Sabato De Sarno - Designer

[Xone]

Our diva is back!

 

[jeanclaude]

Ferragamo should hire his doggy...

 

[Xone]

 

[Melancholybaby]

I really hope that Gucci bag set him up for a good few years...😬

 

[yslforever]

He is not wrong.
I think historically it came when labels gave up their diffusion lines to focus on main line and accessories, in the hope to get golden It-bags, sneakers or streetwear.
TBH diffusion lines back then (before y2k) had mostly solid quality, especially compared to the current main lines: I don't think that a 2005 D&G jeans was way worse than a 2026 Dolce & Gabbana one or that a Rive Gauche blazer had a lower quality control than a current Saint-Laurent one.

 

[jeanclaude]

So Sab, your whole tenure at Gucci was a disaster...because the clothes were very expensive?? Only because of that??

 

[LadyJunon]

He is not wrong.
I think historically it came when labels gave up their diffusion lines to focus on main line and accessories, in the hope to get golden It-bags, sneakers or streetwear.
TBH diffusion lines back then (before y2k) had mostly solid quality, especially compared to the current main lines: I don't think that a 2005 D&G jeans was way worse than a 2026 Dolce & Gabbana one or that a Rive Gauche blazer had a lower quality control than a current Saint-Laurent one.

Lots of those diffusion lines were also cannibalising on the performance of the main line, which was the main reason for their decline in later years. It was like a soft-core version of the over-licensing of the 70s and 80s, which led to the Arnault takeover in the 90s. Selling a mainline t-shirt/it-bag/sneaker was probably seen as less damaging than selling an "inferior" copy of the mainline collection. Also, I think that 00s model of spending 100-200k (these days more) on a show for a non-HC collection that doesn't touch the store floor to be redundant

 

[HazJW]

He is not wrong.
I think historically it came when labels gave up their diffusion lines to focus on main line and accessories, in the hope to get golden It-bags, sneakers or streetwear.
TBH diffusion lines back then (before y2k) had mostly solid quality, especially compared to the current main lines: I don't think that a 2005 D&G jeans was way worse than a 2026 Dolce & Gabbana one or that a Rive Gauche blazer had a lower quality control than a current Saint-Laurent one.

Yes he is. He's conflating all fashion with the very top houses, where he's spent his career. I currently really want an Agnès b shirt, for ~£200 - expensive, sure, but I can afford it if I save up for a few weeks and am careful, and I earn exactly the median UK wage, so I'm not some millionaire by any stretch of the imagination. This is the norm for millions of people worldwide who love clothes but aren't buying off-the-runway Chanel.

He also had the opportunity to, idk, do something about these prices, or speak up against them, when he was very recently CD of a major house, and chose not to. I actually like the guy and think his tenure at Gucci will be positively reappraised one day, but he's missing the point big time.

 

[Grets]

is this his cry for a fast fashion collab too?

 

[youthinasia]

is this his cry for a fast fashion collab too?

Might as well be SDS x Zara at this point

 

[Xone]

Might as well be SDS x Zara at this point

zara is giving away collabs so maybe we'll see soon! lol

 

[PDFSD]

zara is giving away collabs so maybe we'll see soon! lol

no they looked in the archive and seen they did the same things already in past so he is off the list.

 

[Xone]

no they looked in the archive and seen they did the same things already in past so he is off the list.

hahahahaha but hey he faked his way in to Gucci maybe he do the same with Zara lol hahaha

 

[PDFSD]

hahahahaha but hey he faked his way in to Gucci maybe he do the same with Zara lol hahaha

you cant OUT fake the biggest faker in the industry ZARA

Inditex (parent company of Zara) reported a total group net revenue of €39.9 billion ($43.90 billion)
VERSUS
Kering's 2025 revenue was approximately €14.67–€14.7 billion,

zara´s whole modus operandi is high efficiency in fakery .....sds is out of their league when it comes to selling snake oil

 

[Xone]

you cant OUT fake the biggest faker in the industry ZARA

Inditex (parent company of Zara) reported a total group net revenue of €39.9 billion ($43.90 billion)
VERSUS
Kering's 2025 revenue was approximately €14.67–€14.7 billion,

zara´s whole modus operandi is high efficiency in fakery .....sds is out of their league when it comes to selling snake oil

hahaahaha he needs more training then lol...

