Lanvin appoints Balenciaga’s former couture head as artistic director

French couture house Lanvin has announced the appointment of Peter Copping as artistic director, a role he will take on from September 2024 and in which he will then assume the creative lead of womenswear and menswear collections.

The British designer, who graduated from Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art, started out in the industry under the French designer Sonia Rykiel before moving to Louis Vuitton where he spent over a decade.

At the LVMH-owned fashion giant, he served under its then-creative director Marc Jacobs as the head of womenswear, before becoming creative director of Nina Ricci in Paris and later Oscar de la Renta in New York.

Copping then moved on to become head of couture at Balenciaga, where he was responsible for the reintroduction of the couture collection while directing the brand’s ateliers. He also held the position of head of VIP and special projects during his time at the fashion house.

In a press release, Copping was quoted as saying: “Jeanne Lanvin was a visionary of her time whose interests and passions extended far beyond fashion, as did my own.

Peter Copping enters as Lanvin continues on path of leather-focused transformation

“I am extremely honoured to have been chosen as artistic director of Lanvin and to be able, along with the atelier and teams, to write the next chapter for this iconic house.”

Through his experience, Lanvin is hoping to capture Copping’s technical expertise and apply such perspectives to its ongoing brand transformation, which has been ongoing for the past two years.

Copping succeeds Bruno Sialelli, who stepped down from the helm position in mid-2023 amid a major creative shift at the house, which has set about putting a particular emphasis on the leather goods market.

In his own statement, deputy CEO of Lanvin, Siddhartha Shukla, said: “Peter Copping’s arrival at Lanvin is an important milestone in the renaissance of one of the great French maisons. I am confident that with Peter’s vision and technical rigour and the continued perseverance of our teams globally, we will identify a new frontier in fashion and deliver beauty and results in equal measure.”

Since his appointment in 2021, Shukla has implemented a number of notable changes at the fashion house, most significantly the introduction of Lanvin to the New York Stock Exchange and the reinvigoration of its brand identity and product strategy.