Alessandro Michele Is Officially Back
The news is out and I *gasped*
Alessandro Michele is officially the new creative director of Valentino. The non-competitive contract with Gucci is coming to an end and Alessandro Michele, together with Marco Bizzarri, ex CEO of Gucci, are starting to make moves.
The decision has been made by Jacopo Venturini, CEO of Valentino. Him and Michele previously worked together at Gucci.
Alessandro Michele Background -
Alessandro Michele is the grand storyteller that brought Gucci to a massive success over the span of 7 years - others would even say that Jared Leto found his secret twin. His genius vision brought Gucci from 2 bln to 10 bln sales revenue in a matter of a few years. Gucci was also nominated as the Brand of the Year in 2018 because of his excellent partnership with Marco Bizzarri, ex-CEO of Gucci, who left the brand at the same time as Mr Michele did.
The news stroke after days of internal crisis - with various speculations on which house Alessandro Michele would land into. Last year there were rumours that he could be participate into reviving Walter Albini’s brand (here) but I guess it is out of the question as of now.
Marco Bizzarri, now that the non-competitive contract is done, revealed as well his new holding: Nessifashion, which makes us wonder onto which fashion realities it will focus on.
Conversations -
The question that everyone is been asking is why brands are appointing the same designers over and over again, displaying the fashion industry as a swap game.
The problem is related to the fact that brands may slowly losing their stability into consumers’ mind, as there hasn’t been much consistency in these roles. Lately brands under LVMH (LVMH bought 30% of Valentino) have preferred to hire characters who have already displayed their talent - less risky - instead of appointing a designer who has worked under the brand for years, building its attachment to the brand over time (Sarah Burton for example was Alexander’s right hand for almost 20 years). This continued swapping roles within already known designers is becoming critical for the younger generation who wish to have a chance.
Why is it so hard welcoming new talents?
Recently there has been the debut collection of McGirr for Alexander McQueen and critics flowed into the comments section on their instagram’s post. It shouldn't be easy to have so much pressure over your shoulders as the expectations are extremely high as both the founder and - his successor and main assistant - Sarah Burton, drove the brand to the stars.
Alessandro Michele has more experience within the spotlight and the interesting combo will for sure drive a lot of attention.
I hope he will create a new IT bag for Valentino differentiating from the iconic Rockstud, as it has been a while since the last renovation in accessories.
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