Almost 18 months after the departure of Emma Hill, Mulberry has finally announced a new creative director. Johnny Coca joins from Céline, where he has been head accessories designer, responsible for some of the bestselling – and most copied – bags and shoes of the past decade.
Coca’s appointment, rumoured for several months, draws a line under one of the fashion industry’s longest-running sagas of recent years. Names including Roland Mouret, Erdem and even John Galliano have been linked with the vacancy. The significance of the appointment is that Mulberry has opted for a backroom name with a prestigious record, rather than a well-known designer. Coca’s expertise is in leather goods, reflecting the reality that it is these – not clothes – that drive fashion profits. His arrival suggests that Mulberry aims to win back its position as the aspirational It bag label for British women – a position it has ceded in recent years to other labels including, ironically, Céline. The Céline “trapeze” handbag, created by the studio headed by Coca and Céline’s overall creative director, Phoebe Philo, became as recognisable a status symbol as the Mulberry “Bayswater” had been before it.
Since the departure of Hill, Mulberry has suffered a series of disappointing financial results. However, the company remains Britain’s biggest luxury leather goods manufacturer, with a turnover of £164m, and 122 stores across the world.
Born in Seville, Coca has spent much of his career in Paris, having worked at Louis Vuitton before Céline. However, he already has links with London, with a tutoring role at Central St Martins. Godfrey Davis, Mulberry chairman and CEO, said today: “We are delighted that Johnny is joining us. He has a wealth of international luxury and fashion experience that will help us bring new energy and innovation to Mulberry.”
Analysts have blamed Mulberry’s poor performance in part on a price hike that removed the brand from the lucrative £300-£500 handbag bracket. The future of Mulberry price tags remains unclear with Coca’s appointment: Céline’s prices are what are politely described in the industry as “elevated”. Coca begins his new role on 8 July next year, with a first collection expected at London fashion week in the September.