Who will take Alessandro Michele's place at Gucci now that, with the confirmation of his farewell from the Florentine brand, made official last night, all doubts have been resolved?
The question has been tormenting insiders for hours, after the news, bounced online and anticipated yesterday by Wwd, caused a real earthquake in the fashion system.
The designer, who in over 7 years has revolutionized the flagship brand of the Kering group, leaves the role of creative director.
A change of pace which, it is rumored, would have been motivated by the dissatisfaction of François-Henri Pinault, owner of the French giant intent on restoring prestige to the brand, after having asked Michele to initiate a radical design change.
An indication that, however, would not have been respected by the designer.
In recent months, the brand has continued to shine with its own light, stringing together one success after another, driven by Michele's eclectic and unrivaled imagination, which has helped the brand to reach ever younger customers and a diversified audience year after year. as well as growing your business.
Suffice it to say that from 2018 onwards Gucci has recorded growth of more than 35% for five consecutive quarters, prompting the president and CEO of the
group Marco Bizzarri to set a turnover target of 10 billion euros, during the Investor day in Florence in June of the same year.
Michele presented his first collection in 2015, taking the place of Frida Giannini
, of whom he had been the right arm for years, reinventing, in a handful of seasons, the aesthetics of the brand: completely new, flamboyant, genderfluid, androgynous and extravagant, it overturned the rather classic and sophisticated imagery that until then had characterized the Florentine brand.
"There are moments when the paths divide due to the different perspectives that each of us may have
- wrote
Michele in a long post published on social media, justifying his farewell -.
Today an extraordinary journey ends for me, which lasted more than twenty years, within a company to which I have tirelessly dedicated all my love and my creative passion".
Now it is the total stylist who has left the court in the last 24 hours:
there are those who bet on Riccardo Tisci
as the successor of Michele, the Apulian considered among the best fashion designers in the world, who after saying goodbye to Burberry is back on the square.
Not a few imagine and hope that Tisci is already at work in the Gucci archives.
Less popular name, but bounced around with insistence on the net,
is that of Phoebe Philo
, anti-diva stylist par excellence, former creative director of Céline, appreciated for her minimalist and cultured style but for many years out of the spotlight.
On the part of Kering, at the moment, everything is silent:
"The Gucci style office will continue to carry on the creative direction of the maison until the announcement of a new organization".