# Project Description

The Fashion 'Burnout Cycle'

Maddalena Hoadley

Summary

Final work

I’m an MSc Fashion Psychology student with a background in Economics and Management. Through my research on consumer behaviour and branding, I developed a strong interest in marketing and communication strategies, particularly how brands can build and maintain trust and cultural relevance.

I’m an MSc Fashion Psychology student with a background in Economics and Management. Through my r...

College London College of Fashion

Course MSc Psychology of Fashion

Graduation year 2025

Over the past few years, luxury fashion has faced major turbulence. Fashion conglomerates like LVMH and Kering have reported declining sales and revenues, while many of their most famous brands have rapidly switched CEOs and creative directors. These are striking changes compared to designers like Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel or John Galliano at Dior who remained in post for over a decade. Today, creative directors often last only three years before being replaced. This dissertation therefore aims to explore why turnover has become so common, whether it actually benefits brands, and what impact it has on both the industry and its consumers. To investigate these questions, we conducted four focus group interviews with 14 industry professionals, including brand managers, fashion buyers, journalists, and retail staff. These participants provided valuable insider perspectives on the realities of luxury fashion today. Their insights were analysed using thematic analysis to identify common patterns and concerns.

The findings revealed a clear cycle: financial pressure from shareholders pushes brands to prioritise quick profits over long-term vision. This leads to safer, repetitive designs that weaken brand identity. Consumers lose trust and disengage as a result. Falling sales then trigger executive decisions to replace the creative director, but these frequent changes only worsen the problem by further disrupting continuity and confusing loyal customers. The cycle then repeats.

This research suggests that high creative director turnover is not the solution to industry challenges. Instead, it reflects deeper structural issues. Creative directors are set up for failure by the expectation to deliver both novelty and stability at impossible speeds. Real solutions lie in changing the system: sharing creative responsibility across teams, shifting focus away from quarterly sales figures, and investing in long-term consumer trust rather than chasing viral moments. Ultimately, this dissertation argues that luxury fashion’s problem is not with its designers, but with the unsustainable system around them. Unless the cycle is broken, turnover will continue to erode the heritage and emotional value that make luxury unique.

Final work

How Industry Short-Termism Fuels Creative Director Turnover

The problem does not lie with the creative directors themselves, but rather with the structures surrounding them. The turnover cycle reflects deeper contradictions between financial imperatives and the need for enduring identity. In practical terms, this highlights a need for more sustainable organisational structures within fashion houses themselves. Steps in this direction could include, for example: 1) spreading creative responsibility across teams, 2) measuring success through long-term consumer trust rather than just short-term sales, 3) and including cultural or consumer experts in leadership discussions to give context beyond financial numbers.

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Over the past few years, luxury fashion has faced major turbulence. Fashion conglomerates like LVMH and Kering have reported declining sales and revenues, while many of their most famous brands have rapidly s...

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