Peter Dundas Exits Roberto Cavalli Group

[Benn98]

Peter Dundas Exits Roberto Cavalli Group

Dundas was appointed creative director of the Florence-based company in March 2015. No successor has been named.

By Luisa Zargani on October 12, 2016

MILAN — Roberto Cavalli SpA and Peter Dundas are parting ways. Dundas’ last collection was for spring 2017, presented in September in Milan.

“On behalf of Roberto Cavalli and our shareholders, we thank Peter Dundas for his contribution to the brand, and we wish him well for his future,” said Gian Giacomo Ferraris, chief executive officer. “As Roberto Cavalli goes through a period of transformation, the design team will carry on and the appointment of a new creative director will be made in due course.”

“I want to thank Roberto Cavalli and the group for this valuable experience and wish them success in their future endeavors,” said Dundas.

Dundas was appointed creative director of the Florence-based company in March 2015. The Norwegian designer had been the artistic director of Emilio Pucci, also based in Florence, since 2008. It was a homecoming for Dundas, who had worked with founder Roberto Cavalli and his wife Eva as head designer from 2002 to 2005.

Dundas’ first collection for Cavalli bowed in Milan in September 2015 for spring 2016 but received mixed reviews as the designer wanted to break with the past by injecting elements of youth, street savvy and touches of the Eighties. In his next collections, Dundas went back to his comfort zone, presenting rich and opulent designs with bohemian airs.

Dundas’ first major solo appointment came in 2005 when he was named artistic director at Emanuel Ungaro. After Ungaro, the designer consulted for Dolce & Gabbana before being appointed creative director of French furrier Revillon in January 2008. Known for his Seventies, rock-sexy designs and knack with prints, Dundas’ sensibility was perceived to be in sync with Cavalli’s own feminine and head-turning looks, animal prints and body-hugging silhouettes that have long been red-carpet mainstays.

Dundas is no stranger to the party circuit, and is frequently spotted on the arms of “It” girls and models including Natasha Poly, Poppy Delevingne or Bianca Brandolini D’Adda, echoing Cavalli’s own flamboyant lifestyle and star-studded events on his yacht at the Cannes Film Festival.

The designer was responsible for the creative direction of the women’s and men’s ready-to-wear and accessories collections, as well as all licenses. He was also directly involved in the marketing and communication strategies of the brand.

The Cavalli brand has been going through a phase of changes. Italian private equity fund Clessidra bought 90 percent of the company at the end of April 2015, shortly after Dundas’ arrival. The founding designer retained a 10 percent stake, but has eased out of the fashion industry and never attended a show for the brand. At the end of July this year, Roberto Cavalli SpA appointed Ferraris as its new chief executive officer, succeeding Renato Semerari, who left over strategic differences. Ferraris was previously Versace’s ceo. Francesco Trapani, former president of the company, had tapped Semerari at the time of the acquisition of Cavalli.

Trapani, a former chairman of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s watches and jewelry division and Bulgari executive, had joined Clessidra in 2014. There, he spearheaded the acquisition of Roberto Cavalli. His departure was expected following Italmobiliare’s acquisition of Clessidra in May. Trapani was also Clessidra’s chairman and he left that role in the second half of September.

Last year was one of transition for the Cavalli group. In the 12 months ended Dec. 31, net profit totaled 32.7 million euros, or $36.3 million. This compares with a loss of 9.7 million euros, or $13 million, in 2014. The sale of the building housing the brand’s flagship in Paris’ Rue Saint-Honoré helped lift the company’s profits, as well as its net financial position. The company is renting the space where the store continues to stand.

In 2015, revenues were down 14.2 percent to 179.7 million euros, or $199.4 million, compared with 2014. The company attributed the drop mainly to a decrease in orders predating Clessidra’s acquisition and to the challenges in luxury markets, especially Russia, where the Cavalli brand has been historically strong, as well as a contraction in sales derived from licenses. Dollar figures were converted from the euro at average exchange rates for the periods in question.

In addition to the signature brand, the group includes the young casual Just Cavalli, the bridge line Cavalli Class, the Roberto Cavalli junior line and a home collection and a hospitality sector through its network of Cavalli Clubs and Cavalli Cafés, in cities ranging from Miami to Dubai.
Cavalli’s network of stores last year totaled 182.

Source: http://wwd.com/fashion-news/designer-luxury/peter-dundas-exits-roberto-cavalli-10673755/

 

[Benn98]

The musical chairs continues!!

Yikes, what's happening to this industry!!
Purely from a superficial perspective, to me it looks like brands are as complicit as young designers. Where's the loyalty where brands used to back their creative heads even through bad patches?? Seems like this is a thing of the past now.

 

[dodencebt]

Oh come on!

 

[Miss Dalloway]

Whoa! What an insane year for Fashion, and in general this is! I thought he was a perfect match at Cavalli!

