ADRIAN APPIOLAZA

Appiolaza was, with Yvan Mispelaere, part of the team that designed Chloe under Phoebe Philo and after her departure. An alumnus of Louis Vuitton and Prada Group, Appiolaza has worked for some of the industry's most visionary and well-regarded designers, currently for Jonathan Anderson at Loewe.

MATTHIEU BLAZY

Blazy, a Raf Simons protege, was a breakout star at Maison Martin Margiela, where he worked on the Artisanal couture collection. There, his collection prompted Suzy Menkes, the Vogue International editor, to go against the house's longstanding policy of anonymity for designers to celebrate him by name. Said to have been in the running to be the artistic director for womenswear at Hermes, a role filled by Nadege Vanhee-Cybulski. Around the time of John Galliano's arrival at Margiela last fall, Blazy decamped to work for Phoebe Philo at Celine, where he is today.

ALISTAIR CARR

Carr has been to the top ranks of design houses and back. After working for Nicolas Ghesquiere at Balenciaga, he was the design director of Pringle of Scotland from 2011 to 2012. There, he reconceptualised its branding and positioning as well as its design and negotiated the challenges of modernising a brand with a long heritage and large archive. After Pringle, he was head of design for McQ, the secondary collection from Alexander McQueen, and his experience with its younger-skewing aesthetic (and prices) may be appealing for luxury companies looking to expand their ranges.

YVAN MISPELAERE

Mispelaere is an industry veteran, an in-demand designer with a long resume and a proven ability to adapt to design idioms as disparate as his employers: Diane von Furstenberg (where he was creative director), Roberto Cavalli, Gucci and Valentino. Having worked with Philo at Chloe (he steered the house briefly after her departure), he now works for her again, this time at Celine. He is said to have been considered for the creative director role filled by Massimo Giorgetti at Emilio Pucci.

SEBASTIEN PEIGNE

Another long-serving veteran of Balenciaga, where he worked for Ghesquiere for nearly a decade, Peigne left in 2010 to head womenswear for Nicola Formichetti's polarising reinvention of Mugler. Peigne left Mugler in 2013 (as did Formichetti) and moved to Acne Studios as a design director.

He has left his full-time position at Acne, but, according to the company, he collaborated with the label on its spring 2016 collection presented last Saturday.