Marco Bizzarri will leave the Italian design house in September after eight years at the helm
Gucci’s chairman and chief executive will step down later this year, the latest shakeup for the luxury fashion brand and as part of a series of changes at its parent company, French conglomerate Kering.
Marco Bizzarri will leave the Italian design house in September after eight years at the helm, and Kering said on Tuesday that he “has masterminded the execution of Gucci’s outstanding growth strategy since 2015.” He was part of Kering’s leadership for 18 years.
Bizzarri will be succeeded by Jean-François Palus, who is now Kering’s CEO. Palus will be “task to strengthen Gucci teams and operations” as the brand “regains influence and momentum,” according to the company statement.
Historically, Gucci accounted for the lion’s share of Kering’s profits, but it has come under some scrutiny after rivals underperformed.
Kering also said he was promoting Yves Saint Laurent president and CEO Francesca Bellettini to deputy chief executive of brand development, managing all of its fashion houses, which also include Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and Bottega Veneta.
Kering’s chief financial officer, Jean-Marc Duplaix, will be another deputy CEO, in charge of operations and finance.
“We are building a stronger organization to fully capture the growth of the global luxury market,” Kering billionaire Chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault said in a statement.
He said Bellettini boosted revenue at Saint Laurent six more times, while Palus, who will take over at Gucci, “will now focus his energy on getting our greatest asset back into top shape.”
Pinault thanked Bizzarri for leaving “for his spectacular contribution to the success of Gucci and Kering.”
The changes raise questions about the future of the biggest fashion conglomerate and especially of Gucci, whose creative director of eight years, Alessandro Michele, left the brand last November, citing “different perspectives.” He redefined the Gucci codes with romanticism and gender fluidity.
It marks a clean start at Gucci: Bizzarri arrived when Michele was promoted in 2015 in a complete revamp of the fashion house and is now leaving eight months after the creative director.
Recent Gucci collections have been designed by an in-house team, but the fashion world is looking forward to the unveiling of the brand’s first collection from new creative director Sabato De Sarno, formerly part of the Valentino team, in September.
