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. Why Fashion Is Maxing Out on Minimalism

Quiet luxury’s moment in the zeitgeist may be over, but the trend left in its wake a thriving market for chic, minimalist clothes with just the right amount of design. No brand has capitalised more on that desire than Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s The Row, which last month raised a funding round that valued the brand at over $1 billion. The Row, along with Khaite, the New York luxury label, and the fast-growing contemporary brand Toteme, form something of a holy trinity. The Row’s annual revenues are estimated above $250 million; Khaite and Toteme have both surpassed $100 million.

Each has carved its own niche within the broader aesthetic: The Row is the pinnacle of minimalism, with a focus on tailoring (its name is a reference to London’s famed Savile Row). Khaite is slightly more bold, with exaggerated details like wide shoulders and oversized fits. Toteme offers Scandi-inspired pieces, including a whipstitched jacket with a built-in scarf. Behind those three are a rapidly expanding cohort of brands, mostly American and mostly founded or designed by women, promising sumptuous fabrics and a no-frills look with a high-fashion sensibility. For those who can’t afford a $1,500 cashmere sweater from The Row or Khaite, there’s Posse, Leset, Roucha and The Frankie Shop which offer knitwear for about a fifth of the price.

Related Jobs:

Video Post Production Coordinator, Burberry — London, United Kingdom

Print Junior Designer, Gucci — Milan, Italy

Visual Merchandising Manager, Alexander McQueen — Singapore

2. Old-School Magazines Are Brands’ New Favourite Marketing Tactic

Not so long ago, print seemed headed for extinction after years of magazines shuttering and media trending towards more video content online. But lately fashion brands have been once again embracing print products as they shift more ad spending offline in an attempt to escape the algorithm and bypass the drawbacks of social-media marketing. These magazines aren’t solely focused on pushing product but are full editorial efforts, complete with interviews and feature stories that tap into culture while reflecting a brand’s ethos. Perhaps not by accident, they also coincide with a print revival among digital media outlets such as Complex, Spin, Nylon, and Vice, all of which announced a return to print this year.

“We live in a fast paced digital era where everything is condensed into short videos and images specifically for social media consumption,” said Palace’s communications director Patrick Tcherno. “Creating a tangible product that lives on from the cycle of a weekly drop allows for a more meaningful connection and a celebration of the creatives involved.” These magazines aren’t necessarily easy — or cheap — to put together, however. Meaghan McGovern, editor in chief of Madhappy’s Local Optimist, described it as a “labour of love.” But done right, they can help brands reach beyond social media and build followings of their own.

Related Jobs:

Graphic/Print Designer, Vetements — Zurich, Switzerland

Colour & Concept Manager, Coach — New York, United States

Senior Content Associate, Chalhoub Group — Dubai, United Arab Emirates

3. Op-Ed | LVMH Is in the Luxury Driver’s Seat With F1 Deal

LVMH’s domination of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games was the warm-up act for the LVMH chief executive officer and founder’s sporting ambitions; the F1 partnership is the main event. The 10-year deal, which could be worth close to $1 billion, underlines that LVMH, with a market capitalisation of about $370 billion, inhabits a different stratosphere to its competitors. LVMH’s TAG Heuer watch brand will replace Rolex as the sport’s official timekeeper, Louis Vuitton will make the trophy cases and winning drivers will spray each other with bottles of Moet & Chandon.

While events such as the Olympics or even the Super Bowl draw huge crowds, they happen infrequently, whereas grand prix races command large audiences every few weeks, ensuring a constant barrage of publicity. The popularity of F1 has exploded, particularly in the US, since its acquisition by Liberty Media Corp. in 2017, thanks to an expansion of race venues and the Netflix series Drive to Survive. That’s helped draw a younger, more social-media savvy and diverse audience. For the past few years, streetwear has introduced them to European luxury. With that market cooling, sports can step in.

Related Jobs:

Digital Visual Merchandiser, Jaded London — London, United Kingdom

Graphic Designer, Métier — London, United Kingdom

Photoshoot Producer, L’Agence — Los Angeles, United States

4. Michael Rider Replaces Hedi Slimane at Celine

Michael Rider has been named artistic director of Celine, mere hours after the official exit of star designer Hedi Slimane. Rider, a top design deputy during Phoebe Philo’s tenure at Celine, left his role as womenswear creative director at Polo Ralph Lauren earlier this year. He will now oversee all collections at LVMH-owned Celine, effective early 2025. Rider is a known entity in Paris fashion having cut his teeth under Nicolas Ghesquière at Balenciaga before going on to play a key role in Phoebe Philo’s minimalist, intellectual, upmarket repositioning of Celine.

He exited Celine soon after Philo’s 2017 departure and headed for Ralph Lauren, which was embarking on a mission to redefine itself as a bastion of American luxury. After years of over-extending its brand through markdowns, diffusion lines and producing for outlets, Ralph Lauren set about reinforcing the quality of its designs, manufacturing and store experience while tightening distribution. A stronger, more luxurious brand identity emerged on the runway and in stores, with Rider’s designs playing a key role.

