The return of Luke and Lucie Meier to Polimoda A generational exchange and mentorship for emerging designers

Luke and Lucie Meier return to Polimoda to share their knowledge with the new generation of designers. Twenty-five years after their first meeting in Florence, the two creative directors come back to the school: they will act as mentors for students of the Undergraduate course in Fashion Design as they develop their graduate collections.

The Meiers will meet for the first time the 59 students from 30 different nationalities, beginning a journey that will see them guide emerging young talents through the various stages of the creative process. A circle closing and, at the same time, reopening, celebrating their professional path together with 40 years of Polimoda.

«Being back in Florence, at Polimoda, holds a special meaning for us. Today’s world is dynamic, complex and constantly changing; creativity is essential to help all of us move forward. We hope to inspire and guide the creative talents we will have the privilege to work with» commented Lucie and Luke Meier.

It is 2001 when Luke Meier, Canadian, and Lucie Meier, Swiss, meet at Polimoda. He attends the menswear tailoring exchange program with the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York at the Florentine school; she studies Fashion Marketing at Polimoda. From that meeting one of the most solid and recognized creative partnerships in contemporary fashion was born, reaching its peak at Jil Sander, a role they held from 2017 to 2025.

The mentorship of the Meiers fits into a strategic phase for Polimoda, marked by the celebration of 40 years of activity and the appointment of the new president Niccolò Ricci, CEO of Stefano Ricci S.p.A., also representing the closing of a circle. In fact, the collaboration will see the Meiers join forces with Massimiliano Giornetti, An Vandevorst, advisor of the Design Department, and the faculty staff: a team of fashion professionals who will guide aspiring fashion designers in the development of their final collections, from the conception of the idea to material research, from defining a creative identity to technical execution.

This collaboration intertwines craftsmanship rigor, aesthetic sensitivity and an ethical vision of design, whose epilogue will take place in June, when a selection of the best collections will be presented at the Polimoda Graduate Show 2026. In this context, the mentorship represents a unique opportunity for Polimoda’s young designers, who will be able to acquire not only the technical skills necessary to enter the professional world, but also a cultural posture and a method in which the quality of research and emotion become the founding principles of a new way of making fashion, more conscious and guided by pure creativity.