincides with the restructuring plan led by the group’s new CEO, Luca de Meo.
Hermes, by contrast, kept up its usual strong performance, growing 6.7% in Q2 and 6% in Q1, driven by its leather goods division — which accounts for roughly half its revenue and grew 10% — alongside 2.5% growth in the Japanese market. These numbers show the recovery isn’t even across houses; it ties to different operational and creative factors at each brand.
LVMH’s statement noted that tensions in the Middle East weighed on Q1 performance, alongside mounting consumer pressure toward “value-for-money,” pushing some brands to rethink their pricing strategies.

New Creative Appointments Are Driving the Shift

LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault directly credits much of this improvement to creative changes, singling out Jonathan Anderson’s debut collection for Dior as a turning point in the house’s performance. Dior wasn’t the only house to see a creative leadership change in this period: Michael Rider took over creative direction at Celine, Maria Grazia Chiuri returned to lead Fendi, and Sarah Burton moved to Givenchy. Together, these appointments pushed the net book value of LVMH’s brands up to €21.2 billion.
At Kering, designer Demna — who recently moved from Balenciaga to Gucci — is driving a similar creative turnaround, with his debut collections coinciding with the brand’s notable improvement in the numbers, as part of a broader transformation plan overseen by the group’s new executive leadership.

Is This Good News?

Yes — but good news in a specific sense worth pausing on: the market isn’t only rewarding financial performance or operational efficiency; it’s now pricing design itself as a measurable asset. When the world’s biggest luxury investor directly ties revenue improvement to one designer’s name and their debut collection, that means appointing a new creative director is no longer a purely aesthetic decision — it’s a strategic one, whose impact on the stock price is measured within a matter of months. This doesn’t mean the recovery is guaranteed or complete — growth is still fragile and uneven across houses, and some, like Gucci, remain in decline, even if a milder one — but it does mean the trend is starting to shift, and that creative credibility is now a factor looked at in financial reports just as much as on the runway.

What Can Tomorrow’s Designers Take From These Numbers?

Building a recognizable personal design identity: the designers entrusted with leading major houses — from Anderson to Burton — got there because of a clear, distinctive design signature that preceded their appointment, not versatility or flexibility alone.
Technical execution and patternmaking remain the real gateway, even for the most visionary designers: ideas from Jonathan Anderson or Demna don’t become sellable products in stores without a precise technical execution team translating vision into actual garments.
Creativity alone isn’t commercially enough — a designer has to justify the price: under the “value-for-money” pressure LVMH itself flagged, every new design has to give the consumer a clear reason to justify the price difference.
Frequent creative-director turnover means real job opportunities for skilled talent: four major houses changed their creative leadership within a relatively short period — a recurring pattern in this industry that opens the door for new designers to reach leadership positions that weren’t available just a few years ago.
For anyone building their career in design and wondering how to build a creative identity that holds up against this kind of rapid change, the Diploma of Human and Technological Creativity for Fashion Designers at Anna Stella Academy covers full modules on building design identity alongside the fundamentals of patternmaking and technical execution. More details at annastella-academy.com/courses/