Courrèges Names Yolanda Zobel Artistic Director
PARIS – Courrèges said on Wednesday that it has named Yolanda Zobel artistic director of the house, effective Feb. 26.
The announcement came some seven months after the French fashion label parted ways with design duo Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant, who were with Courrèges for two years.
“It is a house that has inspired me and entire generations of designers with its anticonformism, its avant-garde spirit and its irresistible joie de vivre,” Zobel said in a statement. “This new Courrèges will grow from the urge of creating a whole new universe for a free human, ahead of its time, explorative, courageous, self-aware, confident in his body and human energy, engaged and yet able to indulge in liberating moments of fun.”
The designer, who grew up in Germany, has for two decades been developing fashion collections for various brands. According to her LinkedIn profile, she was head of women’s wear and creative management at Jil Sander in 2015. Prior to that, she was design director and head of women’s wear at Acne Studios from 2011 to 2013, and was also that label’s freelance designer for women’s wear pre-collection from 2008 to 2011.
Between 2006 and 2008, Zobel served as senior designer of women’s wear main line, and from 1999 to 2005 was junior designer of women’s wear main line at Giorgio Armani.
“Throughout all these diverse experiences, her driving force has always been a strong will for new, unconventional ways of expressing her unique vision for the needs and dreams of women of the future,” the house said in a statement.
“We are convinced that she will be able to grasp what Courrèges is all about while remaining true to herself,” said Jacques Bungert and Frédéric Torloting, co-owners of the brand, in the statement.
They said that with the appointment of Zobel, “a new development cycle is starting, with the plan now being to pick up the pace with Christina [Ahlers, chief executive officer of the house], so that Courrèges regains a leading position, both creatively and commercially.”
Zobel will present her first collection, for spring 2019, at the end of September.
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