There’s a changing of the design guard at Hervé Léger.

Michelle Ochs, who designed the luxurious womenswear collection, Et Ochs, has been tapped as the brand new creative director, taking up from Christian Juul Nielsen, who held the post since 2018. Nielsen plans to give attention to his own label, Aknvas, a complicated contemporary line that he launched in 2019.

“Hervé Léger is a historic fashion house. I’m honored to steer the team on this next chapter and make my mark on this iconic brand,” said Ochs, who will oversee all creative elements of the brand’s dresses and sportswear collections.

Melissa Lefere-Cobb, senior vice chairman and division head at Hervé Léger, which is a component of Centric Brands, said about Ochs: “Her passion for creating unique and striking designs, combined along with her deep understanding of the feminine form, might be instrumental in driving the expansion and success of our company.”

The primary Hervé Léger collection designed under Ochs’ creative direction might be for spring ’24 and might be shown during Recent York Fashion Week in September.

Ochs was previously one half of the creative team at Cushnie et Ochs and later launched Et Ochs in 2021. It is a component of JS Group, a Canadian-family-run business. Her last collection for Et Ochs is for resort ’24. The road will proceed and she is going to advise the team.

“I’ve all the time followed Michelle’s profession each at Cushnie et Ochs and Et Ochs, and I believe she has a extremely sensual viewpoint and she or he designs for a extremely modern woman,” said Lefere-Cobb. “As we speak about phase two and the expansion of Hervé Léger, I believe she will be able to really help us proceed on our trajectory and introduce more modern silhouettes and different fabrications. I believe she has an excellent use of stretch, and I believe her sensibility will mix rather well with the home codes at Hervé Léger.”

Lefere-Cobb said that Nielsen made many contributions to Léger’s recent success. “We relaunched a brand that wasn’t as relevant because it has been prior to now, and he really helped us re-establish it as a red carpet and celebrity-driven brand. The brand had its height within the ’80s and again within the Aughts, and now in the previous couple of years. We got back on the red carpet and got back on the Recent York Fashion Week calendar and had presentations,” she said. She said the brand did some high-level collaborations with Julia Restoin-Roitfeld and Law Roach. “Those brought a giant highlight to the brand,” she added.

Hervé Léger is sold at retailers corresponding to Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Net-a-porter, and it recently launched with Revolve, “tapping into a unique customer for us,” she said. The common retail price of a Hervé Léger dress is around $1,690 to $1,790. The corporate shows in Paris 4 times a yr.

Lefere-Cobb noted that when she took over the brand in 2019, it had almost no international distribution. Now the brand is sold in Selfridges, KaDeWe, has a pop-up going into Harrods next Sunday, and sells greater than 20 other specialty stores overseas. She said the net business “is great, and has remained strong, and it should be great to see Michelle’s impact on that.”

“It was just time for a change. I just felt Michelle was someone who could lead on us to the subsequent phase of growth,” said Lefere-Cobb.

Ochs will report back to Lefere-Cobb.

After graduating from Parsons School of Design, where Ochs met Carly Cushnie, they went into business together from 2008 to 2018. Cushnie et Ochs was known for its unique, sleek aesthetic and striking cutout silhouettes. The brand became a red-carpet staple, and was worn by such celebrities as Michelle Obama, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Lawrence, Jennifer Lopez and Gal Gadot.

Cushnie et Ochs won an Ecco Domani award in 2009, was nominated for a Swarovski Award for Womenswear on the 2012 CFDA Fashion Awards, was a finalist for the 2011 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund and a nominee for the 2010 Fashion Group International Rising Star Award. Cushnie et Ochs was nominated for the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in 2015 and 2016, and Et Ochs was nominated in 2022 and 2023.

Ochs and Cushnie, who were cofounders and co-chief creative officers, split in 2018 and the Cushnie et Ochs business closed. Cushnie continued to design a set called Cushnie, which shuttered in 2020 in consequence of the pandemic and difficult retail environment. Ochs took some day without work to start out a family before launching Et Ochs, making a designer collection of jackets, bodysuits, pants, dresses, knitwear and gowns.

Léger, which became famous for its bandage dress that celebrated the feminine form, continues to provide its signature dresses together with a latest product assortment of bodysuits, skirts and jumpsuits. The brand is obtainable in greater than 80 points of sale across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

This month, Nielsen showed Hervé Léger’s resort collection. As reported in WWD Friday, Nielsen continued to raise signature body-con, bandage and fringed looks with inspiration stemming from his Danish roots. “Using sensual cutouts and gilded hardware further elevated drapey, body-hugging knit jersey numbers,” wrote WWD.

“For me, it’s been five unbelievable years at Hervé Léger,” said Nielsen on Friday. “I believe it’s very interesting to work on a brand that has a history, especially in America. That’s been a part of my training to work in houses which have strong histories. But I’ve decided to solely give attention to my very own brand Aknvas. Aknvas has grown way faster than I ever expected.”

Nielsen said he’s had numerous support for Aknvas from celebrities, corresponding to Mary J. Blige, Kate Bosworth and Halle Berry, in addition to retailers corresponding to Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Forward and Shopbop.

Asked what he felt he contributed to the Hervé Léger, brand, he said, “I believe I added modernity and youth to a house that perhaps was sleeping just a little.”

Nielsen, whose previous experience included roles at Dior, Nina Ricci and Oscar de la Renta, had been working as artistic director of Land of Distraction when he took the Hervé Léger role on a contract basis. As founder and artistic director of Aknvas, Nielsen injects the brand with a Danish influence, reflecting his upbringing. His aesthetic is minimalist, mixing mannish fabrics with clean lines and straightforward shapes. He punctuates the road with surprising cuts, graphics and colours.

Nielsen won Fashion Group International’s Rising Star Award for womenswear in 2020 and for menswear in 2022, each times for Aknvas, and was named a finalist for the Fashion Trust Award this yr. He introduced his first Aknvas menswear collection in 2020.