Gucci Appoints Sabato De Sarno Creative Director
The Valentino fashion director will present his first collection for Gucci in Milan in September.
Gucci has named Sabato De Sarno, a close associate of Valentino designer Pierpaolo Piccioli, its new creative director. He will present his first collection for Gucci in September, the brand said in a statement.
Rome-based De Sarno joined Valentino in 2009 after holding roles at Prada and Dolce & Gabbana. Since rising to the role of Valentino’s fashion director, overseeing its men’s and women’s ready-to-wear collections, De Sarno has become a fixture at the brand’s events around the world, but remains unknown to the fashion consuming public.
The move sees Gucci owner Kering once again elevating a behind-the-scenes figure to lead one of its brands. De Sarno’s predecessor at Gucci, Alessandro Michele, who departed the brand last November, was an unknown veteran of Gucci’s studio before leading a historic expansion, starting in 2015.
Kering has been under pressure to identify a successor to Michele, whose hit maximalist aesthetic helped the brand to nearly triple annual sales to almost €10 billion and quadruple profits.
The brand recently promised investors to stay in the spotlight with a full return to the fashion calendar — showing its collections 6 times a year — making the creative vacancy even more urgent to fill.
De Sarno has “vast and relevant experience,” Gucci 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.”