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Louis Vuitton CEO Michael Burke attended the off-schedule Spring/Summer 2023 show of Martine Rose in London this weekend, sparking speculation that the 41-year-old menswear designer inspired by rave, hip-hop and punk subculture is on the contender list to fill the vacant creative director role for Louis Vuitton menswear.
The existing design team has been running Louis Vuitton menswear since the passing of American fashion designer Virgil Abloh on 28 November 2021. Many young designers have been rumoured to be the successor to Abloh, but Burke will have the ultimate say. A spokesperson for Louis Vuitton did not respond to request for comment. Martine Rose declined to comment.
The next Louis Vuitton men’s fashion show will be held on 23 June in Paris at the Louvre. The CEO told MF Fashion last week that after the show: “We will move on to the next step.” Burke also told Vogue Business in May that the contract of womenswear creative director Nicolas Ghesquière will be renewed next year, but the menswear position remains vacant.
Other potential candidates for the role include Grace Wales Bonner, who this season eschewed London for a special guest designer spot at Pitti Uomo in Florence where she presented her first show in two years last night. Samuel Ross, founder of A-Cold-Wall, has also been mentioned as a potential candidate: all three are London-based, emerging designers with multicultural backgrounds who are redefining British fashion. Early this year, Vogue Business reported other possibilities, including Jonathan Anderson who has revived LVMH-owned Loewe, Nigo who recently joined Kenzo, Ronnie Fieg, who founded Kith, Sacai founder and creative director Chitose Abe and Ambush’s Yoon Ahn.
Martine Rose is known for her affinity for London subcultures, and often shows off-schedule. The British-Jamaican designer also has an ongoing Nike collaboration; she wore a hybrid between traditional smart shoes and Nike Shox trainers at this weekend’s show. She has previously shown her collections in areas of north London that have personal meaning to her, including a climbing centre in Tottenham, a school in Kentish Town and a Colombian market in Seven Sisters. This time, she went south of the river, staging her off-schedule show in a LGBTQ+ club and cabaret space, covered in black latex curtains.
“I love people. The energy [online] is not the same,” Rose told reporters backstage after presenting a collection of shrunken silhouettes and experimental tailoring on a diverse cast of models — core to her shows each season.
Asked by Vogue Business why she doesn’t show on the official London Fashion Week schedule, she responds: “I never follow the traditional path. I like to work on my own schedule and hope people just follow along.” Rose still sees value in staging a physical show. “I want people to see the sweat on [the models’] bodies. I want people to feel the energy. I really want to create an experience and pull people into it. I don’t want to create something that feels removed.” The brand hosted a private afterparty featuring a performance from a drag Judy Garland for friends and family.
Graduating from Middlesex University in 2002, Martine Rose set up her first label LMNOP the following year with now-stylist Tamara Rothstein, a friend and frequent collaborator. The line folded in 2005. In 2007, she established her eponymous label, which began as a men’s shirt brand and has since expanded to include outerwear, denim, trousers, footwear and small leather accessories.
Initially supported by Fashion East, Rose has also received sponsorship from the British Fashion Council’s Newgen Men awards. In 2015, when Demna Gvasalia joined Balenciaga as creative director, he hired Rose as a consultant, elevating her profile in the fashion industry. Last October, the London-based showroom and brand accelerator Tomorrow, whose portfolio includes cult names like A-Cold-Wall, Coperni, Charles Jeffrey and Colville, took a majority stake in her label.
With additional reporting by Laure Guilbault.
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