High-end British label Jospeh has a new creative director with Mario Arena, formerly director of product and design for ready-to-wear, accessories and runway at JW Anderson, stepping into the role.

And the messaging coming out of the brand suggests we could expect a style shake-up there. Jospeh CEO Barbara Campos hailed Arena as a “highly talented creative [with] a wealth of experience within contemporary luxury” and talked of the label’s “exciting new chapter”. Arena himself said he looks forward to “bringing to life a new vision for this iconic brand”.

He has 30 years’ experience of designing and developing luxury collections and has also been director of design and innovation at Nanushka as well as head of ready-to-wear at Christopher Kane. He also previously had his own brand, Enlist, and as founder/creative director of the Arena International design and trend studio worked with big names such as Celine and its owner LVMH.

But it’s particularly interesting that he’s worked at smaller and niche brands with a quirky profile so it will be interesting to see what he brings to the Joseph label.

We won’t know until next autumn at the earliest however, with his first collection — SS26 — arriving in stores in October next year.

Joseph is headquartered in Fulham, London, where Arena will be based at the head of a newly-appointed design team. 

The almost-60-year-old label has nine standalone stores as well as a webstore and 400+ stockists.