Gucci names De Sarno as artistic director with job of reviving model

By Silvia Aloisi and Mimosa Spencer

PARIS (Reuters) – French luxurious items group Kering (EPA:) has appointed Sabato De Sarno, a senior dressmaker at Valentino, as artistic director of its prime model Gucci, it mentioned on Saturday.

At Gucci, he can be tasked with reviving the fortunes of a model that accounted for two-thirds of Kering’s earnings in 2021 however has been shedding momentum in recent times after stellar progress in 2015-19.

De Sarno, 39, started his profession at Prada (OTC:) in 2005, earlier than transferring to Dolce & Gabbana after which becoming a member of Valentino in 2009, the place he held a number of positions earlier than being appointed style director overseeing each males’s and ladies’s collections, working carefully with chief designer Pierpaolo Piccioli.

A pink carpet favorite, Piccioli is thought for including a up to date aptitude to the storied Italian label’s extravagant breed of glamour, producing buzz for instance with head-to-toe shiny pink seems for American singer Zendaya.

“I’m proud to affix a home with such a rare historical past and heritage, that over time has been in a position to welcome and cherish values I imagine in,” De Sarno mentioned in Kering’s assertion. “I’m touched and excited to contribute my artistic imaginative and prescient for the model.”

He’ll current his debut Gucci runway assortment at Milan Ladies’s Vogue Week in September 2023.

Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri mentioned that having labored with plenty of Italy’s most famed luxurious style homes, De Sarno “brings with him an unlimited and related expertise.”

The selection of a seasoned however comparatively unknown designer with years of expertise working behind the scenes echoes the group’s technique when it appointed its earlier artistic director Alessandro Michele, who didn’t have a public profile on the time of his appointment in 2002.

“We salute Kering’s determination,” mentioned Luca Solca, analyst with Bernstein. “Gucci – and the Kering shareholders – want braveness and an unique perspective.”

Solca famous that De Sarno’s profile was reassuring. “The eyes of the world can be on him to see if he additionally has the required artistic genius.”

SOARING GROWTH

Gucci had been beneath strain to shortly appoint somebody to one of many prime jobs in style after the abrupt departure in November of Michele, recognized for his flamboyant and gender-fluid types and a favorite of singers Harry Types and Girl Gaga.

He had been within the job seven years however left following tensions with Kering’s prime administration, sources informed Reuters.

Alongside Bizzarri, he had overseen a interval of hovering progress at Gucci between 2015 and 2019, with earnings growing almost four-fold to simply beneath 10 billion euros ($11 billion) and income nearly trebling.

However in current quarters, Gucci had begun to lag rivals together with Hermes and LVMH’s prime model Louis Vuitton, with its efficiency in the important thing Chinese language market turning into a supply of concern for traders amid COVID-19 lockdowns.

Kering is because of publish full-year outcomes on Feb. 15.

Buyers can be eager to listen to how the enterprise fared after Beijing lifted its COVID restrictions late final 12 months, main to very large infections and the disruption of enterprise throughout the nation.

LVMH and others have mentioned gross sales recovered considerably within the lead-up to China’s Lunar New 12 months vacation.

However Kering’s shares have been the worst performers amongst main luxurious manufacturers and lagged the Paris and pan-European index over the previous three years.

The inventory has risen 10% since January 2020 in contrast with a greater than 100% rise in LVMH and Hermes.

($1 = 0.9202 euros)

(This story has been refiled to appropriate the spelling of ‘aptitude’ within the fourth paragraph.)