Gucci's Golden Boys Quit

[Lena]

as expected

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) -- The chief executive and top designer of Italian fashion house Gucci announced their resignation on Tuesday after failing to secure management autonomy as France's PPR prepares to take full control in six months.

Gucci said Domenico De Sole and creative director Tom Ford would leave the luxury group next year after failing to reach an agreement over their contracts with Pinault-Printemps-Redoute.

De Sole and Ford, famed for dragging Gucci back from the brink of bankruptcy and building it into the world's number-three luxury group, had said they would only stay on beyond 2004 if Pinault-Printemps-Redoute gave them full autonomy.

Gucci said the two men would stay until April 30, 2004.

"This decision follows several months of negotiations in anticipation of the expiration of their contracts and Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR) previously announced a tender offer for the outstanding shares of Gucci Group at a price of $85.52 per share to be completed in April 2004,'' Gucci said.

The independent members of the supervisory board have agreed to continue to serve on the board until that date.

The supervisory board has established a committee chaired by Serge Weinberg, Chairman of the Management Board of Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, and including Adrian Bellamy and Francois Henri Pinault, to select successors.

PPR already owns two-thirds of Gucci.

 

[ignitioned32]

There going to do Versace now?

 

[Lena]

that was the rumour but i guess it's not decided yet, lets wait and see

 

[Acid]

oh my

tut tut tut

what about the gucci furniature collection i bet tom will burn it all

' MY GUCCITABLE'

 

[Meg]

Does a jig!
Yes I agree that Tom Ford really put the Gucci name out there and made it what is today but he needs to move on and who will fill his shoes? I hope someone good who will make delicious delicious Gucci clothes...

 

[Episternum]

No! Don't hurt the Gucci Sex Machine!

 

[Scott]

Lolita*,start getting those invites ready! I'll prepare the drinks

 

[metal-on-metal]

His spring 04 collection was stale. I think it'll be good for the house. Sometimes it's bad for one designer to become so associated with a label, especially if they are not in the founding family like Miuccia or Donatella. Gucci needs a change, I think. I just can't fathom who would be up for the job.

 

[leyla m.]

cant wait to find out who will take over

 

[Spacemiu]

yey!

I dount really know who would take his place hedi woul be so good, but he is so with LVMH. I would say rick owne sbut he is at revilon, may be Zac posen, although he dosnt seem to fit the ford gucci much.

 

[Lena]

more on the Gucci -Ford split, some candidates for Tom's posts and mister Texas' future plans.. extracts from a Suzy Menkes article on IHT

Texas-born Ford, who has been creative director at Gucci since 1994, said he viewed "with great sadness" a future without the company that had been his "life." Colleagues say that the designer, whose personal wealth is more than $40 million, might be contemplating a new career in  the movie business.
.
The loss of the charismatic Ford, 42, with his film-star good looks and Hollywood connections, and of De Sole, 59, a former lawyer who is one of the sharpest managers in the luxury world, is a major blow to Gucci. The fashion world, always in need of superheroes, views the situation as a catastrophe.
.
"I am dismayed - it is terribly difficult when you lose the whole raison d'etre of a company, after you have built up a business and now don't know what the future will hold," said Joan Kaner, senior vice president and fashion director of Neiman Marcus, which counts Gucci among its top three brands, behind Chanel as No. 1.
.
Kalman Ruttenstein, fashion director of Bloomingdale's, took a similar view. "Tom Ford changed the history of fashion as we know it    - and if he leaves it will be a loss for fashion and for Gucci," Ruttenstein said. "If you think of the impact of Jil Sander leaving her company, you can imagine how much more so it will be for Gucci."
.
Financial analysts took a more sanguine view of the survival of the Gucci brand. After internecine quarrels among the members of the founding Gucci family, Ford had rejuvenated the brand with sharp modern shows that took Gucci from stirrups to stilettos. His hedonistic, sexually provocative advertising campaigns defined the post-grunge fashion era in the 1990's.
.
De Sole said that Gucci, valued at E8 billion, or $9.1 billion, was on an upward track with double-digit growth in both America and Asia this season. But Gucci has suffered from a slowing in demand amid the Iraq war and the SARS epidemic - and maybe from the fact that Ford had taken a second design role as creative director of Yves Saint Laurent, another Gucci Group brand.
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He is also the overall director for the other brands, which include Balenciaga, Boucheron, Bottega Veneta and two British designers, Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen. The latter might conceivably be tapped to take over at YSL..

