What: John Lewis's new fashion creative director, Jacqui Markham, aims to make the department store's own-brand classics good enough to be mistaken for high-end designer pieces.

Why it is important: Elevating own-brand fashion to designer-level quality gives John Lewis a differentiated, higher-margin offer that sits alongside its exclusive designer capsules rather than competing with them.

Jacqui Markham joined John Lewis as fashion creative director in April, succeeding Queralt Ferrer after four years in the role. Her mandate is to put the retailer's own-brand fashion "front of mind" by mastering "stylish classics" designed to resemble high-end designer items.

Markham brings more than two decades of high-street design leadership. She was global design director at Topshop between 1998 and 2013, shaping the looks that built the brand's fashion credentials, before serving as design director at Asos and returning to Topshop until 2018. She later held design roles at Urban Outfitters, worked as a freelance consultant, and joined Whistles as creative director in April 2025.

Her arrival is part of a wider reshuffle. In September, managing director Peter Ruis left after two years and was replaced by non-executive board member and former River Island CEO Will Kernan.

Markham draws inspiration from real people's everyday style and from a personal archive of vintage pieces, embroideries and techniques. She favours masculine shirts and tailoring, and maintains that physical fabrics and in-person collaboration will never be replaced by digital tools in the design process.

IADS Notes: Markham's remit was set out at her appointment: to lead the next phase of John Lewis's own-brand fashion strategy and sharpen its design direction across womenswear, menswear and childrenswear (WWD, April 2026). Her push on own-label classics runs alongside exclusive designer capsules, which have become the retailer's main lever for repositioning its fashion offer. The latest is a 32-piece Clothsurgeon menswear range, priced well below the Savile Row label's usual prices and launched as tailoring sales rose 17% (Drapers, October 2026). The fashion reset is happening during a leadership transition. Peter Ruis handed over to board member Will Kernan after a period of store upgrades, fashion expansion and digital investment, at a time when continuity was seen as critical ahead of peak trading (Fashion Network, August 2026). Meanwhile, chair Jason Tarry's three-year "Rise" plan aims to make John Lewis "leading again" while consumer spending remains under pressure (Financial Times, September 2026). Elsewhere on the UK high street, Marks & Spencer is taking a parallel route to fashion credibility, reviving its St Michael own label through an Aries capsule priced from £10 to £120 (Fashion Network, September 2026).

John Lewis aims to bring designer-level quality to own-brand classics