“This is bullshit.” Such was Sabato De Sarno’s response to those who said “he just did a commercial collection” at his debut show for Gucci back in September 2023. Today, De Sarno’s abrupt exit from the brand seems like a bittersweet validation of his take. Because Gucci’s financial woes during his creative tenure have apparently provided ultimate proof that his collections were not, in the end, “commercial” — or at least not nearly “commercial” enough. And so came Kering’s pivot today from ancora to basta.
So who’s next at Gucci, as it looks to apply a fresh creative correction to its commercial performance? By now, we all know the drill. Changes in creative directorship at luxury’s best-known fashion houses create a rich vein of engagement online. Above-the-line speculation as to who might succeed De Sarno will prove irresistible, even when it’s wrong. Names will not only be mooted, but also posted and printed before Gucci discloses its next step (in fact, they already are being). We will only know for sure who Gucci’s next creative director will be when Gucci chooses to announce it.
So let’s ask another question begged by De Sarno’s departure: how transformative to the fortunes of a house can a new creative director really be? De Sarno himself was tasked with transformation when he replaced Alessandro Michele — who more than doubled Gucci’s sales to over €10 billion during his seven-year tenure, but exited as the hyper-growth began to slow.
In 2025, we will see designer debuts at big beast brands including Calvin Klein (Veronica Leoni), Tom Ford (Haider Ackermann), Givenchy (Sarah Burton), Dries Van Noten (Julian Klausner), Bottega Veneta (Louise Trotter), Celine (Michael Rider) and — at the biggest beast of all — Chanel (Matthieu Blazy). There are also tantalising debuts at smaller houses including Alberta Ferretti (Lorenzo Serafini), Fforme (Frances Howie) and Blumarine (David Koma). We just saw Peter Copping begin his stint at Lanvin, and following Kim Jones’s exit from Dior Men and Fendi, we know there must be more, as yet unannounced, creative director appointments to come. And yes, there are rumours (which Vogue Business will only report as and when they are confirmed) of change at other houses, too. All in all, that’s a lot of noise.
