Frida Giannini - Designer

[GIVENCHYlover]

He's not moving to Gucci

instagram.com/riccardotisci17 via Koibito

 

[wannabemodelbook]

1000000% Slimane.

 

[reesewu]

He's not moving to Gucci

Kind of off topic here, but does this mean Givenchy Couture is back?

 

[mistress_f]

Kind of off topic here, but does this mean Givenchy Couture is back?

yeah that's what i was wondering about. one can only hope

 

[Crying Diamonds]

i've been told who's going to replace her and the person they chose has definitely not been chosen to create a more exciting gucci also it's a name that hasn't been mentioned yet here.
get ready for an even more boring, but probably more consistent, version of gucci

This sounds like Marco Zanini to me.
His designs are only ever inspired by the archives and the obvious, he could design at every house.. and has done!

 

[perhydrol]

I doubt that it'll be Zanini, he's not really good at designing accessories, I mean his shoes for s/s 2014 at Rochas weren't really commercial and they were really ugly.

 

[Sensation]

Alessandro Michele Emerges as Gucci Candidate
By WWD Staff

A new contender has emerged in the race to succeed Frida Giannini at the creative helm at Gucci — the brand’s head accessories designer, WWD has learned.

According to sources, Alessandro Michele, a longtime collaborator of Giannini’s, is among a short list of candidates for one of the highest profile jobs in Italian fasion, according to industry sources.

Michele joined Gucci’s design team in 2002, and in 2011 was named associate to the current creative director Giannini, with direct responsibility for the leather goods, shoes, jewelry and home collections.

In September, Michele was named creative director of Richard Ginori, the Gucci-owned porcelain brand, and helped to create its new store concept in Florence that was unveiled in June.

He has also worked at Fendi, and is a sought-after talent in the industry.

Giannini is slated to exit the luxury goods house in February following her fall 2015 women’s collection in Milan on Feb. 25. Giannini is scheduled to present her last men’s show for Gucci later this month.

Gucci’s chief executive officer Patrizio di Marco, Giannini’s partner, already exited the company, succeeded by Marco Bizzarri, previously head of Kering’s luxury couture and leather goods division.

The failure of the couple to turn around the flagging brand precipitated their departure, setting off a guessing game as to who would succeed Giannini and who might be able to get the brand back on a solid growth track.

According to sources, Bizzarri has yet to make a final decision. Givenchy’s star couturier Riccardo Tisci and one of Valentino’s creative duo, Maria Grazia Chiuri, are believed to be among the marquee names considered for the job, along with Joseph Altuzarra. Kering took a minority stake in Altuzarra’s New York-based fashion house last year and the designer has sat front-row at the Gucci show.

Kering, controlled by France’s Pinault family, has a track record of promoting inside talents.

Indeed, when Gucci was faced with replacing its tag-team of Tom Ford and Domenico De Sole when they exited in 2004, it promoted a trio of insiders - Alessandra Facchinetti, Giannini and John Ray - to succeed Ford at the design helm, heading women’s ready-to-wear, accessories and men’s wear, respectively.

Giannini ultimately took over as the brand’s sole creative director, ultimately relocating the design studios to her hometown of Rome.

wwd.com

 

[Sensation]

Jim Shi ‏@jimshi809

Big surprise: @KeringGroup executives have terminated Frida Giannini's @Gucci contract, effective immediately. Designer has exited house.

twitter.com/‏@jimshi809

 

[khyrk]

So the FW14.15 collection will be by Frida but is she going to be at the show?

 

[michel]

Why so suddenly?! That's so odd. WWD reported on it but it's a subscription required posting.

 

[Creative]

OMG, so they won't let her take the final bow? It can't be possible.

 

[Nymphaea]

Weird, what has happened?

 

[Myriah S]

Whew they threw her out like trash. Next step: announce the successor!! I cannot wait any longer.

 

[Lola701]

Whew they threw her out like trash.

I'm really shocked once again by the way they're doing things at Kering.
Alessandra Facchinetti, Stefano Pilati, Nicolas Ghesquiere and now Frida were really threw out like trash.

 

[RaisinBoy]

It's getting nasty.

 

[kasper!]

^I agree, too harsh.

After all Pinault family started as wood trade bussinessmen...How could you expect them to work fine with these high fashion designer... Please remember back them Mr Ford and Mr de Sole helped them to acquired most of their brands of nowdays (YSL, Balenciaga, McCartney....). Running a fashion business is never their thing.

 

[Salvatore]

"That was way harsh, Tai."

 

[kimair]

It’s official. Gucci said Monday that Frida Giannini no longer holds her role as creative director of the company, confirming news WWD broke earlier in the day.

The designer leaves the Italian luxury goods company more than a month earlier than expected.

The brand’s men’s and women’s collections for fall will be presented as planned on Jan. 19 and Feb. 25, respectively, “thanks to Gucci’s talented and dedicated men’s and women’s design teams,” said the Florence-based firm.

