Pierpaolo Piccioli is exiting Valentino and a new creative director will be announced soon, the Italian fashion house confirmed this morning. The news comes after a series of designers have moved around in the past few months: Gabriela Hearst left Chloé, Matthew Williams left Givenchy, Sarah Burton left Alexander McQueen, and Alessandro Michele left Gucci.
“We extend our deepest gratitude to Pierpaolo for writing an important chapter in the history of the Maison Valentino,” Rachid Mohamed Rachid, chairman of Valentino, said in a press release. “His contribution over the past 25 years will leave an indelible mark.”
Piccioli — who succeeded Maria Grazia Chiuri as the creative director in 2016 — also expressed gratitude for his colleagues and the “heritage of love, dreams, beauty, and humanity” they built together. “Not all stories have a beginning or an end, some live a kind of eternal present that shines so bright that it won’t produce any shadows,” he said in a statement. “I’ve been in this company for 25 years, and for 25 years I’ve existed and I’ve lived with the people who have woven the weaves of this beautiful story that is mine and ours.”
Piccioli first joined the house in 1999 as an accessories designer. Nine years later, he was named joint creative director alongside Chiuri, before taking over as the sole creative director in 2016. Piccioli’s Valentino was more youthful than ever before, focusing on modern silhouettes and inclusive marketing strategies. He appointed the company’s DI.VA ambassadors (an acronym that stands for “different values’), including Suga and Lewis Hamilton. In recent years, Piccioli cemented his legacy by playing with color; he drenched his entire fall 2022 line in a new Pantone shade called PP Pink and showed an all-black collection during Paris Fashion Week earlier this month.
Piccioli’s departure is another indication that fashion is playing a game of musical chars with creative directors. Let’s see what comes next!