Lanvin has appointed Barbara Werschine as its new chief executive officer, succeeding Andy Lew in a leadership change that underscores the French house’s determination to reignite commercial momentum under artistic director Peter Copping. Werschine arrives at a pivotal moment for the oldest surviving French couture house, which has struggled to translate its heritage and creative cachet into consistent financial performance.
A new CEO can signal a fresh chapter, but the real work at Lanvin will be in the integration of creative ambition with operational execution. Werschine’s task is to build the commercial engine that allows Copping’s designs to reach customers at scale while preserving the exclusivity that makes the house desirable in the first place — a balance that has eluded many brands far better resourced than Lanvin.
Werschine’s background is rooted in luxury operations — she previously held senior roles at Mulberry and Ralph Lauren, where she focused on brand repositioning and retail discipline. Her appointment signals a shift toward operational rigor at a house that has cycled through several creative and commercial leaders in recent years without establishing a stable trajectory. The mandate is explicit: rebuild desirability, but do it with a clear financial framework.
The challenge Werschine faces is multidimensional. The competitive set in the accessible-luxury segment — houses like Loewe, The Row, and Khaite — has never been stronger, and each of those brands has a clarity of vision and a disciplined pricing architecture that Lanvin has yet to match. Internally, the brand has needed to stabilize its supply chain, refine its retail network, and ensure that Copping’s creative vision is supported by product categories — leather goods, shoes, accessories — that drive the majority of luxury revenues.
Copping’s debut collections for Lanvin have been well-received critically, threading a needle between the house’s art deco heritage and a more contemporary ease. But critical acclaim has not yet translated into the kind of retail velocity that Lanvin’s parent company, the Chinese conglomerate Lanvin Group (formerly Fosun Fashion Group), needs to justify continued investment. The gap between editorial reception and commercial performance is a familiar tension in luxury fashion, but at Lanvin it has become existential.
