With De Sarno as creative director, Kering can unfold the new chapter in Gucci‘s history. Observers are certain of this: from style to positioning, passing through the same structure of the creative teams, the Florentine brand is undergoing a profound change of pace compared to the last years of Alessandro Michele‘s management.
Style changes with De Sarno
The clue to the direction in which Gucci’s style will go is to be found in the recent statements of Kering chairman François-Henri Pinault. Who, in the past year, has lost no opportunity to remind us how important he considers the balance between the proposal of products linked to the creative director’s flair and timeless classics to be. In short, BoF acknowledges, “Gucci does indeed need fresh energy to initiate a new cycle of growth.
But it would be a mistake,” it continues, “to bet everything on a new aesthetic shakeup”. In short, one should not expect De Sarno (pictured) to present himself with a visual impact comparable to that of Michele in 2015. Precisely because, as Michele himself (as well as Demna Gvasalia at Balenciaga) demonstrates, by dint of exploring boundaries, one ends up overstepping them: which for luxury brands is not a good thing. “Only brands that are not founded on sufficiently strong codes are condemned to periodic reinventions, which represent a risk”. The models that Gucci intends to follow, therefore, are Chanel and Louis Vuitton: maisons capable of innovating, but without losing the value of their tradition.
But also positioning and structure
The change of pace of the stylistic codes goes, in Kering’s view, hand in hand with the repositioning of the brand. Gucci must move out of Michele’s “informal” season and back into true and real luxury. This is also why insiders expect a restructuring of the creative mechanisms. A brand flattened on the figure of the super-star director is no longer sustainable. If the day is still far off when Gucci will have (as others do, such as LV) a head for each division, WWD records the opinion of those who expect a top of the pyramid where the voices of the teams have greater incidence. De Sarno is a pragmatist, accustomed through multiple experiences to dealing with multiple points of view: he will not be an absolute king, therefore, but a director who coordinates everyone’s work.
Photos from social media
Read also:
