Gucci is changing skin. Or is it?

Alessandro Michele suddenly exited his role as creative director of Gucci in November, leaving a trail of query marks about what happened behind closed doors and the longer term of the Italian luxury brand. Its recent path and, potentially, yet one more textbook reinvention are objects of much speculation, as no successor has been named in the interim.

In response to WWD sources, strong disagreements over the longer term of the brand caused a rift between Michele and president and chief executive officer Marco Bizzarri, who had championed the designer since naming him creative director of the brand in January 2015.

It is known Bizzarri and François-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of Gucci’s parent Kering, urged Michele to initiate a powerful design shift, a change of pace and an additional elevation of the brand toward a real luxury positioning.

Gucci has grown to succeed in sales last 12 months of 9.73 billion euros, just shy of its oft-stated goal of 10 billion euros, and the demands on Michele have grown exponentially during his tenure. Sources consider Michele was presented with the suggestion of delegating a few of his many responsibilities, possibly making a recent design structure with the addition of key individuals, and that this may occasionally have triggered a fracture since he is thought for his hand-on approach and a spotlight to each detail.

After WWD first reported that Michele was expected to exit Gucci, and the brand confirmed the split, the designer’s parting words were telling, as staying true to his own values and vision gave the impression to be paramount.

“There are occasions when paths part ways due to the various perspectives each one in all us can have. Today a unprecedented journey ends for me, lasting greater than 20 years, inside an organization to which I even have tirelessly dedicated all my love and inventive passion,” stated Michele.

“During this long period, Gucci has been my home, my adopted family. To this clan, to all of the individuals who’ve sorted and supported it, I send my most sincere thanks, my biggest and most heartfelt embrace. Along with them I even have wished, dreamed, imagined. Without them, none of what I even have built would have been possible. To them goes my most sincerest wish: may you proceed to cultivate your dreams, the subtle and intangible matter that makes life price living. May you proceed to nourish yourselves with poetic and inclusive imagery, remaining faithful to your values. May you usually live by your passions, propelled by the wind of freedom.”

In the identical statement, Bizzarri, who chosen Michele to succeed Frida Giannini, underscored the designer’s commitment to Gucci, “his vision, devotion and unconditional love” for the home during his tenure.

Pinault also pointed to the “outstanding moment within the history of the home,” as Michele “[brought] a lot of himself on this adventure. His passion, his imagination, his ingenuity and his culture put Gucci center stage, where its place is.”

Sources contended that frictions had been simmering for a while and indeed, Michele didn’t travel to Seoul for Gucci’s repeat Cosmogonie show scheduled for Nov. 1. The show eventually was canceled following the tragic events within the South Korean city, where greater than 150 people were killed and dozens were injured after being crushed in a big crowd within the Itaewon nightlife district while celebrating Halloween. 

Michele’s exit nevertheless, appeared sudden as a succession plan has not been revealed. As well as, it took place ahead of the lads’s fall 2023 collection, to be unveiled in Milan on Jan. 13 — a return to the runway for that category after the designer experimented with different show formats and timing over the past few seasons, following his own inclinations. The boys’s fall 2023 collection can be presented by the in-house team.

Gucci could also be waiting for a high-profile designer — whose hands could perhaps be tied by a non-compete contract — or the corporate might be an internal promotion, which will not be a recent path at Kering, or Gucci itself.

In-house names that circulated after Michele’s exit were those of Remo Macco, a Gucci veteran who was recently appointed studio design director; Davide Renne, also a longtime Gucci designer, and Marco Maria Lombardi, a member of Gucci’s design studio. As for established designers, mainly everyone’s name has been tossed within the hat, from Maria Grazia Chiuri and Riccardo Tisci to Daniel Roseberry, now at Schiaparelli.

Michele joined the Gucci design studio in 2002 following a stint as senior accessories designer at Fendi. Giannini brought him to Gucci and he was named her associate in 2011. In 2014, he took on the extra responsibility of creative director of Richard Ginori, the porcelain brand acquired by Gucci in 2013.

Michele undoubtedly made Gucci a serious influence in fashion again and his gender-fluid, inclusive and romantic spirit made its mark on a slew of other designers, catering to a younger and more diverse customer. Nonetheless, in keeping with one source, “Pinault has been attempting to get better the uber luxury consumer.”

Michele reinvented Gucci with an androgynous style that toppled Giannini’s sophisticated jet-set lifestyle image. Giannini’s tenure as creative director on the brand lasted 10 years, while her predecessor Tom Ford engineered the primary Gucci turnaround and stayed on for nearly eight years.

After Michele’s appointment, Gucci posted growth exceeding 35 percent for five consecutive quarters by the primary quarter of 2018, prompting Bizzarri to set a ten billion euro revenue goal for the brand in June that 12 months.

His departure comes on the heels of his most up-to-date show for the brand last September, which was one in all the standouts of the spring 2023 season. The designer sent out a stream of models in each his signature androgynous looks and a few that were more restrained with an injection of classic tailoring.

The twist got here when a partition lifted to indicate that half the audience was watching the very same show — the models within the show were all an identical twins, in a private reflection by Michele concerning the nature of identity. He revealed after the show that his mother was a twin and so he at all times felt he had two moms.

It’s unclear what the longer term holds for Michele, who has expressed his passion for cinematography — very similar to Ford. While the rumor mill points him within the direction of Chanel, the French brand has reiterated its support of creative director Virginie Viard, and WWD sources doubt Michele can be inclined to go away Rome for Paris for private reasons.

Despite Michele’s successful stint at Gucci, which was driven by his unique aesthetic codes, analysts and observers generally approved of the brand’s decision to kick off a recent chapter, believing it is going to bring recent energy, fresh creativity and a business acceleration. All agreed that the brand has enough clout, a powerful supply chain, top digital expertise and customer engagement skills to weather the transition.

Kering in October reported that its money cow Gucci continued to underperform versus the group’s other brands, although organic sales picked up pace within the third quarter. Revenues on the Italian label totaled 2.6 billion euros, up 9 percent on a like-for-like basis, following a 4 percent rise within the second quarter.

That was barely below a consensus of analyst estimates, which called for a ten percent increase in comparable sales.

The Bizzarri-Michele dream team helped triple the dimensions of Gucci since 2015 and analysts see the following step and expected turnaround as more complicated, wondering if managerial changes may be within the cards at a time of a more volatile demand.

Indeed, sources in Milan also wonder if Bizzarri might be headed to a top role inside Kering and be succeeded by Saint Laurent CEO Francesca Bellettini. Incidentally, the latter executive, as reported, appeared on the Bain & Co. and Altagamma conference in Milan in November — a primary for Bellettini, who has not attended any event in Milan in recent memory.  

An indication of a sharper concentrate on boosting the highest line and a change of direction at Gucci could also be seen within the appointment last spring of former Roger Vivier brand manager Maria Cristina Lomanto. She was named executive vp, brand general manager, a recent role for the Italian luxury company. Lomanto was tasked with specializing in coordinating collection and retail merchandising, visual merchandising, beauty and eyewear licensing and retail training, reporting to Bizzarri.

Homing in on historic codes, iconic handbags and craftsmanship was also touted by Pinault, as the chief commented on the group’s third-quarter performance.