Sabato De Sarno - Designer, Creative Director of Gucci

[Scotty]

You can view Sabato as Luke & Lucie Meier at Dior
Or Alessandra Facchinetti at Gucci and Valentino
A place holder, a palate cleanser for the next great thing to arrive
He is the sip of water between meals LOL

I actually loved her Gucci and Valentino collections. FW05 was perfection.

 

[yslforever]

I finally saw the red Ancora bags in person today. Looked straight from Canal Street. I never thought Gucci could get any worse (and I’m a Michele hater).

I see plenty of monogram caps, that's how I know my food is delivered...

 

[Frederic01]

“Don’t waste the opportunity coming from a good crisis, because in a crisis you really have to focus on what you can control. That has been my motto with my team all of my career,” Belletini said.“We had already started by February . . . to work on enhancing the brand’s attractivity, working on exclusivity of the brand, the quality and the efficiency,” she said.

This included making crucial hires in the team around Gucci. A new head of operations is focusing on initiatives such as reducing lead times to get leather goods to market.“It’s not going to be a one man show at Gucci . . . We are going through a transition, not a revolution.”Belletini believes De Sarno, the first “outsider” to be appointed as Gucci creative director, can bring fresh perspective on how to rebuild the brand.

By always promoting creative directors internally “you can build ways of working that are not always right for the future”, she said.

First of all, is she shading Alessandro Michele? Literally, who do you think you are? You're a middle-of-the-run bureaucrat that worked at Goldman Sachs, who rode the wave of success at YSL after Hedi's clever brand positioning, and who will be replaced in ten seconds when the sales start to take a dive.

Alessandro Michele is a once in a lifetime talent, that is, as evidenced by what is going at Gucci, absolutely not replaceable. Show some respect to the person who literally built Gucci into a 10 billion brand based on his creativity and vision.

I am so sick of these CEO's and CFO's who say a lot of nothing and who pretend they can turn things around based on strategies that are pretty weak in realty. They started "by February...on enhancing the brand's attractivity, working on the exclusivity of the brand...."? Say what now? Are we, as the audience and consumer witnessing a different Gucci than what she is, because, since February Gucci has been on a severe downward trajectory in terms of vision, appeal, interest, etc.

These people are delusional. If Sabato's vision hasn't taken off yet by now, it's probably not going to happen, regardless of how much "strategy" they implement and corporate jargon they talk. The fashion landscape is a competitive field and add to that there are a lot of free agents on the market in term of designers: Pierpaolo Piccioli, Hedi Slimane (soon), Sarah Burton, etc etc. Heck, even Christopher Bailey could make more of an impact on fashion if he made a comeback than Sabato.

He is clearly not the right guy for this brand, how much more evidence do they need?!

 

[PDFSD]

First of all, is she shading Alessandro Michele? Literally, who do you think you are? You're a middle-of-the-run bureaucrat that worked at Goldman Sachs, who rode the wave of success at YSL after Hedi's clever brand positioning, and who will be replaced in ten seconds when the sales start to take a dive.

Alessandro Michele is a once in a lifetime talent, that is, as evidenced by what is going at Gucci, absolutely not replaceable. Show some respect to the person who literally built Gucci into a 10 billion brand based on his creativity and vision.

I am so sick of these CEO's and CFO's who say a lot of nothing and who pretend they can turn things around based on strategies that are pretty weak in realty. They started "by February...on enhancing the brand's attractivity, working on the exclusivity of the brand...."? Say what now? Are we, as the audience and consumer witnessing a different Gucci than what she is, because, since February Gucci has been on a severe downward trajectory in terms of vision, appeal, interest, etc.

These people are delusional. If Sabato's vision hasn't taken off yet by now, it's probably not going to happen, regardless of how much "strategy" they implement and corporate jargon they talk. The fashion landscape is a competitive field and add to that there are a lot of free agents on the market in term of designers: Pierpaolo Piccioli, Hedi Slimane (soon), Sarah Burton, etc etc. Heck, even Christopher Bailey could make more of an impact on fashion if he made a comeback than Sabato.

He is clearly not the right guy for this brand, how much more evidence do they need?!

The more she talks publicly the more incompetent she shows she actually is outside a structure set up by Hedi, it's also so classless to put a successful tenure down regardless of your personal taste in order to prove or motive a point that still is not a success.

