Casablanca's Charaf Tajer could be Kenzo's new designer Another potential name, according to rumors, could be Marine Serre

UPDATE 30/04/2020: According to rumors that have been circulating insistently since yesterday, Charaf Tajer of Casablanca should be destined to become Kenzo's next creative director. To support the hypothesis, the fact that Tajer was a finalist for the LVMH Prize 2020 and therefore already has connections within the group, known for cultivating his talents internally. Casablanca is also one of the youngest and most successful brands that have started showing at Paris Fashion Week recently and its collections have been universally praised and, within just five seasons, have landed in over 200 luxury retails, including Browns, Slam Jam, Mr Porter, Matches Fashion and Luisaviaroma - demonstrating the good public success that has met the designer's collections , which also signed one of the best collaborations of the year with New Balance.

The real question, however, is: will it be necessary to replace him? When the famous Sebastien Meunier left Ann Demeulemeester after the acquisition by Claudio Antonioli, the new owners of the brand preferred to let the brand's collections be signed by the design team rather than focus their fiches on a new creative director. As Business of Fashion points out, among other things, Kenzo is one of the few premium priced brands of LVMH (i.e. a step below the luxury price of brands such as Louis Vuitton or Dior) perhaps suggesting that the brand could receive the same treatment: to be put on autopilot, producing the classic branded items that have evidently driven sales so far without further pushing its transformation into a luxury brand , made difficult by the historical moment. 

While brands such as Louis Vuitton and Dior quickly returned to health after the lockdown, the 23% drop in luxury sales last year also prompted industry titans such as LVMH to get rid of excess weight: the group has in fact pulled the plug on Rihanna's brand, Fenty, along with British shirt maker Thomas Pink and shoe manufacturer Nicholas Kirkwood , with which the group had a financial partnership. It will certainly be seen more clearly at the bottom of the matter when a successor to Baptista is officially appointed.