Luke and Lucie Meier return to Polimoda to share their knowledge with the next generation of designers. Twenty-five years after first meeting in Florence, the creative director duo comes back to mentor students in the Undergraduate Fashion Design program as they develop their graduate collections.
This week, the Meiers met with 59 students representing 30 nationalities for the first time. It marks the start of a journey guiding young emerging talent through each stage of the creative process. A full circle moment that also opens a new chapter, celebrating their professional trajectory alongside Polimoda’s 40th anniversary.
Back to Where It Started
In 2001, Canadian-born Luke Meier and Swiss native Lucie Meier met at Polimoda; he was part of the Fashion Institute of Technology New York’s Fashion Design exchange program at the Florence campus, and she was studying Fashion Marketing at Polimoda. That encounter launched one of the most enduring and respected creative partnerships in contemporary fashion.
After building notable solo careers, Luke in luxury menswear and streetwear and Lucie at Dior, Balenciaga, and Louis Vuitton, the pair reunited professionally as co-creative directors at Jil Sander, leading the brand from 2017 to 2025. During that tenure, they reshaped the label’s aesthetic through design integrity and craftsmanship, rejecting a disposable model in favor of pieces designed to endure.
Luke and Lucie Meier with Polimoda’s students. Photo by Serena Gallorini
The Mentorship
The Meiers’ involvement comes at a pivotal time for Polimoda, marking both the school’s 40th anniversary and the appointment of Niccolò Ricci, CEO of Stefano Ricci S.p.A., as president.
The creative duo will work alongside the school’s director Massimiliano Giornetti, An Vandevorst, advisor to the Design Department, and the faculty: a team of fashion professionals that guide the students through the development of their final collections, from initial concept and material research, to defining creative identity and technical execution. The program culminates in June when selected collections will be showcased at Polimoda Graduate Show 2026.
This collaboration weaves together artisanal rigor, aesthetic sensitivity, and ethical design principles, offering young designers not just technical expertise but a design philosophy: a pursuit of quality and emotion in fashion that eliminates excess and returns to pure creativity.
Biographical Notes
Lucie Meier
Born and raised in Zermatt, Switzerland, Lucie Meier grew up immersed in an alpine landscape that fostered both curiosity and discipline. A native German speaker fluent in English, French, and Italian, she pursued formal training in fashion marketing at Polimoda in Florence, graduating in 2003, before completing a degree in design and patternmaking at the École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne in 2007, where she also won the prestigious Trophée Saint Roch. She began her professional career at Louis Vuitton in Paris, working with Marc Jacobs from 2007 to 2012, followed by a role as head designer at Balenciaga between 2012 and 2014, collaborating first with Nicolas Ghesquière and later Alexander Wang. From 2014 to 2015, she served as head of summer collections for Christian Dior ready-to-wear and haute couture under Raf Simons, and subsequently became co-creative director of Christian Dior from 2015 to 2016. From 2017 until February of 2025, she has been co-creative director of Jil Sander. In 2019, together with Luke Meier, she was elected Leading Professor of the Fashion Department at the Angewandte University in Vienna, and in 2021 co-curated A Magazine by Lucie and Luke Meier. She was also awarded the Swiss Grand Award for Design in 2024. Known for an extensive knowledge of contemporary fashion and fashion history—including fabrics, construction techniques, tailoring, and garment components—she is also a passionate traveler and outdoors enthusiast with deep interests in the culinary, fine art, and architecture worlds.
Luke Meier
Born in Montréal and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Luke Meier brings a multidisciplinary perspective shaped by both business and craft. He completed undergraduate studies at Georgetown University in 1997, graduating with honours and a double major in finance and international business, and further pursued comparative business policy studies at Oxford University in 1996. He later shifted his focus to fashion, completing a menswear tailoring curriculum at Polimoda in Florence between 2001 and 2002, before earning a menswear degree from FIT in New York in 2002. He began his career at Supreme in New York, serving as design director from 2002 to 2009 and later as creative consultant for special projects from 2009 to 2014. In 2013, he founded OAMC, where he continues to serve as creative consultant. From 2017 until February 2025, he has been co-creative director of Jil Sander. In 2019 he was elected Leading Professor of the Fashion Department at the Angewandte University in Vienna with his wife Lucie, and in 2021 the duo co-curated A Magazine by Lucie and Luke Meier. With extensive expertise in fabrics, construction techniques, tailoring, and the development of garments, accessories, and footwear, he also possesses deep knowledge of contemporary culture—including music, art, film, and fashion—supported by more than two decades as an active skateboarder, snowboarder, skier, surfer, and DJ, enabling a refined ability to analyse and reinterpret cultural references across disciplines.
