Serge Ruffieux: Knowing fashion is not the same as running a brand

The AZ Academy mentor reflects on nearly three decades inside fashion houses, and the hard lessons of building an independent label.

Jun 07, 2026

By Marta Represa

We need new roadmaps in fashion. Leaving school with a mountain of debt and a dream is a strategy few designers can rely upon in 2026. As fees at prestigious design schools continue to climb, we’ve partnered with AZ Academy, a free Milan-based fashion course born out of the late Alber Elbaz’s AZ Factory – his brand turned fashion incubator – and overseen by Richemont, Creative Academy and Accademia Costume & Moda (ACM), to democratise access to fashion business education and a roster of esteemed industry figures.

Serge Ruffieux knows good fashion. With a career spanning almost three decades, he has been a fixture at some of the biggest houses in Milan and Paris, from Moschino to Sonia Rykiel and, of course, Carven and Dior - between 2008 and 2017, both during John Galliano’s and Raf Simons’s tenures, and his own stint as joint Creative Director alongside Lucie Meyer before the arrival of Maria Grazia Chiuri. Perpetually curious, five years ago he used all his gained knowledge to start his own accessories brand, 1309SR. Since then, he has discovered the realities of running a business everyday.

Born in Switzerland, Serge started his couture training unusually early on, apprenticing in an atelier after quitting high school. “I didn’t even get my Bac [baccalaureate], which wasn’t the greatest of decisions, but thanks to the apprenticeship I was able to get into the Haute École d’Art et de Design in Geneva,” he says. After graduating and interning in Paris with Martine Sitbon, Christian Lacroix and Sonia Rykiel – which he mentions was very different back then, as you really worked alongside the creative director – he got a job as a designer for Moschino’s Cheap & Chic Couture line. “But I really missed Paris, so when an opportunity to go back to Sonia Rykiel’s team arose, I didn’t think twice,” he remembers.

After six years at Rykiel, short stints at Cacharel and Gérard Darel, and eight years in different positions at Dior, Carven called in 2017, and for the next two years he worked as the French brand’s Artistic and Image Director. “We unfortunately didn’t have enough time. Just when things were starting to get going, the family decided to sell [the company],” Serge remembers. “Then a big Chinese company, EP Yaying Group, got in touch for a consulting job. I was reluctant at first, but it turned out to be a great experience with great people.”

Today, he juggles that consulting job with two others, with Marni as Head of Show and with Jimmy Choo as Creative Consultant. Not content with having three jobs, in 2021 he founded 1309SR alongside journalist Émilie Faure. “She has now left the brand, but it was born as an expression of our aesthetic sensibilities: girly but not overly so, trendy yet comfortable, and whimsical.” Offering mostly flat shoes ranging from fringed loafers to pointy pumps and sandals with a focus on texture, pop colours and a maximalist look, the brand has also recently started manufacturing handbags and eyewear.

With such extensive experience, he was a perfect choice for the Accademia Costume & Moda’s AZ Academy program, for which he has served as part of the jury for the past two years. Here, Serge recounts some of his professional experiences, as well as the ways they helped – or didn’t – when it came to running his own business.

“Some constraints can be good for the work. We had a few constraints during our last couture collection at Dior, and it ended up being our best one.”

As someone with such extensive experience working in fashion houses, and at Dior in particular, how was the transition from member of the studio team to creative director?

Well, I was the one who asked for it, so I guess I wanted it. The thing is, I had lived through John Galliano’s departure, which left only two designers, two assistants and John’s right-hand man in the studio, and I knew I couldn’t go through that again, especially not with how big the team had gotten after Raf Simons. So I came together with Lucie Meyer – because two people are always better than one to deal with problems – and we asked to see Sidney Toledano. I think he was surprised by our moxie, but a secret meeting with Monsieur Arnault was set during the week, and he gave us two days to come up with a project. Those two days turned out to be the weekend of the Bataclan terrorist attack, so it was a complicated, emotionally charged moment. I never cry, but I can tell you that’s all I did throughout the weekend. Right before we started working as creative directors, I remember Mr Toledano warned us: “From tomorrow on, you’re participating in the Olympics. You’ll suddenly have scores of new friends, and some of your old friends won’t be your friends anymore.” I thought at the time that was a bit dramatic, and that I was ready for anything. Overall, it was a great experience, but I definitely understood what he meant later on. He was right.

