Introduction
Drew Henry is a South African fashion designer from Mpumalanga. He studied at LISOF in Johannesburg and completed the Central Saint Martins MA Fashion course in 2014 under Louise Wilson. During his studies he interned at Celine in 2011, then joined Phoebe Philo’s design team full-time after graduation and remained with the house through 2018.
Henry moved to JW Anderson in 2018, becoming design director of ready-to-wear before rejoining Philo in 2020 to help build her independent studio. He served first as Head of Design and later as ready-to-wear design director during the pre-launch development of Phoebe Philo. His role ended in 2023 as the brand approached its first commercial release, and the collections remained publicly authored by Philo, with senior studio designers receiving no individual collection credit.
Later in 2023 Henry joined Burberry as senior design director under Daniel Lee. Courrèges announced him as artistic director on 30 March 2026, with the appointment effective in May. The role is his first publicly named leadership of a fashion house and follows more than a decade spent inside influential London and Paris design studios. His Courrèges debut is scheduled for Paris Fashion Week in September 2026.
Design ethos
Henry’s individually credited 2014 graduate work reduced military and workwear references into substantial wool, leather and controlled volumes. The collection showed an early concern with utility, material weight and pattern discipline, using familiar garment types as structures to be tightened, enlarged or stripped back.
His long studio career developed inside houses where public authorship belonged to the creative director. Celine placed him within Philo’s approach to proportion, material and functional wardrobe design, while JW Anderson and Burberry exposed him to different balances of concept, product and heritage. At Phoebe Philo he returned to a practice built around close editing and exacting ready-to-wear development during the label’s formative years.
Henry has described his Courrèges direction in terms of modernity, usefulness and directness. Those priorities connect with the practical rigour visible in his graduate work and in the studios that formed his career. His first Courrèges collection will provide the first sustained public test of how that construction-led sensibility operates under his own name as an artistic director.
Disclaimer
Career history
2026
Courrèges announced Drew Henry as Artistic Director on 30 March 2026, effective in May. The appointment is his first public house leadership; no credited Courrèges collection or product had appeared by 15 July 2026.
2023
Drew Henry joined Burberry under Daniel Lee in 2023 as Senior Design Director after senior roles at JW Anderson and Phoebe Philo. The studio position preceded his May 2026 start as Courrèges Artistic Director and does not transfer individual authorship of Burberry collections away from the house’s credited creative system.
2023
Drew Henry left Phoebe Philo in 2023 after helping build the pre-launch studio and serving in senior ready-to-wear design roles. He subsequently joined Burberry as Senior Design Director.
2020
Drew Henry joined the pre-launch Phoebe Philo studio in 2020 as Head of Design and later served as ready-to-wear design director. He left in 2023 for Burberry, with no individual collection co-authorship assigned to his tenure.
2018
Drew Henry became Design Director for ready-to-wear at JW Anderson in 2018. He left in 2020 to rejoin Phoebe Philo for the launch of her eponymous label.
2011
Drew Henry interned at Celine during his studies in 2011 and joined Phoebe Philo’s design team full-time after completing the Central Saint Martins MA Fashion programme in 2014. The record establishes studio participation through 2018 without assigning individual collection authorship.
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