Alexandre de Betak, founder of Bureau Betak, producer and set designer

The visionary director, set designer and producer is known for revolutionizing the way runway shows, events, exhibitions and installations are executed. Throughout his 25-year-plus career and role as the founder and creative force behind his agency, Bureau Betak, he has produced hundreds of runway shows. And as they get bigger and grander, de Betak no doubt will be helping to conceptualize them.

Stéphane de La Faverie, CEO, the Estée Lauder Cos.

All eyes are on de La Faverie, who became Lauder’s CEO at one of the most turbulent moments in its history. Only time will tell if the Frenchman will be able to turn around the fortunes of the grand dame of American beauty, but with a new leadership team in place and a clear strategy, he’s giving it his best shot.

Diego Della Valle, chairman and CEO of the Tod’s Group

The chairman and CEO of the Tod’s Group is investing in the company after delisting it from the Milan Stock Exchange in 2024, wanting to have more flexibility without the quarterly scrutiny of investors. He has had a taste of this freedom with Schiaparelli, which he bought in 2007 and which is enjoying strong momentum under the creative leadership of Daniel Roseberry. Della Valle is a strong supporter of Made in Italy craftsmanship and has funded several projects for the country, most famously the restoration of the Colosseum.

Luca de Meo, incoming CEO, Kering

With a 30-year career as a “car guy,” de Meo’s upcoming appointment to lead Kering out of the weeds came as a surprise, but one that was warmly welcomed by the market, sending the luxury group’s lagging stock up 12 percent. Hailed as “a masterstroke” by analysts, de Meo’s track record of cost efficiency without stifling creativity, combined with his international expertise and cultural fluency, position him well in the tough job of revitalizing Kering’s struggling brands and steering the group into its next chapter. The first steps start in Milan and Paris this fashion season with a slew of designer debuts at the group’s key labels.

Demna, creative director, Gucci

In less than a decade Demna ditched his surname, left the Vetements brand he cofounded, took the creative helm of Balenciaga, stretched the boundaries of luxury, and made himself synonymous with oversize tailoring, jumbo sneakers, expensive logo hoodies, dystopian chic and one of the funniest “Simpsons” episodes ever. Now the brainy Georgian designer is following in Tom Ford’s and Alessandro Michele’s footsteps and will apply his formidable design chops and image-making expertise to Gucci, with the goal, and pressure, of revitalizing the stalled Italian brand.

Jean-Frédéric Dufour, CEO, Rolex

During his decade-long tenure the Swiss watchmaker has seen its revenue double, according to market estimates. On top of that, the executive has set in motion ambitious projects, such as the introduction of a certified pre-owned program in 2023 in Europe that has since been rolled out to the U.S. and the Middle East, as well as the 2023 acquisition of long-standing close partner Bucherer, one of the largest watch retailers in the world. He also serves as treasurer of the Watches and Wonders Geneva Foundation, after a two-year tenure as its president.

Axel Dumas, CEO, Hermès International SA

Dumas, sixth-generation heir and CEO of Hermès since 2014, is credited with fending off a hostile takeover by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and steering the company to unprecedented success over the last decade. As luxury has stalled, Hermès has continued to buck the trend, with the brand earlier this year surpassing its rival LVMH as France’s most valuable luxury group. His long-term strategy — rooted in Made in France craftsmanship over marketing, advertising and celebrity placement — has earned Hermès a reputation for resilience. Even amid global uncertainties like U.S. tariffs, Dumas remains committed to keeping production in France, reinforcing Hermès’ brand equity bona fides.

Sir James Dyson, founder, Dyson

The world’s most famous engineer, Dyson made his name (and fortune) by radically reimagining quotidian items like vacuum cleaners. So no surprise he revolutionized beauty tools by transforming the lowly hair dryer into a veritable status symbol. Now he’s expanding into hair products, aiming to reinvent those, too.

Louis Ferla, CEO, Cartier

Ferla was appointed the iconic jeweler’s CEO in September 2024 as part of a rapid-fire series of top management appointments at parent group Compagnie Financière Richemont. A Richemont veteran who joined the company in 2001, Ferla was most recently CEO of Vacheron Constantin. Richemont is bucking the luxury downturn thanks to its watches and jewelry businesses. Can Ferla continue to beat the trend?