And what happened once Maria Grazia Chiuri was appointed?

At first, Lucie and I were supposed to have a joint project within LVMH, but that ended up not happening. I think that by then, we both needed something different, and we were weary of being yet another fashion pairing. So she chose to go to Jil Sander with her husband, and meanwhile Carven was getting in touch with me.

How was the Carven experience different from your time at Dior?

The biggest difference, as you can imagine, were budgets. I went from almost totally unlimited budgets at Dior to designing clothes that had more attainable prices at Carven. It’s something I personally don’t mind, especially since the team at Carven was so good. I actually think some constraints can be good for the work. For some reason – I don’t even remember why – we had a few constraints during our last couture collection at Dior, and it ended up being our best one. It was the same at Carven. I found I had to adapt myself to a different kind of client, a different kind of product. And it was exciting!

Did things change for you on a purely personal level?

It’s interesting because I didn’t think that going from Dior to Carven was a demotion. I don’t think of losing a job as a failure; it’s a completely normal part of having a career. So, contrary to what some might think, I was not moping around at home, totally depressed. But we all know how fashion people are, and how they look upon you differently depending on the job you have at any given time, even though you are the same person regardless of where you are. It’s annoying, yes, but I try not to give it too much thought. When I left Carven and started consulting for a Chinese brand, I had some senior members at Dior telling me, “You can’t do consulting for a Chinese brand already, you’re way too young.” I would reply with: “I need to pay the rent and it’s not like everybody is offering me jobs right now.” But fashion people have also a very short-term memory, and six months later they all thought me doing consulting was great. It’s always like that. And now that I’m doing Marni, I know people’s perception has changed again.

What first led you to wanting to launch your own accessories brand?

I always thought I would have my own brand at some point, but it took me longer than I expected because, for a long time, I thought there were already way too many brands out there. So I kept postponing it. I think I didn’t want to do it alone. But then, one day, having coffee with Émilie Faure, who back then was a journalist for Le Figaro and doing studies at the IFM, she told me about one of her fashion school projects, which included launching a brand, and mentioned she could see herself doing it with me. Back then we knew each other but weren’t really friends, although we clearly had aesthetic affinities. I ended up saying yes, but on the condition that it was a real brand and not just a school project. We started working on it, and Covid came, so we delayed the launch until after all the restrictions and lockdowns had been lifted. We were very lucky because Lucien Pagès signed us for PR right away, and that immediately put us on the map. We started with shoes and grew little by little, with bags, eyewear…

“If luxury is in a bit of a tight spot at the moment, it’s because they have lost touch with reality.”

Why accessories? Were they something you particularly enjoyed designing before?

Actually, yes! I started collecting bags as a teenager, and I have always been particularly attracted to accessories, to the point that every time I designed – either for me or for someone else – my starting point were the limbs: shoes, bags… and, from there, I constructed the rest of the outfit. I started designing shoes very early on in my career, when I was working for Sonia Rykiel. Back then, Ernesto Esposito was in charge of the commercial shoe collection, but at one point the house didn’t have anyone to do the show’s shoes, so Sonia asked if I would do it. I tried my hand at it and discovered I loved designing shoes. But also, let’s be realistic: for my own brand, it wasn’t the easiest path I could have chosen, because so many people intervene in the process of crafting a shoe. There’s the factory where soles are made, the one where the lasts are made… It’s not like bags, where everything happens in the same factory. As usual, I made things complicated for myself.

Was pricing something you had been seriously confronted with before 1309SR? How do you establish pricing for your pieces?

