Musical Chairs

The ongoing round of shake-ups at the fashion industry’s most elite maisons feels like a game of musical chairs.

First, there was the shocking departure of Alessandro Michele from Gucci. Having helmed the brand for 8 years as Creative Director, executives at Kering did not share the artist’s vision, opting instead for a more mainstream marketing campaign aimed at driving revenue. Michele’s successor, Sabato de Sarno, comes from Valentino, where - ironically - Michele has taken the role of Creative Director, himself succeeding Pierpaolo Picciolii. Picciolii worked at Valentino for 25 years, 8 of them as Creative Director, initially working alongside Maria Grazia Chiuri until she left to head Dior in 2016 (she is still Creative Director). Who can forget Valentino’s F/W 2022-2023 collection, entirely shown in “PP Pink,” heralding the return of Barbiecore? And where is Picciolii headed next? Rumor has it, to replace Virginie Viard at Channel, where she has just stepped down after picking up the mantle in 2019 after the death of the beloved genius, Karl Lagerfeld.

And that’s not all…Sarah Burton shocked the industry when she left Alexander McQueen after 26 years, 13 as creative director. She had been a close collaborator with the house’s founder before his tragic suicide in 2010. McQueen had also been chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 - 2001, making it fitting that Sarah Burton will be taking over the reins of that house from Matthew Williams. Sean McGirr, also with Givenchy experience, showed his debut collection for Alexander McQueen in February 2024.

The most recent news is that of Kim Jones departing LVMH’s Fendi, as announced on October 11th by WWD. During his four years at the brand he collaborated closely with Silvia Venturini Fendi, most notably on the “Fendace” collab collection with Versace, helmed by Donatella Versace. Only Prada features a similar, collaborative approach to creative directorship, between Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada (please reference my previous article on the subject).

There are a handful of other transitions….Matthieu Blazy succeeding Daniel Lee at Bottega Veneta, Chemena Kamali succeeding Gabriela Hearst at Chloe, Michael Rider succeeding Hedi Slimane at Celine, and Haider Ackermann succeeding Peter Hawkings at Tom Ford.

So, in summary….Alessandro Michele left Gucci and became Creative Director at Valentino, where Pierpaolo Picciolii recently stepped down and is rumoured to replace Virginie Viard at Chanel. Gucci’s new Creative Director comes from Valentino, bringing the rotation full circle. It’s anybody’s guess what is going to happen next!