This is information that took the fashion world by surprise. Saturday morning, January 28, as haute couture Fashion Week has just ended in Paris, the French luxury group Kering announced the appointment of Sabato de Sarno, today at Valentino, as creative director of Gucci. The position had been vacant since Alessandro Michele left on November 23, 2022.
His departure had aroused strong reactions in the middle: Michele was a faithful of the house, where he had entered in 2002. He had climbed the ladder until winning the supreme title in January 2015. His very personal vision of fashion , which mixed baroque elements and poetic quirks had earned him a special place and he seemed irreplaceable. Despite his aura, the slowdown in the growth of Gucci, Kering’s driving brand, placed him in a delicate situation. The group would have asked him to change his stylistic proposal, he would have refused, thus sealing the break.
Since November 2022, rumors have been rife regarding his thorny succession. The name of Maria Grazia Chiuri, artistic director of Dior’s women’s collections, has circulated a lot, justified by the fact that the Florentine house would necessarily have recourse to an Italian designer. Other voices whispered the name of Demna Gvasalia, currently at Balenciaga, another Kering label.
A career start at Prada
In the end, the group did not choose a star in the sector and favored a relative unknown in the person of Sabato de Sarno to manage the women’s, men’s, leather goods and accessories collections. This 39-year-old Italian grew up in Naples. He began his career at Prada in 2005, then moved on to Dolce & Gabbana, before joining Valentino in 2009. He held increasingly senior responsibilities there, eventually becoming fashion director, overseeing the men’s and woman under the orders of the artistic director, Pierpaolo Piccioli. But if the whole community knows the name of the latter, that of Sabato de Sarno has never been put forward so far. This was also the case of Alessandro Michele whose appointment at Gucci surprised in 2015.
“I am delighted that Sabato is joining Gucci as the house’s new creative director, one of the most influential roles in the luxury sector, Gucci Chairman and CEO Marco Bizzarri said in a press release. I am confident that, with his knowledge and keen understanding of Gucci’s unique heritage, he will lead our creative teams with a distinctive vision that will open an exciting new page in the house’s history while strengthening its reference status in the field of fashion and by capitalizing on the richness of its heritage. »
For his part, Sabato de Sarno declared himself “deeply honoured” to have been chosen, “excited and impatient” to share his creative vision for the brand. Sabato de Sarno will begin his new responsibilities as soon as he is released from his current duties at Valentino. Her first show has already been announced for Women’s Fashion Week in Milan in September. This fall, all eyes will be on this outsider whose task of succeeding Alessandro Michele is by no means easy.