There is a new name in fashion. The most illustrious job vacancy in the industry has been filled, with Gucci announcing the appointment of Sabato de Sarno to the role of creative director.
Events at Gucci have been moving fast, as the brand undergoes a shake-up to turnaround “brand fatigue” blamed for the house being overshadowed in growth last year by Kering Group’s stablemate Saint Laurent.
Alessandro Michele, who led a stellar Gucci renaissance by aligning it with the inclusive values and main-character energy of Gen Z, departed suddenly two months ago, reportedly linked to a reluctance to pursue the aggressive high-growth strategy demanded in the boardroom.
“I want men and women to feel authentic and free in the pursuit of themselves,” Michele once said of his mission at Gucci. Since then, a number of high profile names have been linked with the role – including Anthony Vaccarello, who has been immensely successful as the creative director of Saint Laurent.
De Sarno is a little known name, but arrives at Gucci with a prestigious CV. He has been a key figure in the design studio at Valentino for the past 13 years, during which it reinvented itself from a byword for old-school elegance to the buzziest brand on social media, with the power to set trends all over the world.
When Valentino decreed a year ago that fuchsia was the colour of the season with a Paris catwalk show flooded with sugary shades, it launched a summer in which “Valentino pink” became the new black, from the red carpets of Hollywood to the high-street shop floor.
De Sarno rose through the ranks to his role overseeing the creative direction for womenswear and menswear at Valentino. It is thought he worked on last year’s most high-profile wedding dress, worn by Nicola Peltz at her marriage to Brooklyn Beckham.
The first hint at the look and feel of De Sarno’s Gucci came in the timing of the announcement. Sabato means Saturday in Italian, and Kering released the news outside the working week, on a Saturday morning. It was the kind of esoteric, individualistic quirk of timing that might have befitted the era of Michele, who moved Gucci’s shows away from the traditional calendar, preferring to follow his “own rhythm”.
Observers are likely to glean from this timing a hint that De Sarno, like his predecessor, will bring a personal touch to the powerhouse brand.
Aside from the timing, De Sarno gave little away in a statement released accompanied by a simple portrait showing him arms folded, unsmiling, with close cropped hair and wearing a plain black crew-neck sweater.
“I am deeply honoured to take on the role as creative director of Gucci,” he said. “I am proud to join a house with such an extraordinary history and heritage, that over the years has been able to welcome and cherish values I believe in. I am touched and excited to contribute my creative vision for the brand.”
Fashion now has an eight-month wait for De Sarno’s Gucci debut at Milan fashion week in September. It is understood the team left in place by Michele will design the show scheduled to take place in Milan next month, and a Cruise collection to be shown in Seoul in May.
De Sarno has “vast and relevant experience”, Gucci’s chief executive, Marco Bizzarri, said in a statement. “He will lead our creative teams with a distinctive vision that will help write this exciting next chapter, reinforcing the house’s fashion authority while capitalising on its rich heritage.”
Gucci will have been encouraged by the recollection that their previous appointment – Michele – was, like De Sarno, an unknown name until given the top job. Michele was plucked from within the Gucci team, but De Sarno is an outsider to the brand. It is a strongly Italian appointment at a house whose backstory in Rome and Florence is a proud element of its prestige. Born in Naples, De Sarno worked at Prada and at Dolce & Gabbana before moving to Valentino in 2009.
