The designer carousel continues – and once again produces surprises. On Monday evening, the luxury group Kering has appointed Pierpaolo Piccioli as the new creative director of Balenciaga. The former Valentino designer is said to give the Paris brand a new impetus after the farewell to Demna-and help the French group to better turn after a difficult year. In the first quarter, the group sales were 3.9 billion euros – this corresponds to a decline of 14 percent. Gucci in particular hangs through: the largest group brand falls with a minus of 24 percent to a good 1.5 billion euros in quarterly sales. Saint Laurent also makes sales losses, while Bottega Veneta and other brands increase. Therefore, CEO François-Henri Pinault tries with new renovations. It was only in December that he appointed Louise Trotter as the first female chief designer at Bottega Veneta. And Demna, who wants to do without the surname in his work as a designer, should enliven Gucci. More fashion in the sense of the “Couturier of the Couturier” The new occupation at Balenciaga is likely to strain the fans to the extreme. Because in his ten years as a designer, Demna had grown many traditional customers with his radically disruptive style and gained many trend disciples. Huge sneakers, overdue shoulders, knee -length hoodies, hanging jeans: With the secret, sophisticated and stylish champion Cristóbal Balenciaga, that didn’t have much to do. Instead of bloated streetwear in every sense, more fashion will surely be offered in the future in the sense of the “Couturier of the Couturiers”, who died in 1972. This could also indicate that the age of baseball hats and hoodies are slowly coming to an end. Even Demna appeared after his last Balenciaga-Prêt-à-portter show in March backstage in the tailor-made black. Preferred Balenciaga: Fashion designer Demnaporpapolo Piccioli had left the Italian fashion house Valentino 2024 after more than eight years as the sole creative director; Previously, he was at the top with Maria Grazia Chiuri for a long time. He is best known for his lyrically delicate couture designs with many ruffles, ruffles and top dresses as well as through unique color combinations. He did not believe in prediction, Piccioli now wrote to his appointment, “but when I scroll through my personal Instagram page, I found that the very first picture I uploaded was the wedding ensemble of Cristóbal Balenciaga from 1967”. Francesca Bellettini, the head of brand development at Kering, Piccioli’s couture qualification-the traditional craft should probably go back to the roots. At the same time, she thanked Demna, whose last appearance for the house at Haute Couture is expected in July, “for the brave, distinctive vision”, with which he “shaped the identity of the house today”. This is nicely expressed, but hides the fact that Balenciaga never properly recovered after a tastelessly crashed advertising campaign in 2022. After exciting years, Piccioli is probably supposed to bring some peace to the fashion house and regain the trust of overlying conservative customers. Männer get the top jobsit of a year, the designer carousel turns as soon as maybe never before. This year alone, newcomers to Chanel, Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Celine, Loewe, Maison Margiela, Proenza Schouler begin and probably also with Dior. At Balenciaga, the timetable has already been determined: his first collection for the house will present Pierpaolo Piccioli at the Paris fashion week in October. In terms of the current new occupations, it is also the case that men come to the top jobs again. Only less than a third of the three dozen most important designer brands have women at the creative tip. In addition, the gentrification is in progress: While Chanel is just 40 years old Matthieu Blazy, who will show his first show in early October, the Kering Group adheres to well-tried names-because the 44-year-old Demna and the 57-year-old Picioli have long been in business. Always brought into play as a candidate for management posts. In uncertain times, the fashion scene seems to miss the trend to unleash new dynamics with a new name.