 

[Nymphaea]

It was apparent that Peter wasn't successful at Cavalli, he was much better at Pucci.
The fashion industry is becoming more and more fickle, loyalty isn't much around any more. Money is driving this insanity, the big bosses wanting the gold pot at the end of the rainbow and it seems like it's killing creativity unfortunately.

 

[Marc10]

Well this one was a very justifiable exit. He was an absolute disaster, and I guess the sales numbers have been that bad to make them kick him out so quickly.

 

[dsamg]

The musical chairs continues!!

Yikes, what's happening to this industry!!
Purely from a superficial perspective, to me it looks like brands are as complicit as young designers. Where's the loyalty where brands used to back their creative heads even through bad patches?? Seems like this is a thing of the past now.

True, but you cannot expect loyalty when it is a private equity acquisition. Their investment horizon is very short and they generally have about 5 years to turn around a company. If the results are not well above equity market return, it puts the future of the entire fund at risk. It is a very competitive industry. As an investment banker, I hate to put my finance-brained perspective on what should be a creative-minded process, but the pressures on designers at PE owned houses are higher than those on the designers at LVMH, who can afford to wait a little bit longer for results. When you have 5 years to deliver excellence, either the designer delivers quickly or they are out.

 

[Scotty]

OMG. The scream i let out, i am shook.

He was perfect for Cavalli even though he wasn't doing what he should've been. If only he had done what he was doing at Pucci.

That was shorter than his job at Ungaro.

 

[anlabe32]

Wow, that was fast. I feel sorry for him but to be honest I never liked his work, not at Pucci nor at Cavalli.

Interesting to see who will end up at Cavalli and where Peter will go..

 

[Lola701]

We can't say that he did wonderful things at Cavalli. He should have kept the energy of his first show.

It's weird but i was thinking about how if Vaccarello is a fail at Saint Laurent, Dundas could take over. And here now, this news comes.

I'm sorry but it was expected. Everybody wants their Hedi Slimane "revolution". I don't know how Pucci is doing but i believe their designer will leave.
I think Cavalli should stop with all those diffusion lines.

I can't wait to see what's next for Dundas.

 

[VogueDisciple93]

The turn around was quick, but I am not surprised they are parting ways. Revenues of $200 million is really not enough prop up a brand like Cavalli and its size, and to be very honest Dundas was not showing anything that would help improve that. I was excited for his appointment here because I believed he was perfect to succeed Roberto, but his collections since have been utterly unappealing and the marketing has been wanting.

I do believe the company needs to cut some of the auxiliary brands under the Cavalli name and focus on the main line and Just Cavalli, if they decide to keep it - I noticed that there was not a collection for Spring 2016 or 2017. The harsh reality is Roberto Cavalli's market and clientele is aging out as majority of the women that donned their slinky dresses are no longer interested in that and they are not bringing in the younger audience. Also Cavalli is seen as tacky, with people I know anyway, and Dundas only doubled down on that. Dundas' collections were also too close to Michele's Gucci. Yes Gucci does not OWN that 70s, DIY aesthetic but with their current mammoth marketing and celebrity drive they may as well do. Seeing Dundas' Cavalli out in the wild with its bronzed snake buckles, romantic ruffles, flora and fauna patches would lead me to think it was Gucci and I would then make my way to their store if I liked something. This is coming from someone that immerses themselves in all things fashion so imagine what the less discerning general consumer would think.

Roberto Cavalli needs a positive overall but Dundas was not doing that.

 

[ThatGuyPaul]

Peter Dundas was the perfect fit for Cavalli

 

[GivenchyHomme]

It wasn't honest and it wasn't modern. It was Dundas pretending to be Cavalli. The first collection was an absolute disaster and the collections that followed were poor Cavalli copycats. He didn't bring enough of himself to the brand. Pucci was a hit and now look at it. What a terrible decision Dundas made. The same thing happened to Marco Zanini at Rochas. He tried to move to another brand and ended up leaving after a short period. Look at Rochas now. It's completely irrelevant and so is Pucci. It's sad what's happening to these smaller houses. Was the money really that good to turn your back on a loyal consumer base?

 

[MyNameIs]

He should've never left Pucci. That was a good combination for both him and the brand. Now Pucci is a mess and he's out of a job. Though to be fair, I did think him going to Cavalli was a promising combination at the time. It just so happened that it turned out to be an absolute disaster. Not sure why. I wonder if it was because he was trying to click too many boxes at once - on trend, following the Cavalli footsteps, bring something of his own, etc. Maybe he should've just focused on one thing.

 

[dodencebt]

Update: Cavalli Prepares for Radical Turnaround as Peter Dundas Exits
Roberto Cavalli CEO Gian Giacomo Ferraris has initiated a comprehensive reorganisation of the company, including store closures and severe cuts to global headcount.


FLORENCE, Italy — Just hours after the news that creative director Peter Dundas is leaving Roberto Cavalli after only 19 months at the brand, chief executive officer Gian Giacomo Ferraris has announced a radical and comprehensive reorganisation of the entire company.