Ronnie Fieg, founder, Kith

It all started with a grand mission: to create the best curated footwear shop in New York City. Fourteen years after opening his first Kith shop within the Atrium store in Brooklyn, Fieg has become one of the world’s leading sneaker and lifestyle retailers with 17 trendsetting units around the world, an eponymous apparel brand and even Kith Treats, a concept that sells cereal, ice cream and other snacks.

Michel Gaubert, sound designer

The go-to sound designer for the world’s top luxury fashion shows, including Chanel, Dior and Louis Vuitton, Gaubert is known for curating music that sets the emotional tone of runway presentations and has elevated soundtracks to be as important as the designs.

Kaia Gerber, model  

Following in the footsteps of mother Cindy Crawford, Gerber is among the latest generation of the supermodel set that her mother helped pioneer. And, like her mom, she’s moved way beyond modeling and into acting, collaborating on collections with the likes of Karl Lagerfeld, Vuori and more, and even launching a reading club.

Nicolas Ghesquière, artistic director of women’s collections, Louis Vuitton

One of France’s most famous and beloved homegrown talents, and the go-to designer for French First Lady Brigitte Macron, Ghesquière has been staging dazzling, high-impact fashion shows for Louis Vuitton since 2013, revving up the brand with daring designs and spinning out a slate of hit handbags and shoes. Known for futuristic leanings and a penchant for clashing eras and inspirations, he catapulted onto the international radar with a stellar tenure at Balenciaga and brought his loyal clutch of famous actresses with him to Vuitton, famously dressing Emma Stone for her 2024 Oscar win, for example.

Morris Goldfarb, chairman and CEO, G-III Apparel Group

Goldfarb has spent more than half a century deftly navigating the fashion company founded by his father through an ever-changing market. And he’s managed to keep the company growing. The latest change, the loss of its Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger licenses (now at least partially the subject of a bitter legal dispute with PVH), has had Goldfarb move into higher gear, signing new licenses and building up its own Donna Karan, DKNY and Karl Lagerfeld brands. 

Selena Gomez, founder, Rare Beauty

Rare is the celebrity who creates a brand that can connect with consumers on a deeper level, but Gomez seems to have cracked the code. Since launching Rare Beauty in 2020, she and her team have built a brand with more than $350 million in retail sales. Sure, on-trend products are key. But it’s Gomez’s commitment to mental health — and her message that beauty is more than skin deep — that has made her a beauty superstar.

Wes Gordon, creative director of Carolina Herrera

Gordon —winner of the Red Carpet Visionary award at WWD’s first Style Awards — continues to modernize Carolina Herrera’s legacy of timeless elegance and femininity with his romantic designs and bold use of color. He’s also taken on creative direction of Herrera’s core beauty business, a further vote of confidence in him by parent company Puig.

Gigi Hadid, model and founder and creative director of Guest in Residence and Bella Hadid, model and founder of Orebella

The Hadid sisters are two other members of the new supermodel set who have moved beyond the runway as founders and creative directors of their own businesses. In 2022, Gigi launched Guest in Residence, a cozy cashmere brand; in 2024, Bella unveiled her fragrance brand of nonalcoholic biphase perfume, Orebella.

Nicolas Hieronimus, chairman and CEO, L’Oréal

Head of the world’s biggest beauty company, Hieronimus isn’t one to let scale get in the way of progress. By driving acquisitions across science, technology, geographies and, of course, brands, he’s positioning L’Oréal boldly for the future. Catch him if you can.

Catherine Holstein, founder and creative director of Khaite 

Since its launch in 2016, Holstein’s brand Khaite has garnered significant recognition for its meld of classic American sportswear with darkly elegant, contemporary sophistication and sleek, modern minimalism. With estimated sales of more than $100 million, the CFDA award winner is gradually opening her own stores and eyeing the next level of growth. Will Khaite be America’s next billion-dollar brand?

