Designers Switching Houses & Moving to New Brands

[oioioi]

jil just needs to do me a solid and bring back some of the tailor made suiting; mine is getting a little long in the tooth and the vintage sites are slim pickings.

Hopefully Jil still has some OG modeliste's as Simone Bellotti's Bally had some dodgy fitting issues and tailoring (surprising for someone who was a head of menswear).

 

[oioioi]

There are rumours in Milan that Francesca Bellettini is going either to Valentino or to Prada...

Prada would be a massive step down for her as everyone knows a CEO there is basically a merchandising intern for Bertelli. He runs the show and is even micromanaging what name is given to a shade of grey cotton for a Ramadan capsule PDF.
Valentino feels like dead weight right now, maybe they want to put her there to restrategize?

 

[Lola701]

There are rumours in Milan that Francesca Bellettini is going either to Valentino or to Prada...

Well, I hoped that Alessandro could evolve and add something remarkable to Valentino but now I'm not sure if he'll survive another 2 years if things will spiral down at this pace....

She is unofficially the second most important person in the Kering group.
It wouldn’t make no type of sense…Even more considering that Kering has to perform well in anticipation for the full acquisition of Valentino in 2026.
I actually wonder if Valentino contuining it slip in sales wouldn’t help facilitate Kering situation in that issue.

 

[PDFSD]

LOL

Via Susanna Nicoletti :

Kering Francesca Bellettini from MFFashion
"Luca de Meo's arrival at the top of Pinault's group sparks rumors about the future of the manager, now deputy CEO and architect of the relaunch of Saint Laurent. Market rumors would give her as a possible replacement for D'Attis at Prada but the name of the Armani group also pops up"

It seems that the sales campaign has started...

At Prada Group she will never get along with Andrea Guerra and she is not the kind of manager now who could adapt to the brand mood nor get along with Miuccia.

At Giorgio Armani there is no need so far of such a profile as they are going smoothly with the internal team that doesn't need any disruption.

Other brands might be more likely.
What about Artemis?
Or (ughhh...) Valentino for an honorable exit? Bellini could become interim CEO for the time Venturini will be on sick leave until they officialize the new guard.
Will there be a reunion of former Gucci Bellettini-Michele?
Or a new power couple Riccardo Bellini and hopefully Maria Grazia Chiuri?

We will see...
It's interesting that the voices are already accompanying Bellettini to the door.
Certainly she will not be remembered for her accomplishments as group deputy CEO.

 

[PDFSD]

Hopefully Jil still has some OG modeliste's as Simone Bellotti's Bally had some dodgy fitting issues and tailoring (surprising for someone who was a head of menswear).

Simons says.... lol he was doing at -gucci sportswear outerwear ........means no tailoring of suits and shirts also no tailoring of coats at Gucci

There is a difference lol :-)

The guy doing tailoring and coats is at Valentino now with Alessandro that's why the 70´s tailoring cuts is the same at valentino and you see nothing of this hand at Bally nor will we see it at the new Jil Sander.

 

[Kimihiro]

I think Francesca got lucky at Saint Laurent. If she started with how she and Anthony are doing things now it wouldn’t be big.

 

[PDFSD]

Puck news​

Marni’s Meryll Rogge Era​

News and notes on the fashion industry chatter surrounding Meryll Rogge’s appointment as Marni’s next designer.

The Belgium-born Rogge, who worked for Dries Van Noten and Marc Jacobs, has received steady praise, but a pick like this from OTB indicates to me that they were looking for a relative unknown with real-world commercial experience. Photo: Romain Guédé/BFA.com
Lauren Sherman & Sarah Shapiro
July 1, 2025

---

Meryll’s Marni​

Word from the ANDAM Fashion Awards is that Grand Prize winner Meryll Rogge is the next Marni designer, and that her appointment could be announced as early as this week. (A rep for OTB, the owner of Marni, declined to comment. A rep for Rogge did not respond to a request for comment.)
Just a couple of weeks ago, WWD floated the idea that Marni was in talks with Ellen Hodakova Larsson, who won the LVMH Prize in 2024. (Alas, it appears that another David Siwicki client was tapped.) The Belgium-born Rogge, who worked for Dries Van Noten and Marc Jacobs, has received steady praise, but a pick like this from OTB indicates to me that they were looking for a relative unknown with real-world commercial experience. (I’m sure whatever project they made her do was very good, too.) However, I know that some people within the ANDAM jury were surprised that she won the big award—which includes a mentorship with one of our kings, LVMH’s Sidney Toledano—given that she is about to get another sort of boost. Anyway, best of luck to everyone involved.



