On January 28, Sabato De Sarno succeeds Alessandro Michele as Gucci's new creative director, creating his first fashion show, which will be presented at Milan Fashion Week in September. Compared with the star designer with a strong personal creative logo favored by major luxury brands in recent years, this designer, who has been "one of the most influential positions in the luxury field", may seem a little "unknown" in the eyes of outsiders in the industry.
De Sarno has worked for several Italian luxury groups since Prada, and after a year and a half as chief designer for women's knitwear/Jersey collections at Dolce & Gabbana, De Sarno joined Valentino in 2009 and has been working since then, before joining Gucci, he was fashion director for Valentino's menswear and womenswear collections.
Marco Bizzarri, President and CEO of Gucci, said in a public statement: "Sabato De Sarno has worked with a number of famous Italian luxury brands, and I am sure that through his deep understanding and interpretation of Gucci's unique heritage, he will lead our creative team with a unique vision to write an exciting new chapter and strengthen its position as an authority in the fashion industry." ”
François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO of Kering, also said: "With Sabato De Sarno at the creative helm, we are confident that Gucci will continue to interpret fashion culture with new collections and bring a unique contemporary perspective to the modern luxury sector. ”
It is not difficult to see from the public statements of the two brands and group executives that the importance attached to Gucci's classic aesthetic heritage has been repeatedly mentioned in this new appointment.
It is undeniable that Alessandro Michele's distinctive personal creative logo and bold brand aesthetic innovation once greatly enhanced Gucci's influence and revenue performance, but three years later, the visual "spectacle" created by Alessandro Michele for Gucci seems to have begun to "fail", and doubts such as "aesthetic fatigue and weak performance" have been surrounding the industry.
Therefore, innovation and change within the brand heritage language may be the right solution for luxury brands to find a balance between their own classic aesthetics and cutting-edge creativity.
For Gucci, the shift in strategic focus to travel is further proof of this. Late last year, Gucci's first travel collection boutique opened on rue Saint-Honoré in Paris, a 2,000-square-foot retail space that is Gucci's first permanent boutique dedicated to Valigeria travel collections. Bizzarri told WWD: "This boutique represents the next stage of our strategy – Gucci Valigeria is a powerful expression of our Florentine roots and timeless craftsmanship, one of Gucci's legacies. ”
In the larger fashion industry, this strategic direction is also being verified time and time again. Bottega Veneta made a similar choice about how to balance the brand's heritage and the designer's personal creativity – Daniel Lee, who reinvented the brand's aesthetic, left, Matthieu Blazy made a strong return to the brand's iconic Intrecciato woven leather on his first collection, and downplayed the aesthetic created by the previous creative director.
At WWD's Apparel and Retail CEO Summit, Bartolomeo "Leo" Rongo, CEO of Bottega Veneta, also praised Matthieu Blazy for embracing the brand's tradition of "extraordinary craftsmanship" and challenging the craftsmen of his Montebello leather goods workshop to push new limits in technology.
When Rhuigi Villaseñor, founder and designer of Los Angeles-based Rhude, became creative director of Bally, CEO Nicolas Girotto also said: "His deep understanding of Bally's history and Swiss culture is a must-have to drive the brand in the future." ”
For Salvatore Ferramo's new Creative Director, Maximilian Davis, Ferragamo CEO Marco Gobbetti expressed this expectation: "Through his sensual contemporary perspective, he will write an exciting new chapter for a brand that is traditionally embellished by creativity, craftsmanship, sophistication and excellence in human values. ”
At the same time, Gucci's appointment of a new creative director has also triggered a series of questions and discussions in the fashion industry - such as Sabato De Sarno in addition to more than ten years of fashion design work in Valentino, it seems that he does not have a rich luxury brand work experience, nor has he ever held the creative power, is it a dangerous move for Gucci to entrust the responsibility?
Compared with the luxury brand personnel appointment tradition of promoting creative directors from within in the past few years, the "strangeness" between Sabato De Sarno and Gucci may not be a safe move for Gucci, which is in a transition period and has attracted the attention of the market and capital.
In the wider fashion industry, frequent creative director changes or mobile creative models of "guest designers" also seem to be the norm. In the future, will the "creative director" still be important for luxury brands? Will mobility also bring greater homogenization risks to the creative aesthetics of the fashion industry?
For Gucci, the shift is inevitable. For the fashion industry, the unknown is another inevitability.
In the current luxury industry, a creative director and a business decision are only a short-term manifestation of the changing times, in the future, will the continuous friction and balance between cultural inheritance and business system also become the enduring charm of the fashion industry? WWD
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