For A Clue To Men’s Fashion Turmoil, Look To The Suit

Lately, the Chicken Littles of fashion are reading dire omens into a cluster of design world shake-ups. Coming soon after changes at the top at Dior, Lanvin and Balenciaga, startling personnel shifts at prominent men’s wear brands have left some in the industry wandering around dazed, waiting to be smacked with a piece of falling sky. But while this turmoil seems to point to an industry in disarray, the chief cause may be as simple as a generational shift in consumer habits. Look to the waning fortunes of the suit.

First, though, a recap: In early February, Stefano Pilati, the head of design for Ermenegildo Zegna Couture, parted ways with the Italian luxury goods behemoth — to which he went in 2013 after leading Yves Saint Laurent as creative director for most of the decade before — to pursue “other projects.” The announcement of the move came two days after news broke that Alessandro Sartori was leaving his post as artistic director of Berluti, a label he and the luxury goods scion Antoine Arnault (whose father, Bernard Arnault, controls LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) had transformed over half a decade from a high-end cobbler into a sort of Urban Outfitters for the 1 percent. Read more at The New York Times.