Nicholas Houzé, chairman of the board, Galeries Lafayette Groupe

As CEO, Houzé, fifth-generation scion of the Galeries Lafayette family, has successfully guided the department store through a series of major crises. Under his leadership the retailer invested heavily in revamping its luxury offering and giving its flagship Boulevard Haussmann store a glow up. To follow that up, Houzé committed an additional 400 million euros to modernization, tech upgrades, and infrastructure improvements over the next four years. He’s stepped into a dedicated role as group chairman, overseeing the department store network, e-tailer La Redoute and brands Louis Pion and Mauboussin, while Galeries Lafayette continues to open more department stores abroad.

Simon Porte Jacquemus, designer

Since launching his namesake label in 2009, Jacquemus has built a global brand known for its Provençal storytelling, accessible luxury pricing and viral marketing. He’s remained independent while developing DTC channels and staging cinematic runway displays in spectacular locations, including a lavender field and the Palace of Versailles. After expanding into menswear in 2018, he confirmed plans to branch out into beauty via a long-term license with French beauty giant L’Oréal, which has also made a minority investment in the label.

Ji Xiao An, founder, SKP

SKP Beijing is one of China’s highest-grossing luxury department store operators — and it’s primarily thanks to the vision of Mr. Ji, as he is widely known. Respected and paid court to by luxury executives in New York, Paris and Milan, Mr. Ji has taken the mall to an entirely different level in China, combining art, hospitality, entertainment and retail in ways far from those in the West. While China’s luxury market has slowed, SKP’s malls in the capital city as well as Xi’an, Chengdu and Wuhan remain key for Western brands — and Mr. Ji is planning expansion to Guangzhou and Hangzhou as well.

Kylie Jenner, founder, Kylie Cosmetics

Hard to believe, but it’s been a decade since Jenner launched her OG lip kits and created a new go-to-market model for beauty. Since then, she sold 51 percent of her brand to Coty, and while there’ve been ups and downs, her recent foray into fragrance and the success of her fashion brand Khy have showed consumers are still clamoring for Kylie.

Adrian Joffe, CEO of Dover Street Market and president of Comme des Garçons International

The business yin to his wife Rei Kawakubo’s creative yang — and probably sometimes vice versa — Joffe has helped transform the “beautiful chaos” of Dover Street Market into a buzzy, benchmark multibrand retailer, brand accelerator and ground zero for bold creativity of all kinds. The serial disruptor recently introduced a DSM brand, a newfangled take on private label since it’s signed by designer Kei Ninomiya, whose Noir collection is part of the Comme des Garçons family. Based mainly in Paris, he’s also the global guardian and whisperer of Kawakubo’s formidable design and business legacy.

Stephen Jones, founder of Stephen Jones Millinery and creative director of hats at Dior

One of London’s most enduring creatives, Jones has spent a career crisscrossing the English Channel, designing hats for his own brand and for designers including Thierry Mugler, Jean Paul Gaultier, Claude Montana, Azzedine Alaïa and his good friend John Galliano, who made him directeur création chapeau at Christian Dior. The breadth of his work is unmatched: It has ranged from heavy, pharaonic headdresses and paint-splodged artist palettes for Galliano’s runways to woolen, bobbled winter caps for everyday wear.

Heather Kaminetsky, CEO, Net-a-porter

Luxury e-commerce veteran Kaminetsky is leading the turnaround of Net-a-porter following its purchase by Mytheresa earlier this year. It was a homecoming for Kaminetsky, who had served as Net-a-porter’s vice president, global marketing, until 2016 before joining Mytheresa in 2021 as president of North America. But can she buck luxury’s slowdown and recapture Net-a-porter’s pizzazz?

Kim Kardashian, media personality, entrepreneur and founder of Skims

The cultural icon rose to fame through her family’s reality TV show and has utilized that influence in the fashion and beauty industries to launch myriad brands over the years, including the former KKW Beauty and Skkn by Kim, which she recently bought back from Coty. Kardashian and Jens Grede cofounded innerwear brand Skims in 2019 and there has been speculation for the last few years it was going to go public. Maybe this year.

