Why has Clare Waight Keller only been at Givenchy for a short time?

Clare Waight Keller, former art director of Givenchy, left her position at LVMH a few days ago after three years. The designer announced her departure on April 10 and made it public via Instagram. The FW20 collection will be the last to be presented by her at Givenchy.

For months, industry has speculated about Waight Keller’s retirement from Givenchy. Now it’s no secret. Givenchy announced that a successor would be announced soon, although the decision (or its announcement) has had to be delayed due to the pandemic.

Clare Waight Keller arrived from Chloé, where she contributed to a remarkable increase in business that reached up to 400 million euros in annual sales, among other things thanks to her excellent offer of fragrances and accessories. At Givenchy, she replaced Ricardo Tisci at the helm in 2017, and radically changed the designer’s line with unexpected haute couture collections, immersing herself in the house’s archives and placing her lens in Hubert de Givenchy‘s path. The truth is that LVMH had great expectations for Givenchy under the direction of Waight Keller.

But Waight Keller’s haute-couture strategy, although very beneficial for Givenchy’s image, did not drive sales growth enough. Women’s ready-to-wear and accessories never really took off.

For now, we look forward to Waight Keller’s next project as we wonder who will be the next to take the throne.