Kering Names Demna Gavasalia Artistic Director at Balenciaga

By Jason Chow 

PARIS--French luxury group Kering SA Wednesday named Demna Gavasalia as the new artistic director at Balenciaga, replacing Alexander Wang who announced his departure earlier this year.

The appointment ends weeks of speculation on who would succeed Mr. Wang, who left the label to focus on his own eponymous brand.

Balenciaga, along with Kering's other smaller brands, including Stella McCartney, Bottega Veneta and Yves Saint Laurent, have been relied upon over the past two years to make up for falling profits at the company's flagship brand Gucci.

Kering doesn't break out the financial results of Balenciaga. Citigroup analysts estimated in a report earlier this year that Balenciaga's sales in 2014 were EUR300 million ($338.2 million), representing about 3% of Kering's total revenue.

While far from being the largest brand in the Kering stable, Balenciaga is still regarded by fashion insiders as an important influence on the runway and has been a steppingstone for past designers to larger brands. Before Mr. Wang, who took over in December 2012, the brand was helmed by Nicolas Ghesquière, now artistic director at giant luxury brand Louis Vuitton.

Mr. Gavasalia, a 34-year-old Georgian-born German national is a rising star in the fashion world, with stints at Maison Martin Margiela and Louis Vuitton before launching his own brand, VETEMENTS in 2014.

Write to Jason Chow at [e-mail]

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 07, 2015 03:37 ET (07:37 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.