 

[FashionPower]

He's so hypocritical, blaming high fashion corporate ethos and prices detached from reality when he had played an active part and fully benefitted from that.
Remember he was the one who sent a GUCCI oversized logo 100% polyester hoodie as part of his debut collection.
Production cost? 50 Eur of which 10 Eur raw material and 40 Eur conversion.
Price tag? 3k...
He should be fully aware that most part of the 3k hoodie price tag was used to pay his salary and its team, who came up with an ad campaign showing Kendall and Bad Bunny flying commercial when both has been flying private for at least 15 years.
If I were him, I would just retire from fashion out of shame for almost bringing Gucci into bankruptcy and be hired as a consultant by his EU commission husband.

 

[Lola701]

Hmm…
I’m always side eyeing designers who makes this kind of statement without having a proposition that goes with those said statements!

« Who can afford fashion these days at those prices? », A lot of people!

I would challenge his POV by asking if the big 5 luxury brands are representative of the whole industry. I would also ask him if luxury is the only form of fashion.

I think as someone who worked at Valentino and Gucci, considering that Valentino has always been more expensive than Gucci when it comes to clothing, when did he realized that RTW at a big brand was inaccessible…

I would also ask him if he considered that the clothes he designed at Gucci were worthy of spending the high prices that were charged.

And then maybe for the future I would be curious to know if part of his solution is to offer his services to a contemporary brand.

Because yes, we see those designers either taking jobs in the HF world or in the Fast fashion.

The middle ground, the brands that offers RTW at a decent price are rarely coveted. Nobody is rushing to be the CD of Kenzo or Patou. Ok now, Courreges is hot but I’m not sure those are positions Sabato would have coveted.

It’s also impossible to believe that he would have stated those kind of things if he wasn’t fired. I bet he would have assumed that his clothes were sold at the right prices when in fact, they would have been overpriced anyway…

 

[Xone]

Hmm…
I’m always side eyeing designers who makes this kind of statement without having a proposition that goes with those said statements!

« Who can afford fashion these days at those prices? », A lot of people!

I would challenge his POV by asking if the big 5 luxury brands are representative of the whole industry. I would also ask him if luxury is the only form of fashion.

I think as someone who worked at Valentino and Gucci, considering that Valentino has always been more expensive than Gucci when it comes to clothing, when did he realized that RTW at a big brand was inaccessible…

I would also ask him if he considered that the clothes he designed at Gucci were worthy of spending the high prices that were charged.

And then maybe for the future I would be curious to know if part of his solution is to offer his services to a contemporary brand.

Because yes, we see those designers either taking jobs in the HF world or in the Fast fashion.

The middle ground, the brands that offers RTW at a decent price are rarely coveted. Nobody is rushing to be the CD of Kenzo or Patou. Ok now, Courreges is hot but I’m not sure those are positions Sabato would have coveted.

It’s also impossible to believe that he would have stated those kind of things if he wasn’t fired. I bet he would have assumed that his clothes were sold at the right prices when in fact, they would have been overpriced anyway…

Double standards i guess...he needs to promote himself with VF now that he will "do" an installation with them for design week.

I agree on everything you said and he paints himself very clear as a person....he was and still is very clueless about that industry that once gave him space...

it is not that he are saying that he tried to fight about that during his tenure and he was blocked for doing that,etc, whatever....

His poor knowledge and lack of class just made him the joke he always was.

 

[GoldenTribe]

"Ready-to-wear is dead -- too expensive. Let them wear haute couture!"

 

[tourbillions]

yas momma stay relevant with those hot takes.