Anyways i don't see marni being interesting with her sorry !!!her collections are literally the problem we havewith all these other empty quirky design going around looking like mix of margiela miu miu dries old marni comme etc etc etc

From the David Siwicki camp Hoda seems to be the most convincing even if its from the same margiela recycle legacy fed trough chat GPT

---

 

[yslforever]

There are rumours in Milan that Francesca Bellettini is going either to Valentino or to Prada...

Well, I hoped that Alessandro could evolve and add something remarkable to Valentino but now I'm not sure if he'll survive another 2 years if things will spiral down at this pace....

If this is true, I know some people who will cry of joy !
I partly blame her for the current state of Kering, but mostly FHP though.

 

[oioioi]

Simons says.... lol he was doing at -gucci sportswear outerwear ........means no tailoring of suits and shirts also no tailoring of coats at Gucci

There is a difference lol :-)

The guy doing tailoring and coats is at Valentino now with Alessandro that's why the 70´s tailoring cuts is the same at valentino and you see nothing of this hand at Bally nor will we see it at the new Jil Sander.

Thanks for the correction! Jesus how many design directors does Gucci have, though I heard its something like a 100 plus total design team?

Though no wonder none of the Bally pieces seem to fit around the the shoulders, necks, collars, or had ill fitting sleeve caps. Just thought there were no resources..

 

[yslforever]

LOL

Via Susanna Nicoletti :

Kering Francesca Bellettini from MFFashion
"Luca de Meo's arrival at the top of Pinault's group sparks rumors about the future of the manager, now deputy CEO and architect of the relaunch of Saint Laurent. Market rumors would give her as a possible replacement for D'Attis at Prada but the name of the Armani group also pops up"

It seems that the sales campaign has started...

At Prada Group she will never get along with Andrea Guerra and she is not the kind of manager now who could adapt to the brand mood nor get along with Miuccia.

At Giorgio Armani there is no need so far of such a profile as they are going smoothly with the internal team that doesn't need any disruption.

Other brands might be more likely.
What about Artemis?
Or (ughhh...) Valentino for an honorable exit? Bellini could become interim CEO for the time Venturini will be on sick leave until they officialize the new guard.
Will there be a reunion of former Gucci Bellettini-Michele?
Or a new power couple Riccardo Bellini and hopefully Maria Grazia Chiuri?

We will see...
It's interesting that the voices are already accompanying Bellettini to the door.
Certainly she will not be remembered for her accomplishments as group deputy CEO.

L'Oréal would put their veto to her coming to Armani (their beauty and fragances royalties are a very big chunk of Armani revenues and a constant cash-flow). They already hated her at YSL.

 

[andrew]

Hopefully Jil still has some OG modeliste's as Simone Bellotti's Bally had some dodgy fitting issues and tailoring (surprising for someone who was a head of menswear).

well that's a bummer to hear, was hoping he'd revive a more classic tailoring look vice what the meiers were up do (which I liked for some odd casual wear, but the tailored stuff was all over the place).

 

[PDFSD]

Thanks for the correction! Jesus how many design directors does Gucci have, though I heard its something like a 100 plus total design team?

Though no wonder none of the Bally pieces seem to fit around the the shoulders, necks, collars, or had ill fitting sleeve caps. Just thought there were no resources..

typically for a billion euro brand which have one creative director with mens and womens categories under him or her :

DESIGN DIRECTOR
2 - RTW design director 1 woman rtw 1 for man rtw
2 - Leather goods bags acc 1 woman rtw 1 for man rtw
2 - Shoes 1 woman Shoes 1 for man shoes
1 - Jewelry for man and woman
1- Kids 1 for all kids
1- Home 1 design director (hermes has a duo )
1 silk & print director for mens and womens (LV this would be 2 as its separate like Dior )
1 embroidery director for mens and womens (LV this would be 2 as its separate like Dior )

SENIOR DESIGNERS
celebrity and VIP are senior not directors usually the fall under mens and womens RTW director leadership.

senior designers for womens and men like (simon guy )are divided in categories sportswear , tailoring , tops and bottoms etc
senior designers for acc bags shoe and jwl same

DESIGNERS
Designers are under seniors with junior designers as assistants

JUNIOR DESIGNERS
can have interns working next to them both take order form senior designer and assisted the designer of their category team

then yes you can easily get in to a total of 100 plus design team

 

[HigthaVandah]

typically for a billion euro brand which have one creative director with mens and womens categories under him or her :

DESIGN DIRECTOR
2 - RTW design director 1 woman rtw 1 for man rtw
2 - Leather goods bags acc 1 woman rtw 1 for man rtw
2 - Shoes 1 woman Shoes 1 for man shoes
1 - Jewelry for man and woman
1- Kids 1 for all kids
1- Home 1 design director (hermes has a duo )
1 silk & print director for mens and womens (LV this would be 2 as its separate like Dior )
1 embroidery director for mens and womens (LV this would be 2 as its separate like Dior )

SENIOR DESIGNERS
celebrity and VIP are senior not directors usually the fall under mens and womens RTW director leadership.

senior designers for womens and men like (simon guy )are divided in categories sportswear , tailoring , tops and bottoms etc
senior designers for acc bags shoe and jwl same

DESIGNERS
Designers are under seniors with junior designers as assistants

JUNIOR DESIGNERS
can have interns working next to them both take order form senior designer and assisted the designer of their category team

then yes you can easily get in to a total of 100 plus design team

Thanks for writing this out. I always appreciate your insights into the corporate culture of fashion.