While it wasn’t at the forefront at Dior, I was indeed confronted with it, particularly during that last couture season I mentioned earlier. At Carven it was a lot more present. Budgeting was a big thing, especially because I was used to buying fabrics that were upwards of 80€ a metre, and now I had to spend 25, tops. You adapt. And you can always find great materials anyway, and learn to mix and match them so they don’t look cheap. I actually find pricing work interesting, especially nowadays, because I think what’s going on in luxury price-wise is a bit ridiculous. I still remember buying one of those banana print Prada shirts a few years ago. I spent something like 490€ and wondered whether it was too much. Now, you can’t get a Prada shirt for roughly twice as much. If luxury is in a bit of a tight spot at the moment, it’s because they have lost touch with reality. People aren’t stupid.

So I think it’s exciting to make things that are less expensive. From the start at 1309SR, our idea was to have a price range between 400–790€ for shoes, because they are made in Italy or Romania. And I could go cheaper if I was producing a higher quantity.

In your opinion, what’s the biggest mindset difference between working for a house and having your own independent brand?

It’s a bit like driving a fully automatic car as opposed to a manual one, I would say. When you are working for an established fashion house, you’re at the wheel and that’s it. Change to your own independent brand, and suddenly you’ve got gears, breaks, an accelerator. There’s so much going on at the same time.

What has come as the biggest surprise to you during these five years of running your own brand?

The way we were welcomed by people. I honestly thought it was going to be a lot more difficult to find factories, showrooms, a PR office. On the other hand, my initial idea was to manufacture in France and I found myself surprised at how hard it was to sell my idea to the French – both factories and clients. The French aren’t particularly open-minded, and they hate taking risks. It’s such a different mindset from what you can find in Italy or Spain, or elsewhere in Europe, where people are passionate and willing to try new things. It’s such a shame, because France is supposed to be the country of savoir-faire.

“Having three consulting jobs plus your brand that you can’t quite structure as you would like because there is never enough money – that requires military levels of organising.”

You obviously called upon your network to get established…

You should always call upon your network! I used it especially to find our factories in Italy, where things are notoriously secretive when it comes to shoe manufacturing.

How did you finance 1309SR?

Several people, mostly in fashion, invested in us. There were individuals from LVMH, Chanel, Richemont… but there was also a lawyer and a PR, for instance. We have 10 shareholders. Plus Émilie and I both invested some money of our own. I put some of the money I earn with consulting towards 1309SR, especially for unexpected expenses. But of course you have to make a living too, so it’s a bit of a balancing act. To me, that’s what’s most complicated about having your own brand. I mean, having three consulting jobs plus your brand that you can’t quite structure as you would like because there is never enough money – that requires military levels of organising.

How many people work at the brand?

There are three of us.

How do you juggle 1309SR with your consulting work every day?

It’s not always the easiest. I spend three days a week in Milan for Marni, which can change from week to week. For Jimmy Choo it’s different, because we work mainly on Zoom. Then I have to visit their factory in Florence, so I often take the train from Milan to Florence, making the most of my time in Italy. Of course, I sometimes need to be in Paris, for instance when prototypes arrive at the office. So it tends to be a bit hectic.

Can you tell us about your work for AZ Academy?

I was a member of their 2025 jury and it was a really cool experience. Then they also called me for this year’s program, so I contributed to choosing this year’s candidates with about 20 other professionals. There were a lot of applicants, so it took us some time. I’m going back to Milan on June 15th to be part of the new jury. I find their approach to the business aspect of fashion really interesting, because they help young designers who are trying to establish their brands but face unexpected problems; AZ helps prepare them to face any challenges that might arise. No other educational program is currently doing that.

What would be your ultimate advice to young designers starting their own company in 2026?

Be passionate about what you do. Things tend to be so superficial nowadays that passion is lacking. Learn fashion culture. Learn general culture actually as well, because it will help you go further than the same bunch of references we keep seeing again and again on catwalks all over the world. Never think you know all there is to know, because I guarantee you don’t. So never stop being curious and passionate.

Find how to submit your application and receive one of the scholarships offered by the Richemont group to AZ Academy here. The deadline has been extended until the 20th of June 2026.