It’s been a roller coaster time in fashion.
Early last week, Dries Van Noten announced he is leaving the label he launched nearly 40 years ago. On Friday, Valentino’s creative director, Pierpaolo Piccioli, who had been at the brand for 25 years, announced he would depart.
Van Noten said he was in the midst of finding his successor, but Valentino’s C-suite wasted little time. By Thursday morning, the Rome-based house already had a new leader: Alessandro Michele, who from 2015 to 2022 transformed Gucci from a staid luxury player to a global powerhouse of maximalist, pop-philosophy fashion. He left Gucci abruptly at the end of 2022, allegedly because he pushed back against the pressure to deliver ever-higher profits.