According to sources, control, rather than money, was the sticking point in negotiations that had dragged on for over a year with Weinberg and Franηois-Henri Pinault, president of Artιmis, the umbrella company for PPR, and the son of PPR's founder, Franηois Pinault.
.
"It's that old Chinese proverb - one bed, different dreams," De Sole said, summing up what he described as two differing visions of the future of Gucci. He confirmed that Ford would still design Gucci and YSL autumn collections, which are scheduled to be shown in Milan and Paris in March..
......

The major problem, according to sources familiar with the negotiations, was Ford's insistence on remaining the creative director of YSL, whose iconic designer retired in 2002.
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"If you ask me, Ford should have gone   sooner," said Pierre Bergι, Yves Saint Laurent's partner. "Ford is a strong designer, but you can't plant vegetables and produce flowers."
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Berge suggested as Ford's replacement  Viktor Rolf, the Dutch design duo who are the subject of an exhibition at the Musιe de la Mode et du Textile in Paris.
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Could Ford and De Sole carve out a new career in fashion? Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue in America, says that she believed that Ford would re-emerge on the pages of the magazine. "On a personal level, I feel really sad, because one of the reasons to be in this business is  to work with creative people like Tom who make fashion happen," said Wintour. "But he is so exceptional because he has super star charisma and is both a great designer and a manager." De Sole confirmed that he and Ford do not have a noncompetitive clause. They therefore could start a new fashion career and the rumor mill has them buying the troubled house of Versace, although De Sole has repeatedly denied this.
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A source close to Ford said his mood during the final phase of the negotiations was "sad" but resigned - and that he felt that this decision has forced him take a step in a new direction. He is not planning to found his own fashion house. (of course he's too clever to do that hehehhee) But movies could be an option. As the source puts it: "I think we hear Hollywood calling."

 

[ignitioned32]

Thanks for the info, Lena!

Viktor & Rolf or Alexander McQueen at YSL Rive Guache! That would be soooo exciting!

As for Tom in Hollywood.. let' see.

 

[Scott]

I loved reading those comments So pathetic its terribly hysterical to read. I mean,the man wasn't Coco Chanel for christ's sake! He wasn't totally revolutionary in his fashion except that he dug that house out of a deep,dark hole with stuff we've seen already but sexed up in more luxurious fabrics and details. He also brought the stagnant trend of overt sex to the fore. Nothing more. Really boring I must say.

 

[Spacemiu]

whatever he is so NOT a revolutionary, he just made some sexy clotehs, that msot fo the time looked liek crap, the onyl thing i can credit to him was bringing a kind of dark sex apeal in to teh spot light.

anyw ays he always wanted to be an actor but he couldnt cut it so he started makeing clothes, btu now i guess he could do film with all the connections, its ALL about conections.

 

[Scott]

Originally posted by Spacemiu@Nov 5th, 2003 - 8:22 pm
whatever he is so NOT a revolutionary, he just made some sexy clotehs, that msot fo the time looked liek crap, the onyl thing i can credit to him was bringing a kind of dark sex apeal in to teh spot light.

anyw ays he always wanted to be an actor but he couldnt cut it so he started makeing clothes, btu now i guess he could do film with all the connections, its ALL about conections.

You're telling me! He'll be driving down Hollywood Blvd. in his sunglasses and a mobile at his ear very soon B)

 

[Lena]

Originally posted by Scott@Nov 6th, 2003 - 4:32 am
He'll be driving down Hollywood Blvd. in his sunglasses and a mobile at his ear

or two (mobiles in both ears )

 

[Spacemiu]

Originally posted by Lena+Nov 5th, 2003 - 6:35 pm--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Lena @ Nov 5th, 2003 - 6:35 pm)</div><div class='quotemain'> <!--QuoteBegin-Scott@Nov 6th, 2003 - 4:32 am
He'll be driving down Hollywood Blvd. in his sunglasses and a mobile at his ear

or two (mobiles in both ears ) [/b][/quote]
if i see him driveing down hollywood blvd., well lets just say the next tom ford youl hear is that he got in a very tragic " accident"

 

[Alejandro]

 

[ultramarine]

Damn! I thought today was April's Fools ..
these are some CRAZY news!

 

[Oria]

Good for them, better for everyone.