Maxime Simoens named artistic director of Loris Azzaro

Azzaro has appointed Maxime Simoens as the brand's new artistic director. The French designer will step into the role immediately as he succeeds Arnaud Maillard and Alvaro Castejon, who departed the brand last July.

"It’s a great honour to be able to revisit Loris Azzaro’s heritage," Simoens said in a statement. "His free anti-conformist spirit, avant-garde view of elegance and uncompromising hedonism were at the heart of his work. I’m enormously lucky to be able to reinterpret these codes through fashion for men and women."

Loris Azzaro founded his label in Paris in the 1960s. The brand celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

“The work of Maxime Simoens is in subtle resonance with Loris Azzaro’s emblematic silhouettes; there is the same taste for graphic fluidity, precise but sensual architectural lines, the opposition of contrasts and virtuoso embroidery," said Azzaro ceo Gabriel de Linage. "We are very pleased to welcome Maxime Simoens into this iconic and iconoclastic fashion house to shape its future, at the very moment when it celebrates 50 years of creation."

In addition to his duties at Loris Azzaro, Simoens' will continue to run his own brand, M.X. Paris.

Simoens' plans for the brand are still unknown, but if the spring/summer 2017 show Azzaro staged in January is any indication, the brand wants a return to heritage.

The looks were an ode to the Azzaro of the 70s featuring heart-shaped bodices, sunset orange and zebra print.

Photo : Francois Guillot / AFP