"I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the outstanding contribution that Frida Giannini has made to Gucci’s legacy during her nine-year tenure as creative director," said Marco Bizzarri, president and chief executive officer of Gucci.

An official announcement concerning the appointment of Giannini’s successor “will be made in due course,” the company noted.

Sources say Giannini was asked to leave the company last Friday. The designer was slated to exit Gucci following her fall women’s show on Feb. 25. As reported, sources said Gucci cut short Giannini’s contract in a bid to facilitate decision-making about the brand’s future creative direction.

“The decision [about Giannini’s successor] needs to be made, so that it can have an impact on the upcoming collections and shows,” said one source.

Over the weekend, WWD learned that Alessandro Michele, Giannini’s deputy, Gucci’s head accessories designer and the creative director of Gucci-owned Richard Ginori, is among the contenders to succeed her at the creative helm. Givenchy’s star couturier Riccardo Tisci and Valentino’s Maria Grazia Chiuri are believed to be among other talents being considered for the job, along with Joseph Altuzarra.

Giannini and Gucci’s chief executive officer Patrizio di Marco, who are partners and planning to marry, revealed their exit from the company in December. Di Marco has already left and was succeeded by Bizzarri effective Jan. 1. Bizzarri was previously head of Kering’s luxury couture and leather goods division.

The failure of the couple to turn around the flagging brand precipitated their departure, setting off a guessing game as to who would succeed Giannini and who might be able to get the brand back on a solid growth track.

That Michele is a solid contender for one of Italy’s most iconic brands “reinforces the idea that Gucci wants to get back on track with hot accessories,” said a source familiar with the company. “There hasn’t been an iconic product for the past three or four seasons.”

The source also underscored how Michele “knows all the inside mechanisms. With a brand such as Gucci, creativity is tied to industrial development. It’s a very scientific machine, where marketing has its say. It’s creative only up to a certain point. Calling in a designer from outside can bring an added touch of allure, but a designer from the inside may work better in the long run.”

Kering, controlled by France’s Pinault family, has a track record of promoting inside talents.

Indeed, when Gucci was faced with replacing its tag-team of Tom Ford and Domenico De Sole when they exited in 2004, it promoted a trio of insiders — Alessandra Facchinetti, Giannini and John Ray — to succeed Ford at the design helm, heading women’s ready-to-wear, accessories and men’s wear, respectively.

Giannini eventually took over as the brand’s sole creative director, ultimately relocating the design studios to her hometown of Rome.

If Michele does prevail, he would become the latest hidden talent inside luxury’s most lucrative category to win a broader creative purview, echoing the recent appointment of Johnny Coca as creative director at Mulberry.

Most recently the head design director for leather goods, accessories, shoes and jewelry at Céline, Coca is to join the British brand in July.

“It makes perfect sense that the creative director would be an accessories designer at a house like Gucci, which historically is a leather goods company,” said Mary Gallagher, European associate for New York-based search firm Martens & Heads. “People tend to forget that it was only in the past 20 to 25 years that houses like Gucci, Prada and Louis Vuitton had a significant ready-to-wear offering and held catwalk shows.”

In recent years, Valentino’s duo Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, and Stuart Vevers are among accessories designers hidden inside marquee brands to take over the overall design stewardship, underscoring the primacy of the cash-cow category across a broad swath of brands. Vevers, who cut his teeth at Mulberry, emerged as creative director of Loewe, recently moving on to Coach, for which he just unveiled his first men’s effort during the London men’s shows.

A more recent example is Pablo Coppola, who in February was named design director at Bally after six months as the Swiss brand’s accessories design director. During his career, Coppola has designed accessories for brands including Christian Dior, Tom Ford, Alexander McQueen, Burberry and Céline.

Such appointments marked a sea change in the industry over the past decade, which tends to have relied on hot names in fashion to rejuvenate brands of all kinds — even if bags represent the lion’s share of business.

Rtw accounted for only 11 percent of Gucci’s revenues in 2013, versus 58 percent for leather goods, 14 percent for footwear and 17 percent for other categories.

wwd / january 12, 2015

 

[Creative]

Kering should be ashamed. I don't like Frida at all, but she has been in charge of their brand for a decade. They should show a little bit of respect. They didn't even let her finish her latest collection. It's sad.

I don't think a designer from the inside will work for the brand. It did work for Valentino but it took them a lot of time to get it right and find an identity. Gucci needs the buzz and the hype factor of a star designer to elevate the brand again.

 

[Myriah S]

Rtw accounted for only 11 percent of Gucci’s revenues in 2013

wwd / january 12, 2015

Gucci needs the buzz and the hype factor of a star designer to elevate the brand again.

Either that or some amazing undiscovered talent. I seriously can't wait to see what they come up with