 

[Squizree]

We need a primer for all these designers. They've become more and more transient.

 

[FashionPower]

typically for a billion euro brand which have one creative director with mens and womens categories under him or her :

DESIGN DIRECTOR
2 - RTW design director 1 woman rtw 1 for man rtw
2 - Leather goods bags acc 1 woman rtw 1 for man rtw
2 - Shoes 1 woman Shoes 1 for man shoes
1 - Jewelry for man and woman
1- Kids 1 for all kids
1- Home 1 design director (hermes has a duo )
1 silk & print director for mens and womens (LV this would be 2 as its separate like Dior )
1 embroidery director for mens and womens (LV this would be 2 as its separate like Dior )

SENIOR DESIGNERS
celebrity and VIP are senior not directors usually the fall under mens and womens RTW director leadership.

senior designers for womens and men like (simon guy )are divided in categories sportswear , tailoring , tops and bottoms etc
senior designers for acc bags shoe and jwl same

DESIGNERS
Designers are under seniors with junior designers as assistants

JUNIOR DESIGNERS
can have interns working next to them both take order form senior designer and assisted the designer of their category team

then yes you can easily get in to a total of 100 plus design team

100 people to come up with the design of this..."stuff"...LOL
(980 bucks for this shirt by the way)

 

[oioioi]

typically for a billion euro brand which have one creative director with mens and womens categories under him or her :

DESIGN DIRECTOR
2 - RTW design director 1 woman rtw 1 for man rtw
2 - Leather goods bags acc 1 woman rtw 1 for man rtw
2 - Shoes 1 woman Shoes 1 for man shoes
1 - Jewelry for man and woman
1- Kids 1 for all kids
1- Home 1 design director (hermes has a duo )
1 silk & print director for mens and womens (LV this would be 2 as its separate like Dior )
1 embroidery director for mens and womens (LV this would be 2 as its separate like Dior )

SENIOR DESIGNERS
celebrity and VIP are senior not directors usually the fall under mens and womens RTW director leadership.

senior designers for womens and men like (simon guy )are divided in categories sportswear , tailoring , tops and bottoms etc
senior designers for acc bags shoe and jwl same

DESIGNERS
Designers are under seniors with junior designers as assistants

JUNIOR DESIGNERS
can have interns working next to them both take order form senior designer and assisted the designer of their category team

then yes you can easily get in to a total of 100 plus design team

I probably misunderstood when my friend said there are more than 100 in the RTW (not including home, jewellery) team, probably should've clarified with them first .

I rechecked those press releases of Bellotti and yes it says senior for sportswear and head of mens special projects only.

 

[oioioi]

100 people to come up with the design of this..."stuff"...LOL
(980 bucks for this shirt by the way)
View attachment 1392244

I think they must have a lot of misdirection/too many cooks in the kitchen between different layers of deputies, merch, marketing etc. It's not even clear what their direction has been in the last 3/4 years.

 

[PDFSD]

100 people to come up with the design of this..."stuff"...LOL
(980 bucks for this shirt by the way)
View attachment 1392244

corporate greed my love not perse good design or freedom :-)

 

[yslforever]

100 people to come up with the design of this..."stuff"...LOL
(980 bucks for this shirt by the way)
View attachment 1392244

Whatever comes out design studios is always heavily filtered by marketing depts, when the CMOs are not directly commissioning the studios, typically for all the capsule collections (holidays, snow, high summer, bridal, Ramadan, Chinese new year, location exclusives, boutiques exclusives etc etc etc),but also marketing is directly interfering with the main collections and pre-collections too.
This unfortunate shirt is probably a very deliberate choice of the marketing dept.

 

[PDFSD]

We need a primer for all these designers. They've become more and more transient.

i see it bit different
The longer you are in a brand more chances you get the be a senior designer via friends politics or as people come and go you lay low the new incoming leader gives you promotion as you know how the company works is easier than recruiting from outside.


all this does not create the best senior designers either i have to say as the best people don't always get the promotion or hired

Ancora guy , the new mc Queen guy etc have all been 10 year plus at x brands look what they brought forward.


longevity at one brand does not equal quality of ideas , designers are also people the get comfortable and just want to go home on time to watch netflix to decompress form toxic coworkers or directors or go out to dinner with friend s or be meet the new grindr date.