For months, Lanvin has been promising to unveil the name of its new creative director. The time has come. The flagship label of the Chinese Lanvin group, formerly known as Fosun Fashion Group has set its sights on 57-year-old Peter Copping, who has extensive experience in fashion and luxury goods. He succeeds Bruno Sialelli, who after four years was dismissed in April 2023. He will have the onerous task of relaunching the oldest French fashion house still in operation, which has never really recovered from its break-up with Alber Elbaz in 2015.

Appointed to the position of creative director, “as creative head of the women’s and men’s collections,” he will take up his new duties in September 2024. “Peter Copping brings to Lanvin a singular perspective and the technical expertise of a modern couturier with a diverse background spanning different categories and geographies. Over the past two years, Lanvin has redefined itself in contemporary culture through its French sophistication and radical chic. Copping’s mission is a continuation of this transformation of the house,” the brand said in a press release.

The designer graduated from Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art in London, and after an apprenticeship with Christian Lacroix, he began his career at Iceberg in Italy, before returning to Paris where he joined Sonia Rykiel, working with the ateliers. In 1997, he joined Louis Vuitton under Marc Jacobs, where he launched the ready-to-wear department. He became head of women’s ready-to-wear and the American’s right-hand man for a dozen years.

In 2009, he became creative director of Nina Ricci, a position he held for five years until moving in 2014 to the New York brand Oscar de la Renta, where he remained creative director until 2016. More recently, the designer headed up haute couture at Balenciaga, as well as special and VIP projects, overseeing the workshops when the house’s couture collections were reintroduced.

Known for his very feminine, chic and delicate style and his great attention to detail, Peter Copping is taking on a big challenge in his new role. After years of decline, this venerable fashion house is struggling to get back on its feet. The designers who followed Alber Elbaz have never succeeded in revitalising Lanvin, from Bouchra Jarrar to Olivier Lapidus and Bruno Sialelli. In 2023, the label recorded a 7% fall in sales to €111.7 million.

“Peter Copping’s arrival at Lanvin is an important step in the renaissance of one of France’s great fashion houses. I am confident that Peter’s vision and technical rigour, together with the continued perseverance of our teams around the world, will push us beyond a new frontier, delivering beauty and results in equal measure,” commented the label’s deputy CEO, Siddhartha Shukla, in the press release.