Julian Klausner, creative director, Dries Van Noten

Klausner is a 2016 graduate of Brussels’ renowned visual arts and fashion school La Cambre who cut his teeth at Thom Browne, Kenzo and Maison Margiela before joining Dries Van Noten in 2018 — first as womenswear designer under the founder, then succeeding him as creative director in December. His debut collections for women and men, shown respectively in March and June, were well received and read like promising first moves for his tenure.

Michael Kliger, managing director and CEO of LuxExperience

It’s been a big year for Kliger and LuxExperience, the umbrella company holding company for Mytheresa and the recently acquired Yoox Net-a-porter. The business is under construction for the next two to three years as it smooths out its ​​technology, corporate office and operations integrations. LuxExperience is the last one standing of the slew of pureplay luxury fashion e-tailers launched in the ’90s. Now Kliger has to prove combining Mytheresa and YNAP can work.

Francis Kurkdjian, perfumer; founder, Maison Francis Kurkdjian; perfume creation director, Dior

The once-in-a-generation nose created his first blockbuster at the tender age of 24 with Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male. Since then Kurkdjian has launched his own maison, assumed creative direction of Dior’s fragrance business and scented everything from the famous fountains of Versailles to the Grand Palais. The nose knows.

Stefan Larsson, CEO, PVH Corp.

Larsson’s reinvention of PVH Corp. has Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein approaching the market in new ways — including an emphasis on “hero” products, statement-making marketing campaigns featuring the likes of Jeremy Allen White and updates to back-of-house processes. The decision to take back control of businesses that for years were licensed to G-III Apparel Group has erupted into a bitter legal battle, while the market awaits more signs his strategy is clicking.

David Lauren, chief branding and innovation officer and vice chairman, Ralph Lauren Corp.
Since joining the brand in 2000, Lauren has spearheaded multiple groundbreaking technological innovations, global sponsorships and digital initiatives, including launching of one of the industry’s first luxury fashion websites, and the Ralph Lauren Media Division, coining the concept “merchan-tainment,” and pushing the concept of fashion shows with holographic ones. He has also organized the company’s global sponsorships of Wimbledon, the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament and Team USA at the Olympics. Ralph Lauren continues to grow quarter to quarter, and Lauren’s initiatives are no doubt helping.

Anthony Ledru, CEO, Tiffany & Co. 

Since becoming Tiffany’s CEO in 2021 after it was acquired by LVMH, Ledru has helped revitalize the iconic American jeweler by blending its heritage with a modern, youthful appeal through high-profile collaborations, innovative campaigns, and the rejuvenation of famed spaces like the flagship, “The Landmark.” He now has his sights set on global growth, this year alone opening mega flagships in Milan and Tokyo.

Pascale Lepoivre, CEO, Loewe

As CEO of Loewe since 2016,Lepoivre worked in tandem with then-creative director Jonathan Anderson to transform a small and reputed leather goods house into a vibrant global luxury brand steeped in contemporary culture and craftsmanship. Now she’ll be aiming to maintain the Spanish brand’s growth under the tenure of incoming creative heads Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, formerly of Proenza Schouler.

Christian Louboutin

One of the world’s most famous and accomplished shoe designers, Louboutin made his red soles a global signpost of luxury, prestige and French sophistication — and a trademark as powerful as Nike’s Swoosh. Despite launching several successful growth vectors — including men’s shoes, handbags, beauty and kids’ sizes — the dapper Louboutin still sketches every heel, collaborates with young designers, and finds beauty, inspiration and energy around the world. He also relishes a bit of fun and has done a comic book and a wet and wild shoe spectacle starring France’s synchronized swim team.

Patrice Louvet, president and CEO, Ralph Lauren Corp. 

The Ralph Lauren brand has been a powerhouse for coming on 60 years, and with Louvet in the corner office for eight years, it’s had the right kind of corporate machine to bring it to life. The CEO has encouraged a “rolling thunder” of marketing moments, trimmed distribution and helped the brand consistently move its average retail price higher. The result? A strength across the board in the first quarter and a boost for the outlook this year, despite the disruption of tariffs.