Fashion's exit season is officially here. Just days after Anthony Vaccarello's exit from Saint Laurent, two more designers are leaving their houses. On October 15, Calvin Klein and McQueen confirmed the departures of their creative directors, as FashionUnited reported. Neither house has named a successor yet.
Veronica Leoni parts ways with Calvin Klein
At Calvin Klein, Veronica Leoni will leave Calvin Klein Collection when her current contract ends. Appointed in May 2024 as the brand's first female creative director, she brought Calvin Klein back to the New York runway in February 2025, ending a hiatus that began when Raf Simons left in 2018. The brand said its new creative leadership for Collection would be revealed "in due course."
Credit: Calvin Klein Spring/Summer 2027
It's a surprising exit. Leoni's Spring/Summer 2027 show, staged in a bare Chelsea warehouse with a single Walter De Maria installation, was one of our favorite moments of New York Fashion Week: pared back, precise and deeply Calvin. Just as her vision felt fully in place, it's over.
McGirr follows
At McQueen, Seán McGirr is leaving after three years as creative director. He joined in October 2023, succeeding Sarah Burton, and showed his first collection in March 2024. Kering CEO Luca de Meo thanked him for his "contribution and dedication" and said the house was looking for "a bold new direction. The timing is striking. Only a month ago, McGirr staged McQueen's first mainline show in London in more than 25 years. A homecoming that, in hindsight, also turned out to be a farewell.
Credit: Vogue
Three houses, three departures, one week. After the great designer reshuffle of 2025, fashion seemed ready for a little stability. It didn't last. For Saint Laurent, Calvin Klein and McQueen, the next appointments will say a lot about where each house wants to go. For the rest of us, we'd simply love to see designers given the time to build something before the chairs start moving again.