Kim Jones’ rise to become the top designer for Fendi is a path envied by most designers.

The English fashion designer was born in London in 1979. After studying graphics and photography at the Camberwell School of Art, he went to study fashion at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, graduating in 2002. 

From day one of studying fashion, his professors recognized Jones’ gift for fashion design. His mentors include Alexander McQueen and the Central Saint Martins’ professor Louise Wilson. When John Galliano purchased half of Jones’ graduating collection, it became clear that Jones’ was destined to become one of the great fashion designers of his generation. 

After graduating in 2002, Jones’ set up his eponymous label. While the label did not live long, it did win Jones’ a British Fashion Council’s (BFC) Menswear Designer of the Year Award in 2006. Shortly after winning the BFC award, he started his dream job at Dunhill as creative director. During his time working at Dunhill, he won his second BFC Award. Since working at Dunhill, he has gone to work at many of the top luxury Maison’s in the world. In 2011 he was appointed the style director of the men’s ready-to-wear at Louis Vuitton; from there, he moved to become the creative director of Dior Homme in 2018 and then added the role of artistic director at Fendi in 2020. He has also worked at Mulberry, Topmen and Hugo Boss. 

Jones’ is interesting as a fashion designer; he prefers to keep his life private, which has resulted in him not being as famous as he could be, despite his top position. His personal Instagram focuses mainly on his designs; occasionally, it is spattered with photos of himself or his dogs (some say that he puts up more pictures of his dogs than himself). Despite his apparent aversion to fame, his friends are some of the most famous people in the world, including Kate Moss, Bella Hadid, Kanye West, Naomi Campbell and the Beckhams. 

Jones’ ability to gather inspiration from the world around him and to look into the past is what makes him such a formidable designer. Japan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Ecuador are among some of the countries from which Jones’ draws inspiration. Jones’ lead the Dior design team in making custom outfits for BTS’ Love Yourself world tour. Furthermore, he presented a womenswear collection at the Japanese high fashion store Isetan. As a millennial, Jones’ became one of the first luxury designers to incorporate social media into his designs. Not only is he influenced by social media designs, but he also uses feedback that he gets from social media to improve and stay relevant. 

Jones’ has won many awards, including the two BFC awards mentioned above, two Topshop New Generation Awards, GQ International Designer of the Year, British Fashion Awards – Menswear Designer of the Year and in 2020, was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire. 

Kim Jones’ international and millennial designs are why the 41-year-old has risen so quickly to the prestigious position of artistic director of Fendi.