St. John Creative Director Zoe Turner Departs the Brand
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Irvine, California-based brand St. John Knits is in the midst of another shakeup.
Creative director Zoe Turner has departed the brand, WWD has learned.
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Turner, who moved to Orange County for the role in 2019, brought a more editorial, directional and European point of view to the California brand, playing with oversize tailoring, ’60s and ’90s references, sheer and extreme knits, as well as injecting sex appeal with tweed bodysuits and microminis.
She also generated heat with celebrity dressing. Despite the fact that her first full collection landed in fall 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, St. John has been worn by Gigi Hadid, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Alicia Keys, Sarah Jessica Parker, and many more A-listers in recent years.
“Zoe has a fresh outlook,” Joann Cheng, chairman of Fosun Fashion Group, which acquired a majority interest in St. John in 2017, said upon her hiring. “She is curious, creative and passionate, and this energy will help drive St. John to the next level. She has a deep understanding of the brand’s DNA and how to communicate that to customers through a 360-degree brand experience. We believe Zoe can introduce St. John to a larger audience through reinterpreting the brand codes and modernizing the collections.”
St. John was founded in 1962 by Bob and Marie Gray, quickly earning a reputation for softly tailored knit suits and conservative evening dresses that appealed to a mostly over-40 fan base including Condoleezza Rice, Hillary Clinton, Gloria Allred and others. Escada bought the brand in 1989; it went public in 1993 and back to private in 1999.
Perennially pegged as being in need of a facelift, the brand has for two decades been trying to capture a younger customer, with a revolving door of past chief executive officers recruiting Angelina Jolie, Kate Winslet and Gisele Bündchen as models, and designers who never managed to make much noise until Turner came along.
A British-born knitwear designer, Turner worked at Max Mara, Alberta Ferretti, Dior under John Galliano, and Raf Simons, and consulted for St. John for eight months before being hired for the top job.
“I would love to dress a younger client than our existing one now. I want to be very inclusive who I’m designing for,” she said at the time.
The brand released her first capsule collection to shop immediately on Instagram in November 2019, enlisting 100 influencers to help spread the word about the launch, including disability lifestyle influencer Lauren “Lolo” Spencer, red carpet stylist Micaela Erlanger and transgender model Leyna Bloom.
Turner’s designs captured the attention of stylists and fashion editors, but hit retail just as the world was shutting down and living in sweats. There was also a disconnect between her designs and the St. John boutiques, which were not renovated to reflect her more contemporary vision. In recent seasons, the more daring pieces were not always picked up by wholesale accounts like Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom.
Although St. John did not hold press appointments during New York Fashion Week, as it has done in the past, it will present a spring 2023 collection in the coming weeks, according to a spokesperson for the brand.
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