Sarah Burton is a great designer. And she is a woman. This detail should not make her remarkable. But, in fact, she is. Women currently hold only 12 to 14 per cent of top creative director jobs at major fashion houses. And Burton, who is the creative director of Givenchy, is one of only four such female creative directors within LVMH, the luxury conglomerate group that owns 75 maisons.
Burton was appointed to the Parisian house, founded by Hubert de Givenchy, in 2024. She is 51 – another unusual detail in an industry obsessed with youth. Previously, she had spent her whole career at Alexander McQueen, where she arrived as an intern in 1996 while studying at Central Saint Martins. She became Lee McQueen’s right-hand woman and was named his successor following his death in 2010, leading the house until 2023, when she announced her resignation.
Her role at McQueen was part custodian, part innovator. She continued to develop his brand of firebrand femininity, sharp tailoring and exquisite handcraft skills. Even when designing the gown worn by the Princess of Wales for her wedding in 2011, Burton still deferred to her late mentor. One day, though, “something shifted”, reflects the designer. “My dad died, in the April, and I resigned a few months later. There was closure. I felt like I’d done what I needed to.”
