Are we in the middle of a major fashion upheaval?

It is an incredible honor for me to be welcomed to Maison Valentino. “I feel the immense joy and immense responsibility of joining a Couture House where the word beauty is engraved in a collective history, made of distinctive elegance, refinement and extreme grace,” Michele said in the press release. press. Today, I am looking for words to name joy, to consider it, to truly convey what I feel: the smiles that spring from the chest, the happiness of gratitude that lights up the eyes, this precious moment when necessity and beauty reach out and meet. Joy, however, is such a living thing that I fear hurting it if I dare to speak its name.

Designers or more precisely their CEOs often play musical chairs, but the movement of three high-level designers in less than two weeks causes real whiplash.

At the same time, the way consumers acquire and discover their products is changing. Earlier this month, British luxury e-commerce site Matchesfashion entered receivership (the British equivalent of bankruptcy), and late last year London-based Farfetch avoided bankruptcy. bit a similar fate. Net-a-Porter, once touted as the future of shopping, is actively seeking a buyer after a deal between its parent company, Richemont, and Farfetch fell through last year.

Meanwhile, Cond Nast, which publishes fashion stalwarts including Vogue, GQ and Vanity Fair, has seen a series of layoffs, while iD, considered the original independent fashion bible, has laid off a large portion of his staff this week. owner Karlie Kloss is overseeing a reinvention.

Either we're in the midst of a monumental fashion upheaval, or we're rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Julie Gilhart, a longtime fashion director at Barneys New York who works with emerging fashion talent at the Tomorrow Group, says fashion always reflects the dissatisfactions of the world at large. The world seems so chaotic and no one has any answers. We have so much technology that we weren't really good at managing it or knowing where it was going, she continues. But this does not address our souls. There are a lot of people who are just not satisfied, so you have to mix things up, you have to change, you have to do things differently.

Michele's nomination is an example of how a piece of news can be interpreted differently. Many of the recent nominations have been homogeneous choices; Variations on a meme have been circulating over the past six months, highlighting that many of the names joining brands like Alexander McQueen, Moschino and Gucci were white men with brown hair. Responses to new faces outside the mold, as Chlos Chemena Kamali and Michele (who is a white man and already a proven talent, even though he has long hair!), showed how fashion watchers are hungry for change.

Michele represents the potential for aesthetic revolt, even if he does not represent new blood per se. Alessandro's dynamic and disruptive vision of both the archive and the moment has been greatly missed in recent seasons, says Jeremy O. Harris, the playwright, actor and producer who regularly wore Micheles Gucci. Pierpaolo, one of the great innovators, could only be replaced by someone as innovative as Ale. It's a great day for people who love fashion.

Actress Hari Nef, another Michele acolyte and keen observer of fashion's comings and goings, said Michele's return signals a move away from quiet, laser-focused luxury. In recent years, fashion has adopted a conservative attitude: both self-effacing and grandiose. The condition at the center of quiet luxury is Look at me! Do not look at me ! she says. Alessandros Gucci was too deeply regarded to emerge as a retrospective foil to this quiet wave, but there was an exuberance, a voracity and an enthusiasm to be seen. Isn’t that what fashion is?

The new role offers a more moderate challenge for Michele (although he will be doing sewing for the first time, almost every designer's dream). Gucci, with a turnover of around 10 billion euros, is the heavyweight in Kerings' portfolio, while Valentino reported a more modest turnover of 1.42 billion euros in 2022. Under Piccioli, Valentino was known for his sleek, jet-set sportswear and for making tailoring relevant far beyond that. its small clientele, as well as much-discussed celebrity outfits like Florence Pugh in nipple-baring dresses. Michele may be feeling more pressure to move product, even though he's proven himself an accessories superstar at Gucci with his fur-lined slides and retro bags, and has practically written the playbook for quirky partnerships with celebrities.

Kering perhaps also recognizes that the world needs a little more variety. In 2023, Kering acquired 30% of the capital of Valentino, which was previously fully owned by Qatari investment company Mayhoola. That deal included an option for Kering to acquire Valentino outright by 2028. The key, or something like it: Kering also owns Gucci, which means Michele is returning to the same company that apparently- he would have chewed it up and spit it out.

François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO of Kerings, said in a statement: “I am very pleased that Alessandro has been appointed creative head of Valentino and I am certain that with his creativity, culture and his versatile talent, he will masterfully interpret the unique heritage of this magnificent residence and make it flourish. I can't wait to see his passion, imagination and dedication at work in this new chapter for Valentino.

Either the tensions are over in the name of increasing profits (Womens Wear Daily reported last week that Michele's non-compete agreement with Gucci would expire this month), or Michele's appeal is simply irresistible. Still, Kering is in dire financial straits: This month, the company announced that its overall sales were down about 10% in the first quarter, with sales of its flagship Gucci brand, where a new designer, Sabato Sarno's, and his team attempting a major high-end turnaround, are down 20 percent.

Sarno's first collection only hit stores in February, Kering noted, but perception is not good; its stock fell 14 percent following the news. Michele could bring the new energy that Kering needs: her first show, in Paris in the fall, is already the most anticipated of the season, at least according to the Vogues announcement.

The Phoebe Philos brand, run independently with minority investment, continues on its own sui generis path: no fashion shows, no big advertising campaigns in glossy magazines. Just a simple product with beautiful images, shown on women who may not be familiar, especially because many are decades old on the average runway model, but are completely unique.

Then there is the possibility of a Van Notens heir. Van Noten, who does everything with lively humanity, will likely take his time naming his successor and choose a trusted talent rather than a flashy name. Meryll Rogge, who previously worked with Van Noten before founding her own label, as well as a print specialist like Hillary Taymour of Collina Strada, or a color savant like Christopher John Rogers, all seem to be strong possibilities. Any one of them would represent a changing of the guard and bring a much-needed new breath of youth to the corridors of Parisian design.

At LVMH, the top job at Givenchy remains vacant since Matthew Williams announced his departure late last year. It is also likely that Michael Burke, who was named CEO of LVMH Fashion Group earlier this year, could make or encourage bigger changes within the brands in his stable, which includes Givenchy, Dior, Louis Vuitton and Loewe. Burke was previously CEO of Louis Vuitton and was instrumental in bringing the late (and very repellent) Virgil Abloh to the brand.

Fashion people, however, tend to overdo things. What is mildly interesting so often becomes fascinating; what is mediocre is described as terrible. So what is really going on here?

Change is upon us, admits Nikki Ogunnaike, editor-in-chief of Marie Claire. However, sometimes I wonder if we are seized! Valentino could have addressed a woman. We should really view all of these changes as a small step of disruption, she says.

After all, the e-commerce news is not good. And while a handful of retailers remain independent, boutiques offering smaller, alternative brands like Washingtons Relish are thriving, as is Munich-based online retailer Mytheresa, most of the clothes are so expensive that the he whole enterprise seems less and less relevant.

And Michele's return may end up having more in common with Riccardo Tisci's uninspiring tenure at Burberry after several exciting years at Givenchy (or Daniel Lees' move to the brand just a year after leaving Bottega Veneta under mysterious circumstances ). Is this what fashion needs to break out of this luxurious, leisurely rut, or another example of those few names getting the best jobs?

Gilhart says what makes her optimistic is the number of young designers trying to create something more responsible, more sustainable or more ethical.

Michele, for her part, seems to believe that this is a major new departure, at least according to her poetic declaration: May my bow, my arms wide open, speak for itself and greet at this beginning of spring the regeneration of life and the promise of new flowering.