Who Will Replace Nicolas Di Felice at Courrèges?

Designer Nicolas Di Felice is leaving Courrèges, which is a shame because his collections for the brand have been spectacular. Especially his most recent offering for Fall 2026, which walked the runway in Paris earlier this month.

“Under his direction, the house experienced a true renaissance, acclaimed by the critics, and established itself as a distinctive voice in the contemporary fashion landscape,” said the brand in a statement. “Nicolas reinterpreted its iconic codes and created a true dialogue with a new generation… Courrèges is grateful for his unique contribution and extends its best wishes for his future projects.”

What those future projects will be, only time will tell. He seems particularly interested in music, having staged a series of popular night clubs during his time at the brand under the Club Courrèges banner, creating a pop-up with independent record store Dizonord in Paris, and designing stage outfit’s for Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour. So perhaps there is something music-related in his immediate future.

“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the group and especially to François Pinault and François-Henri Pinault for their trust,” said Di Felice. “I also want to truly thank all the teams and my friends, whose talent and dedication made this human and creative journey so meaningful.”

The question now is, who will replace him at Courrèges? The house is set to make their announcement next week, but we’ve got some guesses.

1. Casey Cadwallader
The former creative director of Mugler, Cadwallader left the brand about a year ago for undisclosed reasons and has been pretty quiet on social media ever since. Mugler saw massive growth during his 7-year tenure, but they still make most of their money from perfume sales. So even though the company as a whole is much larger and more profitable than Courrèges, it could still be a good fit if Artemis is looking for someone with a similar aesthetic background and a proven track record of growing a niche luxury business. And if they’re willing to pony up the money to get him.

2. Someone from Victoria Beckham
Courrèges’ current CEO (since 2024) is Marie Leblanc, who was previously the CEO of Victoria Beckham. During her six years at that brand, she doubtless got to know the higher-ups on Victoria’s design team and may take this vacancy as an opportunity to reunite with one of them. Although Di Felice helped bring Courrèges back to cultural relevance, the brand’s annual revenue is pretty low overall, with estimates placing it somewhere between $13.8 and $25 million. That’s not a lot of money to play with when it comes to securing top talent. Which is why they may find that going to a more senior designer at another brand is more financially viable than poaching top talent from an already prestigious post.

3. Someone from Louis Vuitton
Nicholas Ghesquiere has some of the most talented unsung designers in the industry working for him at any given time. For most of his career, Di Felice was one such designer. He started with Ghesquiere at Balenciaga in 2008 and rejoined him at Vuitton after a short stint under Raf Simons at Dior before decamping to Courrèges in 2020.

4. Natacha Ramsay-Levi
Like Di Felice, Ramsay-Levi spent years working under Nicholas Ghesquiere at both Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton, before replacing Clare Waight Keller at Chloé in 2017. Her vision for the brand was a bit more slick and hard-edged than what Chloé is typically known for and she left after just four years, but her collections were good. Really good. And although her forward-thinking aesthetic might not have resonated as well with Chloé’s customers as, say, the work of current Chloé designer Chemena Kamali, it could be just the thing for Courrèges.

Money might be an issue, but Ramsay-Levi has spent the last few years designing shoes for ECCO and while she’s managed to do some good work there during that time, the job honestly feels like an under-utilization of her prodigious talents.

If she’s hungry enough to break back into luxury ready-to-wear, Courrèges might be able to get her on the cheap. Or maybe she could do both jobs. She wouldn’t be the first designer to juggle multiple brands. And she certainly seems more than capable of managing the work.

5. Peter Hawkings
As much as we love what Haider Ackerman is doing at Tom Ford these days – and we do! — Peter Hawkings’ contributions to that brand cannot and should not be overlooked. True, he lasted less than a year as creative director, and his collections were not the best received, but he worked alongside Ford for 25 years before that. Maybe he wasn’t the best choice to replace him, but he could still be great at a less overtly sexy brand like Courrèges. And who knows? Maybe the time off since his firing has served to sharpen his vision. And surely he learned a lot working under the master marketer for all those years. Maybe it’s time to give him a second chance.

6. Dario Vitale
Going from Versace to Courrèges feels like a step down, to be honest, but given the unceremonious way Vitale was tossed out by Prada Group after his first show, it may be a step the designer is willing to take. And it’s not like he did a bad job at Versace. True, he approached the brand from a different angle than Donatella, but his collection was still very much rooted in the house’s codes and it was easily the most exciting and talked-about Versace collection of the decade. And remember, Vitale wasn’t fired because he’s a bad designer. He was fired because he dared to leave Miu Miu for Versace in the first place. The Pradas took that as a personal affront and pretty much the first thing they did after they bought Versace from Capri was kick Vitale to the curb. But Vitale did great work at Miu Miu for years. And if Courreges can get their hands on him, he can probably do great work for them too.

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