Alessandro Michele Announced as Valentino Creative Director

Several whole days haven’t even passed since Pierpaolo Piccioli sent shockwaves through the industry, announcing his sudden departure as creative director of Valentino. The dust on Piccioli’s tenure is yet to settle but suits at Mayhoola HQ wasted no time in finding a replacement. True to much speculation over on theFashionSpot forums, Alessandro Michele is Piccioli’s successor. Michele, who previously held the position of Gucci creative director from 2015-2022 has been on a design hiatus for 14 months, and will join the storied luxury Italian fashion house on Tuesday April 2. The Italian designer’s first collection is scheduled to be unveiled in September during the Spring 2025 season of Paris Fashion Week.

Revisit Alessandro Michele’s debut womenswear Gucci collection:

Read below the reactions of theFashionSpot’s forum members:

“Congratulations to him.” [LadyJunon]

“Congrats, but we all wanted to see him at Fendi…” [perhydrol]

“I’m so mad at him for letting us endure Kim Jones at Fendi! I still wish him the best of success in hopes that he will allow himself to work at the service of the brand and not indulge in his costumes ways. It-bag mission activated!” [Lola701]

“This is exciting. I’m optimistic that he will work within the realms of Valentino and not do exactly what he was doing at Gucci. I hope the break has done him well and he has something new and more to say. He has a lot to work with.” [reese06]

“I hope he can stop those stud pumps. It feels like they are selling it for like 800 years. And they have very limited colors.” [kasper!]

“At least their accessory division has hope. I’m wondering if the couture will come with the usual Michele excess but we’ll see.” [Kimihiro]

“I’m neutral toward him so whatever. Time will tell.” [Kanzai]

Share your own thoughts regarding Alessandro Michele’s appointment as Valentino creative director, here.