Head of Bags & Accessories Designer

Stella McCartney; London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading luxury fashion company as the Head of Bags and Accessories Designer, where you will lead a creative team and drive innovative design strategies. This role emphasizes collaboration, mentorship, and the ability to navigate market trends to create compelling accessories, while upholding the brand's ethical values. You will manage all stages of design, ensuring timely delivery of high-quality products.

Benefits

Up to 50% discount on products

Matched pension contribution up to 6%

Extensive private medical insurance

Flexible working hours

Enhanced parental packages

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of luxury fashion and brand DNA.
• Excellent technical skills in design and materials.
• Ability to manage changing priorities effectively.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Bags and Accessories design team.
• Oversee the design process from concept to production.
• Ensure timely delivery and quality adherence.

Skills

Leadership

Design Principles

Market Trends

Budget Management

Collaboration

Education

Extensive experience in luxury fashion

Tools

CAD software

Adobe Suite

Photoshop

Job description

Working at Stella McCartney is a truly rewarding experience. As a luxury fashion company with a strong ethical standpoint we are leaders and innovators in our industry.

Overview

The Head of Bags and Accessories Designer leads the Bags and Accessories design team, driving the creative vision and strategy for all accessories lines. This role demands a highly experienced and proactive leader with a strong understanding of luxury fashion, design principles, and market trends, who can thrive in a fast-paced environment. Contributing to and managing all stages of the design process while maintaining composure under pressure and demonstrating a strong understanding of design principles and materials, the role will strategically translate creative concepts into innovative designs aligned with brand aesthetics and market trends. The role will be responsible for execution within 2 pre-collections (circa 160 samples per collection) and 2 runway collections for Paris (circa 130 samples per collection). The Head of Bags and Accessories will be responsible for translating the Design Director's vision into innovative and commercially successful designs, while upholding the brand's aesthetic and ethical values.

Your Mission:

• Lead and inspire the Bags and Accessories design team, providing clear direction, mentorship, and support.

• Collaborate closely with the Design Director to develop and execute the seasonal design strategy for all bags and accessories categories, creating 10-15 new styles per event.

• Create and manage the budget for the Bags and Accessories department, ensuring efficient resource allocation and cost control.

• Oversee the entire design process, from concept development and sketching to prototyping and final production, ensuring timely delivery and adherence to quality standards.

• Lead design and research efforts to identify emerging trends, innovative materials, and new technologies, ensuring the brand remains at the forefront of the industry.

• Oversee the fabric and prototype archive, ensuring organisation and accessibility for the design team.

• Weaving new fabrication on key carry over groups (Falabella, Logo, Ryder, Dartmoor) whilst maintaining the identity and brand of the product.

• Manage all samples, prototypes, and corrections, ensuring timely delivery and clear communication with the product development team in Italy following each fitting and design meeting.

• Foster strong relationships with the product development team in Italy, ensuring seamless collaboration and effective communication throughout the design and production process.

• Develop colour card proposals highlighting key combinations for each collection.

• Oversee fabric-to-sketch allocation, ensuring accurate material assignments.

• Create high-quality renderings of accessories and bags for presentations and internal reviews.

• Develop mock-ups of accessories and bags to visualise designs and construction.

• Oversee prototype corrections, ensuring accuracy and adherence to design specifications.

• Prepare and distribute design scans and specifications to the Product Manager.

• Record detailed notes during fittings and follow-up presentations, ensuring accurate documentation.

• Prepare materials and presentations for design meetings and concept reviews.

• Develop product groupings with comprehensive materials and colour proposals.

• Ensure adherence to collection deadlines, managing time and resources effectively.

• Maintain the organisation of the accessories and bags fitting room, ensuring a productive workspace .

Your Talent:

• Extensive experience in a leadership role within a luxury fashion house, with a focus on accessories and/or bags, specifically within bags, small leather goods, keychains, belts and accessories.

• Proven ability to lead and inspire a design team, fostering a collaborative and creative environment.

• Strong understanding of the Stella McCartney heritage, ethical values, and brand DNA.

• Excellent design and technical skills, with a deep understanding of materials, construction techniques, and manufacturing processes.

• Ability to create and facilitate appropriate timelines for design, with the ability to effectively manage changing priorities at short notice.

• Affinity with the values of Stella McCartney, the brand identity, and style of the accessories and bags collection.

• Strong budget management and resource allocation skills.

• Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to effectively communicate with a wide range of stakeholders.

• Experience with CAD software, Adobe Suite, and Photoshop.

• Italian language skills are desirable.

• Knowledge of legal requirements for confidentiality and intellectual property.

Reward

Our philosophy is to go beyond monetary return and consider ourselves responsible for your wellbeing, your family, your health, your time and the community.

• Up to 50% discount on Stella McCartney products

• Matched pension contribution up to 6%

• Extensive private medical and critical illness insurance, as well as life assurance

• Annual Health Screening

• Annual Leave Shop where employees can buy or sell annual leave

• Flexible working/core hours

• Enhanced Maternity/paternity packages

• Matched Give as You Earn charity scheme

• Fitness membership (Classpass credits)

• Volunteer and Birthday leave

• Health cash plan

• Financial wellbeing program

• Physical and Mental Wellbeing Support Services

• Employee referral bonus

Optional/ Paid Benefits

Season ticket loan, cycle to work and tech schemes, travel and dental insurance and much more.

We welcome people with disabilities and endeavour to make reasonable adjustments, if you do require such adjustments please let us know within 48 hours of your interview.

At Stella McCartney, we like to be bold. For us this means challenging ourselves and the wider industry in which we operate. As part of our commitments to inclusive fashion, we have an ambitious strategy to put diversity, equity and inclusion at the centre of everything we do. Our starting point is to create a workplace where different voices are respected, heard and empowered in equal measure regardless of factors such as culture and backgrounds, and to influence and disrupt fashion and other industries by providing opportunities for global diverse talent to shine.