Cédric Charbit to be Balenciaga’s New CEO
Cédric Charbit to be Balenciaga’s New CEO
Last week Balenciaga announced that Cédric Charbit will succeed Isabelle Guichot as chief executive officer, effective 28 November 2016. It was revealed in a statement released last Monday, which further mentioned that Guichot will move on to new in-house responsibilities with Kering, Balenciaga’s parent company, which Kering also said would be announced later on. Charbit, who was previously working as executive vice-president of product and marketing at Yves Saint Laurent, has worked in the luxury sector for the past 15 years, beginning as a buyer for Printemps in 2001.
Around this time last year Demna Gvasalia took over the position of artistic director at Balenciaga from Alexander Wang, a transition that surprised many in the industry and seemed to delight others. “Balenciaga has recruited people previously who have been very exciting and I think he’s probably the most exciting person to do this,” Katie Grand of Love Magazine told Business of Fashion last October. “I think there seems to be something going at the Kering group where they employ people because they’re good, rather than politics.” That Grand would verbalize the difference in hiring at Kering based on ability versus popularity speaks volumes about the industry at the moment, where social media fame, and perhaps industry popularity, have been seen to so quickly influence careers of late.
As quick and sometimes unpredictable as the turnover has been for creatives in the past few years, leadership has also seen significant turnover. Just last month Kering appointed Nikolas Talonpoika as CEO at Christopher Kane, and in September Claus-Dietrich Lahrs was appointed to the position of CEO at Bottega Veneta. Brioni, another of Kering’s brands, has seen upheaval over the past year, recently letting Justin O’Shea go after a six-month term as creative director while rebranding and revitalization of the brand continue. The influx of this new generation of CEOs at Kering brands comes at an interesting time when the market is shifting. While bigger and better is generally the goal, it will be exciting to see the more specific directions in which these brands are lead on their quests for profitability and influence in the fashion market.
Cédric Charbit to be Balenciaga’s New CEO
