Julien Dossena Leaves Rabanne After 13 Years

After 13 years, Julian Dossena is parting ways with Rabanne. The French brand announced the news on Wednesday. According to the press release, Dossena’s “successor will be announced in due time.” Arriving in 2013, Dossena helped bring the house, then best known for the 1960s space age aesthetic of its founder, into the present, creating memorable red carpet looks for Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus and Anya Taylor-Joy along the way.

“Julien Dossena has profoundly shaped a new era for Rabanne, bringing renewed energy and modernity to its avant-garde heritage through a singular and globally resonant vision,” said Ana Trias, president of prestige and fashion brands for Puig, Rabanne’s parent company. “All of us at Rabanne and Puig would like to warmly thank Julien for his exceptional creative direction and for the remarkable chapter he has written in the history of the Maison.”

A graduate of La Cambre in Brussels, Dossena spent the beginning of his career at Balenciaga, where he worked closely with then-creative director Nicolas Ghesquière, from 2008 to 2012. In 2013, Dossena joined Rabanne (then-Paco Rabanne) under creative director Lydia Maurer. At the time, he also launched his own label, Atto, which was an LVMH Prize finalist in 2014, but he soon put that project on hold when he was named Rabanne creative director in August 2013 at just 30 years old.

Puig had only relaunched Rabanne’s fashion leg three years prior, and the brand was failing to register with either critics or customers. While the brand’s founder, Paco Rabanne, was driven by futurism and the avant-garde, interim creative directors had often failed to push the envelop. Dossena changed that. During his time at Rabanne, he utilized house codes, like the iconic chainmail, while finding a way to bring the Space Age to the Internet Age. Under Dossena, Rabanne saw significant growth, becoming a must-see show at Paris Fashion Week and a celebrity dressing destination. In the past four years alone, he dressed Sabrina Carpenter for the Met Gala in 2022, found a fan of Dua Lipa, designed a couture collaboration for Jean Paul Gaultier, and a collection for H&M. In 2023, the year Paco Rabanne was shortened to Rabanne, the brand became Puig’s first to surpass €1 billion in sales.

In 2019, just a few years into his tenure at Rabanne, Dossena shared a bit of advice he received from Ghesquière, “who said, ‘You know, getting in the press is already difficult, and some people never get there. I’m sure you will. But if you fail after that, you’re finished. You don’t get a lot of second chances, so you have to last. If you can be there in 10 or 15 years, this is when you achieve something.’ I’ve always kept that in mind.” After 13 years at Rabanne, it seems Dossena was able to meet Ghesquière’s expectations.

Dossena’s last collection for Rabanne was resort 2027, presented earlier this month. For now, his next move is unknown, but perhaps he will return to the long-abandoned Atto.