Alessandro Michele Leaves Gucci
Fashion

Alessandro Michele Leaves Gucci

Alessandro Michele is parting ways with Gucci after seven years as creative director.

According to WWD, the Italian luxury brand and parent company Kering announced Michele's departure in a statement issued on Wednesday, November 23.

“I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet Alessandro at the end of 2014, since then we have had the pleasure to work closely together as Gucci has charted its successful path over these last eight years,” Gucci president and CEO Marco Bizzarri said. “I would like to thank him for his 20 years of commitment to Gucci and for his vision, devotion and unconditional love for this unique house during his tenure as creative director.”

Meanwhile, Kering Chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault went on to call Michele's reign — which started with his appointment as creative director in January 2015 — a "unique" and "outstanding" moment in the brand's history, before adding that he was "grateful to Alessandro for bringing so much of himself in this adventure."

"His passion, his imagination, his ingenuity and his culture put Gucci center stage, where its place is," Pinault continued. "I wish him a great next chapter in his creative journey.”

His exit comes on the heels of another WWD report from Tuesday, in which sources said that Michele didn't comply with requests "to initiate a strong design shift." As one insider claimed, Pinault has been "trying to recover the uber luxury consumer," while Michele has continued to solidify Gucci's reputation as a youthful, forward-facing brand via gender-fluid clothing and collaborations with stars like Harry Styles.

“There are times when paths part ways because of the different perspectives each one of us may have,” as Michele himself said. “Today an extraordinary journey ends for me, lasting more than 20 years, within a company to which I have tirelessly dedicated all my love and creative passion.”

Gucci and Kering have yet to announce a replacement, though they stated their intention "to carry the direction of the house forward until a new creative organization will be announced." However, a source for the publication speculated that Gucci's Davide Renne and studio design director Remo Macco are both contenders for the position.

You can read WWD's full report on Michele's exit here.

Photo via Getty / Daniele Venturelli

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