MC Lvmh Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE

By Jason Chow And Christina Binkley 

PARIS--Christian Dior SE creative director Raf Simons said Thursday he is stepping down, shocking the fashion world after just three-and-a-half years at the helm of the French couture house.

Mr. Simons's collection presented in Paris on Oct. 2 was his last for the brand, the designer and the company said.

"Christian Dior is an extraordinary company, and it has been an immense privilege to write a few pages of this magnificent book," Mr. Simons said. He added he was leaving for "personal reasons" and plans to focus "on other interests in my life, including my own brand, and the passions that drive me outside of work."

Mr. Simons's departure leaves open the top creative job at one of the fashion industry's preeminent brands and a key flank in French luxury billionaire Bernard Arnault's empire.

Christian Dior is wholly-owned by Christian Dior SE, the holding company that controls Mr. Arnault's luxury conglomerate LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. Mr. Arnault pays special attention to the house, having hand-picked Mr. Simons in April 2012 after an exhaustive search that lasted over a year.

The brand said that Mr. Arnault acknowledged Mr. Simons's decision and "warmly thanked" him for his contribution.

Under Mr. Simons's watch, Dior posted strong revenue growth. In the most recent fiscal year, ending June 30, the label's sales rose 17% to EUR1.77 billion ($1.96 billion).

Mr. Simons, who joined Dior from Jil Sander, replaced John Galliano, who was ousted in 2011 after an anti-Semitic outburst was caught on camera and went viral online. His appointment at Dior seemed to suggest the house didn't need a larger-than-life designer anymore.

Mr. Simons's graceful collections at Jil Sander, were revered by critics and also sold well. His departure left that brand in disarray for several years.

The Belgian designer's initial haute couture collection for Dior was also lauded. He subtly modernized Dior's signature bar jacket by slightly raising the waist, and he introduced innovations such as slim pants worn under asymmetrical gowns for evening--a move that helped usher in a larger pants-for-eveningwear trend.

Despite Dior's spectacular fashion shows--replete last month with a mountain of purple flowers erected outside Paris's Louvre museum--Mr. Simons's more-recent collections have been less noteworthy among fashion-watchers, possibly suggesting the strain of innovating while overseeing so many ready-to-wear and haute couture collections each year. Mr. Simons has continued to design his eponymous menswear label as well.

The circumstances surrounding the recent departure of Alexander Wang at Balenciaga were similar, as the highly vaunted designer left to focus on his own eponymous brand.

The abruptness of Mr. Simons's announcement was surprising. There was little speculation Mr. Simons's departure was imminent, unlike with many previous high-profile moves in the fashion world, which often leak. Through a spokesman, Mr. Simons declined to elaborate on his motivations for leaving. LVMH also declined additional comment.

Speculation about who will replace Mr. Simons began circulating immediately Thursday, with the names of some of the fashion industry's leading lights resurfacing.

Hiring an established designer with an established pedigree in the spotlight would be counter to the approach of rival Kering, which has tended to put relative unknowns in jobs of late, placing Alessandro Michele at the helm at Gucci and Demna Gvasalia at Balenciaga.

Write to Jason Chow at jason.chow@wsj.com and Christina Binkley at christina.binkley@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 22, 2015 15:25 ET (19:25 GMT)

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