MILAN – Shares of Moschino parent company Aeffe rose 2.26 percent to 81 cents in early trading in Milan following the news that Davide Renne had been named creative director of the Italian brand.

Hailing from Gucci, Renne will start at Moschino on Nov. 1, and his first collection will debut for fall 2024 in February during Milan Fashion Week. He succeeds Jeremy Scott, who exited the brand last March after a 10-year tenure.

Massimo Ferretti, executive chairman of Aeffe, told WWD exclusively that, following the collaboration with Scott, “who greatly contributed to the expansion of the brand,” the corporate “immediately began a research process that was prompted by a desire to reflect on the longer term of Moschino and what we’d want for it. The meeting with Davide was immediately enlightening. Already in our first talks I appreciated his aesthetic sensibility and the flexibility to see the several levels of interpretation that Franco Moschino all the time inserted inside his creations.”

Ferretti said that the  Moschino “universe goes beyond fashion, embracing art, culture and costume. I think that Davide, also in light of his background, has been attracted by this possibility of wide-ranging motion in a context where the first objective has all the time been to surprise and excite.”

As well as, Ferretti said that Renne has “immediately shown an approach that is incredibly polite and respectful, which reflects our company culture where the values connected to the family and the sense of belonging are still the foundations of our each day life.”  The brand new course, he concluded, will “surely result in great satisfaction.”

Renne has designed women’s collections for 20 years at Gucci, eventually becoming head designer of womenswear, and at Moschino he’ll oversee women’s, men’s and accessories collections, reporting to Ferretti.

“Franco Moschino had a nickname for his design studio: la sala giochi – the playroom. This resonates deeply with me: what fashion – Italian fashion especially, and the House of Moschino most of all — can achieve with its enormous power must be completed with a way of play, of joy. A way of discovery, and experimentation,” said Renne.

The designer described Ferretti as “a gentleman who has been almost fatherly in his ability to listen and establish a dialogue during our encounters.”  

Renne penned a letter sent out on Monday morning, shedding some light on his life, which has taken him “through a journey of discovery: in spite of everything, I used to be born in 1977 in Follonica, Tuscany, on the Tyrrhenian Sea, a magical body of water – in accordance with Greek mythology, the cliffs above the Tyrrhenian housed the 4 winds kept by Aeolus.”

While in highschool, “for some mysterious reason I kept drawing women’s clothes,” he writes. “Nevertheless, I figured I’d go on to check architecture, but enrolling at Polimoda in Florence endowed me with a way of absolute freedom, paving the best way for a journey of creativity that, I soon discovered, became my life.”

His first steps in fashion were at Alessandro Dell’Acqua and Renne described the designer as his “first teacher and mentor in fashion,” then moving on to Gucci.

“I spent the past eight years with Alessandro Michele who taught me to dream greater and pushed me further ahead, and helped me to make my dreams come true. Fashion, like life, is about discovering ourselves. I dislike fashion that dictates answers – I’m more inclined to search out the best query, then the answers are available the designer’s dialogue with our audience: fashion is inherently bespoke.”

Dell’Acqua told WWD that he was “completely happy and proud” of Renne’s achievement. “We shared the very best years of my brand Alessandro Dell’Acqua, and now we have all the time maintained our  realationship alive with a continuing exchange. I’m also completely happy that an Italian group has chosen an Italian creative with an intensive experience and I wish Davide the success he deserves,” said Dell’Acqua, who’s the creative director of the N.21 brand he launched in 2010 after losing the usage of his name and artistic control of that eponymous brand in 2009.

One other Gucci alum, Simone Bellotti, has taken the creative lead at a luxury house, as he was named design director of Bally last May.

Renne continued by saying that  “being tasked of taking charge of the home created by a genius of Italian design and contemporary art is an honor that I don’t take calmly. I noticed that Franco ceases to seem an outlier just once you concentrate on his work not outside but beyond the bounds of fashion, as a up to date artist. He was the creator of an astonishing modern concept of luxury that also resonates today – his work is present even when he’s not here. Franco taught us that fashion can’t be explained, can only be lived since it’s essentially, intimately, about life – in regards to the world around us. That is, to me, the poetry of fashion. I see fashion as a dialogue where the creation of beauty happens.”

Giovanna Brambilla, partner at Milan-based executive search firm Value Search, said that Renne “belongs to that group of creative minds which have a deep knowledge of the product, fabrics and materials, and expert expertise in the development of garments – and that just isn’t a given.”

She believes Renne will “add substance to the collections, upgrade the posh positioning of the brand, without losing that touch of irony, after a number of seasons where the main focus appeared to be to surprise the audience. After a few years as a second- in- command, I believe Davide is well-prepared for this role, and, although his background is in womenswear, he was at Gucci at a moment of great transformation on all product categories.”

A former Gucci colleague praised Renne’s “great talent, a creative mind with a robust imagination and respect for each fashion and the people he works with. In his previous experience, he was in a position to lead his team even in delicate moments, never losing his smile and enthusiasm, thus proving he’s a sensitive man with a heart of gold.”

After Michele’s departure last November, quite a lot of sources spoke of Renne as a possible candidate with the talents to take over as creative director of Gucci – a post that eventually went to Sabato De Sarno – and his name had been circulating in Milan as a successor to Scott for weeks.

Brands are increasingly paying tribute to second-in-command designers. De Sarno was previously fashion director overseeing each men’s and girls’s collections at Valentino. Recently, Luigi Preziotti and Dario Vitale were internally promoted to go designers at Prada and Miu Miu, respectively, following the exit of Fabio Zambernardi, the longtime design director of the brands, after the spring 2024 collections.

Last month, Moschino marked its 40^th anniversary with a fashion show presenting looks created by stylists Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele, Katie Grand, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson and Lucia Liu inspired by the works of Franco Moschino.

Scott succeeded longtime creative director Rossella Jardini, who carried forward the late designer’s torch for 20 years.

Franco Moschino began his profession in 1971, designing for Gianni Versace for six years. He launched his own company, Moonshadow, in 1983, followed by Moschino Couture! that very same 12 months. He was known for his quirky and tongue-in-cheek humorousness, spoofing high fashion, but at the identical time, his revolutionary designs were ground-breaking. He revamped the classic suit with imaginative details, corresponding to bottle caps, embroidered price tags on little black dresses, or created skirts made entirely of men’s ties. “There isn’t any creativity without chaos,” was considered one of his famous quotes. He died in 1994.

Following the designer’s death, Aeffe acquired a 70 percent stake in the corporate, further developing the brand globally.

Aeffe took full control of Moschino in 2021, paying 66.6 million euros for the 30 percent stake within the brand it didn’t own. It also acquired the license to provide and distribute the Love Moschino collections of ladies’s apparel in-house for 3.6 million euros.

In 2022, Aeffe revenues amounted to 352 million euros, up 8.4 percent in comparison with 325 million euros in 2021. While the group doesn’t break down sales by brand, sources say Moschino represents 70 percent of the full.

In the primary six months of the present 12 months, Aeffe revenues decreased 7.7 percent to 162.9 million euros, compared with 176.5 million euros in the identical period last 12 months. Despite the drop, Ferretti said in July that he was “satisfied with the outcomes of the retail channel, a direct consequence of the transition to a direct distribution model for the Moschino brand on the Chinese market.”

In 2021, Aeffe also took control of Moschino’s distribution in mainland China, signaling the increasing relevance of that marketplace for the label. This involved around 20 stores, which had been operated for the previous 10 years by Scienward Fashion and Luxury (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.

Along with Moschino, Aeffe comprises the Alberta Ferretti, Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini and Pollini brands.