Related Jobs:

Creative Studio Assistant, Toteme — Stockholm, Sweden

Visual Merchandising Production Manager, Tiffany & Co. — New York, United States

Digital Product Manager, Tapestry — Shanghai, China

5. Wellness Wants in on the Ozempic Economy

Called glucagon-like peptide-1 in full, the term “GLP-1″ on a supplement bottle would likely have confused the average shopper a few years ago. But that was before the rise of medications like Ozempic and Wegovy, the brand names for semaglutide, which mimics the hormone GLP-1 that reduces feelings of hunger. Originally prescribed for type 2 diabetics, semaglutide can also slow digestion and curb cravings, leading to dramatic weight loss for many users. More recently, their widespread adoption has also created a cottage industry of products designed to complement and enhance the effects of the injections, or offer an alternative.

There is massive opportunity in the so-called “Ozempiconomy.” Last year, Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk surpassed LVMH as the company with the highest market cap in Europe. Circana found that weight management was the third most important wellness concept for US consumers, and between August 2023 and 2024, searches for “GLP-1 supplement” swelled 792.1 percent. Wellness brands who are able to hop on the trend successfully have the potential to tap into several customer groups, including those wary of pharmaceuticals for weight loss, those with cost concerns or severe side effects from the drugs, and those on the drugs themselves.

Related Jobs:

Graphic Designer, Press — London, United Kingdom

Beauty Pop-Ups & Activations Designer, Burberry — London, United Kingdom

Head of Luxury Beauty Brand, Chalhoub Group — Dubai, United Arab Emirates

6. The Top 10 Shows of the Season

The season’s most anticipated show was surely Alessandro Michele’s runway debut as creative director of Valentino. Ultimately, Michele’s collection did not clinch the number one slot, but it landed near the top of BoF’s list. Our editors were divided over Michele’s layered-on styling, but agreed the show was pristinely executed, deeply researched and emotionally resonant. Milan made a particularly strong showing. We were blown away by Simone Bellotti’s unexpected interpretation of Swissness at Bally, which took the top spot, as well as the collection of otherworldly, conceptual designs shown by Lucie and Luke Meier at Jil Sander.

Fashion month was shaded by a slowdown in luxury sales and a worsening geopolitical climate that darkened the industry’s outlook. Discontent with soaring prices and an ongoing shift towards safe, ultra-commercial design also dampened excitement for the proceedings. In this context, several of the season’s best-received collections were ones that jolted editors awake with a more challenging, experimental aesthetic. Duran Lantink showed his most confident and complete collection to date, while Junya Watanabe’s collection of complex upcycled pieces also made the list. “I feel that abnormal clothing is necessary in our everyday life,” the designer said.

Related Jobs:

Production Pattern Cutter, Erdem — London, United Kingdom

Graphic Design Manager, Ralph Lauren Home — New York, United States

CAD Artist, Chico’s — Fort Myers, United States

7. After Months of Designing with AI, Norma Kamali Isn’t Looking Back

Not long ago, designer Norma Kamali saw a photo of actress Jessica Biel wearing one of her dresses, a body-hugging piece made of alternating bands of black stretch jersey and nude mesh. The image inspired Kamali to introduce new versions of the style for her spring collection, but while trying to create them, she felt stuck. So she turned to artificial intelligence. Kamali used a tool custom-built for her by the generative-AI creative studio Maison Meta to conjure numerous options to choose from, all of which, in her opinion, looked like they were designed by her. In a sense they were. Maison Meta’s AI was trained exclusively on Kamali’s past work as a way to preserve her design legacy, meaning any “new” ideas it produced reflected back her own creative history.

Nearly two years since ChatGPT introduced the general public to the concept of generative AI, sparking a race in fashion to find uses for the technology, questions about its transformative potential abound. A number of doubters believe its promises have been oversold, pointing to issues like hallucinations. Kamali, who has now been using AI in her design for several months, is not among them. She appears as convinced of AI’s power as ever. “For me, it’s really the beginning of a new way to express creativity,” she said.

Related jobs:

Senior Graphic Designer, Aeyde — Berlin, Germany

On-Figure Photographer, Gap — San Francisco, United States

Graphic Designer, Swim USA — Irvine, United States

8. The Glory Days of the Pop-Up Store Are Over. What’s Next?

Pyjama-maker Petite Plume’s real-life marketing strategy is to insert itself into buzzy locales rather than try to build one of its own from scratch. The brand has partnered with the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach, the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, and developed a collaboration with Veronica Beard that was stocked in 30 of that brand’s stores. “The whole idea is meeting the customer where she is but finding a relevant way to do it,” said Fanny Quehe, Petite Plume’s chief marketing officer. “These partnerships help us capitalise on brick-and-mortar experiences without the massive investments that go into them,” she added.

The glory days of pop-ups are long gone, however. Retail vacancies are at a decade-low in the US, and landlords are less willing to accept short-term leases. The expense is another hurdle: in the part of SoHo where Rhode had its pop-up, asking rents rose 27 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2024, according to CBRE. A few blocks over, another shopping corridor saw rents soar 60 percent in the same period. That doesn’t consider the cost of actually building out a temporary store, or staffing it.

Related Jobs:

Part-Time Stylist, Halfpenny London — London, United Kingdom

On-Figure Stylist, Gap — San Francisco, United States

In-Store Visual Merchandiser, Gucci — Sydney, Australia