The abrupt departure from Gucci of Alessandro Michele, the flamboyant designer who was a favorite of Harry Styles and Lady Gaga, increases pressure on owner Kering as it faces slowing revenue growth at the Italian fashion house.
News of the creative director’s exit in November after seven years comes as Kering is seeking to reinvigorate the label, which accounted for two thirds of the parent company’s profits last year, and ahead of the lucrative holiday shopping season.Announcing his departure on Nov. 23, Michele referred to “Kering chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault lauded the designer’s tenure as “an outstanding moment” in Gucci’s history. He did not name a successor.
Mr. Michele’s departure is “more than just the exit of one of the most iconic designers of the last decade,” said analysts at Jefferies, who pointed to a likely “deeper rethink” of the label at Kering.Shares in Kering, worth more than €66 billion, have lagged rivals in recent years. They have lost a quarter of their value this year.Mr. Michele, 49, reinvigorated the brand with his eccentric, gender-fluid styles popular with younger shoppers.
In recent years, growth has slowed while rivals like Dior and Louis Vuitton, owned by rival luxury group LVMH, have shot ahead. Industry observers say there is a large pool of potential creative directors, ranging from big-name designers to relative unknowns who could be tapped from the inside like Michele was.approach, as Demna Gvasalia did at Balenciaga, or build on a previous designer’s direction like Anthony Vaccarello, who followed Hedi Slimane at Saint Laurent, said Serge Carreira, head of emerging brands at the French fashion federation FHCM.