And the more i hear more of them speak the more i double down that most of the success of many houses starts with the CD vision and the rest follows and supports, without a real vision that capture people's hearts and wallets you can have all the strategies in the world but it wont bare big results.

She need sto double down and stand behind her big boss decision i get it but find other ways to support this vision with out pissing on the past, just smells of insecurities already.

 

[PDFSD]

You can view Sabato as Luke & Lucie Meier at Dior
Or Alessandra Facchinetti at Gucci and Valentino
A place holder, a palate cleanser for the next great thing to arrive
He is the sip of water between meals LOL

more a line of C... between bathroom breaks and still unproductive as hell

 

[Lola701]

First of all, is she shading Alessandro Michele? Literally, who do you think you are? You're a middle-of-the-run bureaucrat that worked at Goldman Sachs, who rode the wave of success at YSL after Hedi's clever brand positioning, and who will be replaced in ten seconds when the sales start to take a dive.

Alessandro Michele is a once in a lifetime talent, that is, as evidenced by what is going at Gucci, absolutely not replaceable. Show some respect to the person who literally built Gucci into a 10 billion brand based on his creativity and vision.

I am so sick of these CEO's and CFO's who say a lot of nothing and who pretend they can turn things around based on strategies that are pretty weak in realty. They started "by February...on enhancing the brand's attractivity, working on the exclusivity of the brand...."? Say what now? Are we, as the audience and consumer witnessing a different Gucci than what she is, because, since February Gucci has been on a severe downward trajectory in terms of vision, appeal, interest, etc.

These people are delusional. If Sabato's vision hasn't taken off yet by now, it's probably not going to happen, regardless of how much "strategy" they implement and corporate jargon they talk. The fashion landscape is a competitive field and add to that there are a lot of free agents on the market in term of designers: Pierpaolo Piccioli, Hedi Slimane (soon), Sarah Burton, etc etc. Heck, even Christopher Bailey could make more of an impact on fashion if he made a comeback than Sabato.

He is clearly not the right guy for this brand, how much more evidence do they need?!

In reality, what she said in that interview is quite fine by me…
Sabato is not a good cast, that’s a fact but in reality the structure of Gucci as whole had to change. And as she said perfectly in the interview, when they had their growth, they didn’t anticipate or thought about how to structure a business of that size.
They only realized that when numbers started to decline and the more the numbers are declining, the more they are accelerating the move.

You simply cannot go toe to toe with Chanel and Vuitton without having more control over your distribution.

Vuitton can sell on his own. Even though Nicolas and his team have totally changed and streamlined their offer of products, Tomorrow, Nicolas leaves they just have to increase the marketing on the timeless products he designed and the historic Vuitton ones.

Karl died and the classique Chanel bag he designed is still the most coveted item of the brand. Chanel essentially could stand 1 or two years with it existing products and heavy marketing.

Gucci is too dependent on a creative director.

I really like her. I think she understands her environment but also I think she is more of a powerhouse than Pinault.

Now, the economical environment helps them hiding the bad casting but when everybody will experience constant growth, it will be very difficult to hide.

 

[Olaffo]

I enjoyed her interview but mostly because of her energy ! The content is ofc to reassure audience they have control over everything and SdS flop can still be turned around. I doubt it and as much as I appreciate her fight to keep the straight face, the Gucci now is in collision course. I think for them to actually wake up and do complete restructuration of the company, aka prepare it for $ 15b + would be first for the sales to implode which SdS is helping with. As Tom Ford said you need the product and then marketing "does itself" - here there aren't any interesting "it" products which would capture the attention and wallets of shoppers. I had a chat with my friends and their siblings and parents and literally no one is interested in Gucci - "meh, passe!"...

 

[Frederic01]

The more she talks publicly the more incompetent she shows she actually is outside a structure set up by Hedi, it's also so classless to put a successful tenure down regardless of your personal taste in order to prove or motive a point that still is not a success.

Exactly! These people have massive egos and all
the suggestions in the world on how to make a brand succeed, but little more experience than coasting off the success of a designers vision for the brand. And they have the audacity to speak like they do as if they’ve actually done something SMH.

