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After months of speculation — and dwindling sales — Gucci announced on Thursday that it is parting ways with creative director Sabato De Sarno. The Autumn/Winter 2025 show during Milan Fashion Week on 25 February will be presented by the Gucci design studio; meanwhile, the rumour mill is already in overdrive about who will replace De Sarno at the creative helm. “New artistic direction will be announced in due time,” the brand said.
The timing of the announcement — a few days before parent company Kering publishes its annual earnings on 11 February — suggests a desire to move the conversation towards the future following a difficult spell.
The designer’s abrupt exit from Gucci is the latest in a series of creative director appointments and departures. But how transformative to the fortunes of a house can a new creative director really be?
Whoever plugs in next has a big task. Gucci is Kering’s largest house and it has been underperforming compared with its luxury peers. Not everything rests on the creative director’s shoulders when it comes to leading a turnaround — Gucci has already drafted in a new CEO — but they will play a vital role in stemming the decline. Gucci’s 2024 sales are expected to sit at €7.57 billion, per Bernstein estimates, down from €9.87 billion in 2023 and €10.49 billion in 2022. (Its medium-term target, set out in 2022, is to grow to €15 billion.)
But scores of luxury brands have seen sales slump over the last two years, with a few bright spots from ultra-luxury houses like Hermès and Chanel, as well as Prada-owned label Miu Miu. De Sarno also had big shoes to fill, following former Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele, who more than doubled the brand’s annual revenues during his seven-year tenure at the house.
“The priority for the next designer is to build up an impactful and iconic brand image, compelling storytelling and desirable products at various price points to appeal to a wide consumer base,” says Mario Ortelli, managing director at Ortelli Co.
Here are the top priorities for Gucci’s next creative director.
Re-engage consumers in the world of Gucci
As a megabrand, Gucci needs to bring a point of view and define the culture of now. Tom Ford (creative director of Gucci from 1994 to 2004) ignited the porno chic trend. Michele (2015 to 2022) brought a quirky eclecticism to the house, with mind-bending large-scale shows, unique and diverse casting, and extravagant styling.
In contrast, Gucci’s Ancora campaign, released in April 2024 under De Sarno’s creative direction, was shot in a studio on a plain backdrop, signalling a very different approach to its marketing and world-building. “The demure style of Sabato De Sarno didn’t fit the exuberant image that consumers have built of Gucci over the past 30 years,” wrote Bernstein luxury goods analyst Luca Solca. “His departure suggests that consumers have not bought into this ‘timeless Gucci’ theme.”
During Michele’s tenure, Gucci campaigns mirrored his androgynous and maximalist aesthetic, says fashion commentator Odunayo Ojo (aka Fashion Roadman). “They helped him to world-build. With the Sabato era, there was a big disconnect with his vision for Gucci and the way this vision was portrayed through marketing campaigns,” Ojo says.
“I believe Sabato was what seemed like a very safe transitional choice for Gucci. Following Michele’s exit, they needed someone that felt a lot more neutral to somewhat cleanse the palette knowing how creatively intense Michele’s Gucci was,” says fashion critic Osama Chabbi. “Sadly, his universal take on creation, which he once called ‘a Getty Images of looks’, doesn’t hold enough weight to make consumers believe they were part of something strong. It was traditionally and unanimously just ‘pretty’.”
The incoming creative director needs to re-engage consumers in the world of Gucci, Chabbi continues. “Consumers need to feel like these designs make them part of a significant and culturally affluent group of people. A product without solid storytelling is too unanimous. Sometimes dividing consumers is the way to make them feel like they’re part of something bigger,” he says.
Some observers feel there’s a middle ground to be struck between Gucci’s two recent extremes. “The identity of the new designer will be key in redefining the brand’s aesthetics, perhaps halfway between classic/understated elegance and fashion-forwardness,” wrote Citi managing director Thomas Chauvet in a note.
Gucci’s talent strategy under De Sarno was akin to his design, centred around broad appeal, like Gladiator II star Paul Mescal and his Normal People co-star Daisy Edgar-Jones, or established style icons like Solange Knowles and Mariacarla Boscono. Michele managed to tap unique young talents like Billie Eilish and Harry Styles early into their solo careers, outfitting them in Gucci as they hit the stratosphere and making them near-synonymous with the house.
Some feel the next creative director should hone the brand’s community and explore more unique talents, to reflect its values and DNA. “Under De Sarno’s creative direction, I have been totally unable to identify who the brand catered to — even ambassadors were a blurry topic to me,” Chabbi says. “I can’t remember much aside from the Bad Bunny x Kendall Jenner campaign when it comes to marketing.”
Rethink the product assortment
While De Sarno’s reissue of the Gucci Jackie bag did bear fruit, critics feel the house needs to rethink its product assortment to course correct, launching newness in leather goods and shoes. “You need essential items in every category that are well merchandised, with a broad price range,” says luxury analyst Robert Burke of Robert Burke Associates.
Lest we forget the power of entry-level footwear: the furry hybrid Gucci loafer, which went viral shortly after Michele’s appointment in 2015, remained a hero item for the years that followed. “One of Gucci’s strengths has always been being able to bring in a customer through shoes or through a handbag, before ultimately converting them into ready-to-wear customers,” Burke adds. “That strategy is still very valid today.”
In its third-quarter earnings release, published in October 2024, Gucci referred to “the introduction of a host of new products late in the quarter [that is] well underway”.
“[Gucci CEO] Stefano Cantino understands product so well and has had such great experience, I think he’ll be very involved with the product. And I think that will be very important going forward, working with the designer,” says Burke.
Go fast
De Sarno’s exit exposes parent company Kering to another period of transition. “Investors will likely have to wait for another year to get a sense of its results,” Solca wrote. “Once secured, a creative director will likely need at least one — or even two — seasons to make his or her mark on products.” The pressure will be on to produce results quickly.
De Sarno joined Gucci as creative director in 2023, but its sales have continued to struggle.
A turnaround comes at a significant cost, but Solca noted that Kering has likely built up cash recently, thanks to transactions related to its prestigious real estate properties such as Hôtel de Nocé on Paris’s Place Vendôme. “Gucci now has the opportunity to reignite its brand heat; Kering’s shareholders will need the courage to push this through,” the analyst summed up.
There’s much to be done. Who would be up to the task? Michele was hired from within the ranks, but critics want to see a big-name designer drafted in from elsewhere to turn things around. “Alessandro Michele is the exception, not the rule,” says Ojo. “These brands are so big and the financial targets that they set are so high, they really need big-name designers. It’s only them that can move the needle on marketing and design.”
Chabbi concurs, but feels there’s two routes: “Gucci either appoints an institutional figure like Hedi Slimane, who already has a strong fan base and has a strong level of credibility from both consumers and the industry. Or, if the institutional route isn’t fitting, then perhaps hiring a ‘new’ face could be the way through (Willy Chavarria is an interesting take). The previous strategy of hiring internally is a non-sustaining solution to me.”
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