The Italian label will be closing its Milan operations and transferring all functions to its offices in Florence. Production and logistics will be rationalised and the company will close, relocate and sell stores across its retail network. Cavalli, which currently employs 672 people, will eliminate 200 positions. Ferraris expects the company to return to operating profitability in 2018.

“The fashion industry is facing uniquely challenging times, with changing consumer demands, significant contraction in various key markets and fundamental transformation in the industry’s dynamics. In this environment, only iconic brands with a coherent business model and an efficient organisation can survive,” said Ferraris in a statement. “After my initial examination of the company I believe the Cavalli brand has what it takes to succeed. But the reality is that the company’s costs must be in line with its revenues and that is the task we now have to embark upon.”

Ferraris is something of a turnaround specialist, who led a successful revitalisation strategy at Versace, which, like Cavalli, was once a poorly managed, family-run operation. Ferraris joined the company in July, a little over a year after Italian private equity group Clessidra Capital Partners took a stake in the business.

"The private equity [investment] is a turnaround story. Roberto Cavalli was not performing well, losing market share and money. They have changed the CEO and now they're changing creative director. Let's see when they find the right formula," says Mario Ortelli, senior luxury goods analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein.

“The CEO was very effective in reorganising Versace and this is not a million miles away from what he has successfully achieved at Versace,” added Luca Solca, head of luxury goods at Exane BNP Paribas. “I would say his chances of success are higher than 50 percent for sure.”

Cavalli has not yet named a successor to Dundas, who joined the label in March 2015. It had been a return to Cavalli for the Norwegian, who served as the brand’s chief designer from 2002 to 2005, before working as creative director at Emanuel Ungaro and, subsequently, joining Pucci.

Dundas interpreted the Cavalli house codes with a series of rock goddess-inspired collections, but a shaky first season only served to demonstrate the challenging road ahead. In his review of Dundas's Spring/Summer 2015 collection, BoF editor-at-large Tim Blanks wrote: "The fact that his first steps were surprisingly less sure-footed than expected only highlighted how complicated that process is going to be."

Dundas' Spring/Summer 2017 collection, shown at Milan Fashion Week last month, was well-received, however, and the designer's work for the brand had started gaining some traction, aided in part by his longtime collaborator George Cortina. It is thought that Dundas’ exit may have been voluntary raising questions as to where the designer might pop up next.

Roberto Cavalli, like many other brands in the luxury space, faces a challenging climate. In 2015, the global market for personal luxury goods grew to €253 billion (about $284 billion), up only 1 percent on the previous year in real growth terms, according to a report by Bain & Company, a global consulting firm.

"The reality is that the luxury market is growing in low single digits," says Ortelli. "For brands, it's about stealing market share from one another. If you're not a supercool brand, you inevitably lose market share in such competitive market environment."

businessoffashion.com

 

[Zposen]

I can see them trying to lure Olivier Rousteing from Balmain.... I mean look what he did for Balmain sales...

 

[vetements]

I would think a good part of Latin America, Spain, Italy and inner cities of US buys Cavalli and it is generally popular globally than say a brand like Celine, but guess either this is not the case or somewhere along the equation something is wrong...sad, since I like Dundas at Pucci very much and his aesthetics in general, in your face sexy but not cheap. Who competes with Cavalli anyways? Versace? Dolce and Gabbana? Not exactly too...

Wonder where he will go next but wishing him all the best nonetheless.

 

[reese06]

What was so interesting is that he had a hand in what were some of Cavalli's most memorable and recognizable collections in the early 2000s and then his latest stint at the brand was a complete disaster.

I honestly thought he was going to pretty much bring what he did at Pucci to Cavalli. Or at least, that seemed like what they hired him to do but his collections were cheap and sometimes just downright ugly. There's no one really filling the luxe, jet set, bohemian sex bomb niche that he left behind.

 

[narcyza]

He was perfect for Pucci. Please come back Peter.

 

[Lola701]

Frida Giannini is unemployed, she has a star power and a star following, she can create a It Bag and sellable sexy dresses.

There's something frustrating about the state of fashion today. We have a lot of star-unemployed-designers (Frida, Stefano, Alber, Peter...etc.) who are very talented and can do wonders at any fashion houses BUT who doesn't have that extra thing to stand by their own.
Their talents needs to be support by big brands, big budgets and a lot of power.

Ronald Van Der Kemp can also deliver a good Cavalli.

We are at a time when people are coming back to wanting to sell clothes. I mean, dundas did some great individual pieces (shirts, pants, dresses) but those clothes did not stand out in the Gucci wave.

The irony behind this is that Dundas's first collections for Cavalli looked very Saint Laurent. Now, Hedi is gone and Saint Laurent will not look like what it used to be and Cavalli is just there. Dundas had the opportunity to own the sexy sellable and bankable look.

His Cavalli was too confused. Very bohemian vintage on the runway, very ethereal and edgy on campaigns and very sexy and traditional on Beyonce and celebrities.