‘Loud luxury’ is back as high-end brands look to rebound

“Loud luxury” is poised for a comeback as ailing fashion houses attempt to inject a sense of newness and novelty into their designs to win over weary shoppers.

A flurry of new creative directors at brands including Gucci, Chanel and Versace, and the arrival of new Kering CEO Luca de Meo, are seen phasing out “quiet luxury” subtlety in favor of statement styles, in what analysts say could be a turning point for the industry.

“We are seeing a shift to a bit more visible luxury at the moment,” Carole Madjo, head of European luxury goods research at Barclays, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” last month.

“Luxury fashion is a cycle. Now, with quiet luxury being a few years old, you want something else. Back to my novelty, newness thesis: I think this is now the focus.”

The sartorial shake-up comes as the luxury sector struggles to overcome a series of headwinds, from trade tariffs to soft consumer sentiment, following its Covid-era boom.

Ultra-luxe brands Brunello Cucinelli, Hermes and LVMH‘s Loro Piano have navigated that downturn largely unscathed, as their super-rich clientele continued to spend big on understated couture cashmere and high-end handbags.

But for many brands, quiet luxury’s discrete opulence, which glided to the fore in 2022 alongside the popularity of shows like HBO’s “Succession,” no longer cut it. That could herald a new era of large logos, bold branding and distinctive designs dominating catwalks to high streets.

“There is no longer the same level of desire for many products across the market, pushing all major brands to change creative direction in search of relevance,” Yanmei Tang, analyst at Third Bridge, said via email.

One brand owning that shift is Burberry. Under the leadership of CEO Josh Schulman, the company is once again embracing its British heritage image after years of management changes, declining sales and knock-off dupes sullying associations with its eponymous check print and signature trench.

Chief Financial Officer Kate Ferry said during a second-quarter earnings call that the company’s statement heritage collection, which includes full checkered two-pieces, was “reigniting brand desire” and positioning Burberry among a wide consumer base as “a luxury brand with broad universal appeal.”

Gucci is seen targeting the same refit under its new artistic director Demna Gvasalia, whose boundary-pushing designs courted controversy at parent company Kering’s smaller Balenciaga label.

Kering‘s deputy CEO and brand development lead, Francesca Bellettini, said last week that a “first hint of [Demna’s] vision for Gucci” would come in September, with a full…