Facchinetti to replace Valentino

After yesterday's speculative post about who would take over Valentino, The Business of Fashion is reporting that Alessandra Facchinetti will replace Valentino Garavani after the January 2008 couture shows. However, the site's not all happy-happy-joy-joy over the news.

Says writer Imran Amed:

Not only has Valentino Fashion Group lost the star designer behind the Valentino brand (apparently after coming close to signing a three-year contract extension with him), but they have also chosen a replacement who has already failed once at taking over from another star designer, Tom Ford, after those halcyon Gucci days of the late 1990s.

Even though their aesthetics are very different, Ford and Valentino have much in common, and this is what creates uncertainty in my mind about Permira's choice. Valentino, like Ford, was known for his personality, creative vision and showmanship, partnering closely with his business partner Giancarlo Giammetti (like Tom Ford's Domenico De Sole) to allow him to focus on his creativity. They both personified their brands in every way. Ms. Facchinetti does not appear to have these traits, given what we saw during her short tenure at Gucci.

Apparently, the only logical explanation for this choice is that nobody else wanted the job -- or more specifically, nobody wanted the job on Permira's terms. Other leading candidates like Giambattista Valli and Zac Posen would rather focus on their own labels instead of splitting their time across two brands.

More likely, the plum job may have come with strings attached -- i.e. requiring that the young designers to give up their own labels. This is a dilemma that Ms. Facchinetti did not face as she does not have her own label.

Maybe the proof is in this pudding. If she couldn't personify her own brand, why would she be able to personify someone else's brand? We'll be watching and waiting to see how it all unfolds.

Ouch!

Image courtesy: The Business of Fashion

Valentino to step down

Ending months of speculation, The Business of Fashion reported yesterday that Valentino Garavani and his long-time business partner Giancarlo Giammetti will step down from Valentino. This comes months after the British private equity group Permira Advisors bought a stake in the company in May 2007.

It's rumoured that negotiations for the buyout happened without so much as consulting the brand's 75-year-old founder, who was then busy with a three-day fashion fiesta marking 45 years of his work as designer. At that time, it was unclear whether Mr Garavani would stay with Valentino after control of the company changed hands.

However, now speculation revolves around who will replace him. The Business of Fashion says Zac Posen and the designers behind Proenza Schouler (which was recently injected with $3.7 million from Valentino Fashion Group) are amongst the names being tossed around. Others say Alessandra Fachinetti, the former womenswear designer at Gucci, is at the front of the pack. Says the blog:

Regardless of who gets the job, this could spell trouble for Permira, who recently took a majority stake in the company. Unless Valentino himself continues to be involved in some way as a consultant or behind-the-scenes advisor and unless he is actively involved in choosing his successor, Permira may find it difficult to grow the business to provide the returns that Permira's investors expect, while also protecting the integrity of the brand for the long term.

Up until now, the driving force behind Valentino's success has been his partnership with Mr. Giammetti. With both of these key players gone, there are some seriously massive shoes to fill.

Aye, aye to that!

Image courtesy: New York Times

Private equity for Valentino

The Valentino Fashion Group, which owns labels like Valentino and Hugo Boss, has sold 29.9 percent of the company to the British private equity group, Permira Advisors. This is the biggest ever buyout in the European luxury goods sector by a private investor, valuing at a whopping $3.5 billion.

Interestingly, this is Permira's first foray into high fashion, which holds such disparate concerns as mass-market retailer New Look, the tea brand Tetley and Parker pens!

This acquisition comes close on the heel of several other luxury companies that have sold a large percentage of their shares to private investors. While TowerBrook Capital Partners took over the shoe company Jimmy Choo in February 2007, Change Capital Partners purchased Jil Sander a year earlier.

As profits for luxury companies continue to rise globally, this will probably become something of a trend for major luxury houses, but I'm not entirely sure a majority stake is a good thing. Corporatisation is not necessarily the best thing for creativity. More so luxury.

Source: International Herald Tribune