This article is part of our new editorial package, where we seek to answer the question: what would fashion look like if more women were in charge? Click here to read more.
Sitting through show after show during the most recent women’s season in Paris, one question kept coming to mind: why are there so few women at the top of an industry largely marketed to women? The collections, mostly designed by men, were beautiful — sheer, sexy, short, booby — but it’s hard to imagine oneself wearing very much of it.
Of the top 30 luxury brands in the Vogue Business Index, seven of the creative director roles are currently held by women: Maria Grazia Chiuri (Dior), Stella McCartney, Miuccia Prada (Prada and Miu Miu), Nadège Vanhee (Hermès), Donatella Versace (Versace) and Sandra Choi (Jimmy Choo). With the exception of Calvin Klein Collection, which earlier this summer placed Veronica Leoni in the top role, most open creative director positions this year have gone to men. Virginie Viard exited Chanel in June, while many are eagerly waiting to see where ex-Alexander McQueen creative director Sarah Burton will land.
And isn’t making clothes that women can actually wear better for business? During Viard’s tenure, Chanel’s fashion business grew more than twofold. Dior sales have more than quadrupled since Grazia Chiuri took over in 2016. Meanwhile, according to the latest Vogue Business womenswear size inclusivity report, three out of the top five most size-inclusive shows for Autumn/Winter 2024 were led by women. Namely Sinéad O’Dwyer, Ester Manas and Edeline Lee. So why aren’t more women at the top?
This conversation is as old as some of the biggest fashion houses. But with a few creative director positions yet to be filled — Chanel, Givenchy and Dries Van Noten, among them — and a general, if slow, swing in the right direction, it’s now more relevant than ever.
So this week, at Vogue Business, we examine some of the obstacles and the solutions for women working in fashion; Maliha Shoaib speaks with mothers in the industry about their experiences with parental leave, in an attempt to figure out how companies could do better in supporting working parents. In a similar vein, Bella Webb looks at the effects of menopause on a woman’s career and outlines some of the best strategies for employers on the matter. The gist? Cutting women out of jobs too early is more expensive than investing in our growth.
Elsewhere, Christina Binkley gets a pretty telling picture of the industry’s foundations by once-Gucci Group CEO Robert Polet, while examining why we tend to judge female creative directors more harshly. And on a dreamier, much lighter note, Madeleine Schulz imagines what our clothes would look like if more women designed them. Finally, Hilary Milnes and I turn to female executives in beauty and fashion to understand just how tough the fashion industry really is on women.
You can find all of the above on this link. We hope you enjoy it.
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.