SUSTAINABILITY

Balancing act

FASHION’S CARBON EMISSIONS ARE GETTING WORSE WHILE THERE ARE FEWER WOMEN AT THE TOP OF THE INDUSTRY THAN THIS TIME LAST YEAR. BUT IS IT CAUSATION OR CORRELATION? AND COULD FOCUSING ON THE LATTER INFLUENCE THE FORMER?

WORDS BY LUCIANNE TONTI

STELLA McCARTNEY A/W 2025

Two phrases have stayed with me from the years I lived in Paris and worked for a small French fashion house: c’est banal (it’s boring) and super drole (very funny). In the atelier, good design was something that had not been seen before, that elicited a feeling: amusement, a holiday, longing. Since everything was held to the highest standard, sustainability was a given, not an achievement. Now, as luxury fashion experiences a sales slump amid the chaotic whirl of its runways, handbags and influencer economy, these values feel notably absent. When placed alongside languishing sustainability directives and the latest rotation of white male creative directors, it seems the industry has lost its raison d’être.

Perhaps, for the first time in modern history, fashion is not pushing the culture forward. The rise of conservative ideologies has restricted women’s rights and weakened climate change action, and some luxury houses seem content to meet the culture exactly where it is. Despite having spent the past decade — at least — pledging to lower carbon emissions in line with a 1.5-degree emissions target, the industry’s environmental impacts are getting worse. Meanwhile, the number of female creative directors at the biggest, most visible brands in the industry is dwindling.

“It is insane that fashion is marketed at and bought by a majority of women and yet it is men who control and create it — mostly middle-aged white men,” says Tiffanie Darke, the author of What to Wear and Why and the It’s Not Sustainable Substack.

After the latest round of creative-director shuffling, female head-of-brands remain scarce. Sure, Stella McCartney, Phoebe Philo, Victoria Beckham and Gabriela Hearst are the creative directors of their eponymous labels. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are at The Row, Miuccia is at Prada and Donatella stepped down from Versace in March — her replacement (a man) was announced without fanfare. There is also Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski at Hermès, Chemena Kamali at Chloé, and Veronica Leoni who debuted at Calvin Klein in February. But of the large fashion houses owned by LVMH, since Maria Grazia Chiuri left Dior in May and was replaced by Jonathan Anderson, there is now just Sarah Burton at Givenchy. At Kering — the owner of McQueen, Balenciaga, Brioni, Gucci and Saint Laurent — there is only Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta.