If there’s one thing we weren’t expecting, it’s Cacharel’s decision to replace creative director Cédric Charlier with Ling Liu and Dawei Sun, the designers behind relatively unknown French label Belle Ninon.

The designer was relieved of his duties back in March after the label decided not to renew his contract – an especially surprising decision given that his recent collections have been met with applause from the industry, and that the executive chairman of Cacharel’s licensee Aeffe SpA, Massimo Ferretti, strongly opposed the decision to get rid.

We’re rather sad, for one thing, because we’re one of those industry people lauding Cacharel‘s latest collections – yes, we would like a side of cute with that skirt, please – but it seems the label’s new designers, Liu and Sun, boast pretty impressive design backgrounds.

Before joining forces, Liu worked for Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent, and Sun worked for Lolita Lempicka, Balenciaga, and John Galliano, reports the Cut.

We’ll see the first fruits of their labour when they present their debut collection for Cacharel at Paris Fashion Week in October.