Kai Raffael Nesselrath

Kai Raffael Nesselrath is a German fashion designer born and raised in Rome, with Italian-born and German-family background described across his published biographies. He studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma, took courses at Central Saint Martins and graduated from Polimoda in Florence in 2015, where his graduate collection was titled UNTITLED (Letting Go).

Nesselrath began at Chanel in 2016, first assisting with haute-couture event production and then moving into ready-to-wear design. He joined Saint Laurent in October 2016 as a junior designer for womenswear shows, became a womenswear designer in 2019, senior designer in 2023 and Head Designer, Womenswear in September 2024. The progression placed nearly a decade of his career inside one of Paris fashion’s most tightly controlled studio systems.

Carven appointed Nesselrath Design Director on 8 June 2026, succeeding Mark Howard Thomas. The title makes him the current lead for the active fashion proposition, with no announced revival of the suspended menswear line and no authority stated over the separately operated fragrance business. His first Carven runway was announced for Spring/Summer 2027 in Paris.

Nesselrath’s public authorship has largely developed inside house studios, so his clearest working traits come from the environments in which he trained. Chanel gave him early exposure to couture-event production and ready-to-wear development, while Saint Laurent placed him in womenswear show design and advanced him through four levels of responsibility. The through-line is studio discipline, silhouette development and the coordination of clothing for a tightly defined house image.

Carven gives Nesselrath his first widely documented top design-director role. At the time of his appointment no completed collection under his Carven direction had been released, leaving his independent house language open. His background suggests a designer accustomed to building continuity from inside a studio, with the first Spring/Summer 2027 runway set to establish how that experience translates into Carven’s current wardrobe.