I’m sorry but you’ll have my attention and respect when you’ve turned a truly fledgling or struggling brand around, ie a Lanvin, or a Chloe, etc., not an already successful company that already had the foundations in place to succeed.

On that note, I can’t wait to see where Marco Bizarri goes next. He will do great things wherever he goes!

 

[yslforever]

I just think that most of Kering's exec have reached their Peter's principles, I am afraid Francesca too.

 

[LadyJunon]

@Frederic01 While her wording was a bit off, I see where she's coming from. While internal promotions can reinforce the strength of a brand's identity, it can also create an echo-chamber of creative inbreeding. That said, I think this depends heavily on how the creative director curates their team. Several designers from Ford's team have proven to be capable of strong creative heads: Gianinni and Michele at Gucci, Pilati at YSL, Bailey at Burberry, Costa at Calvin Klein.

I imagine that this statement probably comes from her experience of replacing Hedi at Saint Laurent. Chances are, Hedi curated a very insular design team at Saint Laurent, so an outsider with a shift in perspective was needed. Seeing how Demna curates his team, replacing him at Balenciaga will require a similar approach.

@Lola701 @Olaffo I do appreciate her honesty in acknowledging Kering's lack of foresight for Gucci. The core issue here is that Gucci doesn't have any long-term iconic heritage products that have proven to bridge or surpass the tenures of their individual creative directors.

Hermes has their Birkin and Kelly, which have been consistent tenents of the brand for 40 years. Under Lagerfeld, Chanel developed several bag ranges based on Gabrielle's original designs, that gets constantly reinvented each season. Under the direction of Jones and Chuiri, Dior transitioned into a heritage brand which was reinforced by the reissuing of Ferre's Lady-D and Galliano's Saddle. Under Jacobs, Louis Vuitton elevated their entire carousel of leather goods, Ghesquiere reinforced the heritage by cutting out that extra fat and shifting the brand's halo of novelty to the runway collections.

Gucci is trying to do that heritage shift with the reintroduction of the Jackie, Bamboo and Horsebit, but everything is wrapped in such an ugly package, consisting of greasy-haired waifs, discoloured wife-beaters and threadbare branded socks, that no one really wants to touch it. I don't know what the core products of Ford's tenure were, but had they continued to play a supporting role in Gianinni and Michele's tenures, Gucci wouldn't be in the situation they're in now.

 

[PDFSD]

Exactly! These people have massive egos and all
the suggestions in the world on how to make a brand succeed, but little more experience than coasting off the success of a designers vision for the brand. And they have the audacity to speak like they do as if they’ve actually done something SMH.

I’m sorry but you’ll have my attention and respect when you’ve turned a truly fledgling or struggling brand around, ie a Lanvin, or a Chloe, etc., not an already successful company that already had the foundations in place to succeed.

On that note, I can’t wait to see where Marco Bizarri goes next. He will do great things wherever he goes!

Sorry to burst one bubble about Bizarri the reality of his image outside the company versus what different people working there told me is another thing , and lets say his taste level and priorities he showed already with the brands he is investing in via his new company.

In reality, what she said in that interview is quite fine by me…
Sabato is not a good cast, that’s a fact but in reality the structure of Gucci as whole had to change. And as she said perfectly in the interview, when they had their growth, they didn’t anticipate or thought about how to structure a business of that size.
They only realized that when numbers started to decline and the more the numbers are declining, the more they are accelerating the move.

You simply cannot go toe to toe with Chanel and Vuitton without having more control over your distribution.

Vuitton can sell on his own. Even though Nicolas and his team have totally changed and streamlined their offer of products, Tomorrow, Nicolas leaves they just have to increase the marketing on the timeless products he designed and the historic Vuitton ones.

Karl died and the classique Chanel bag he designed is still the most coveted item of the brand. Chanel essentially could stand 1 or two years with it existing products and heavy marketing.

Gucci is too dependent on a creative director.

I really like her. I think she understands her environment but also I think she is more of a powerhouse than Pinault.

Now, the economical environment helps them hiding the bad casting but when everybody will experience constant growth, it will be very difficult to hide.

Gucci is too dependent on a creative director. and the no one man show comments is bit odd because , the splitting of main collections team and fashion show team already was under Alessandro last year and a half in place to have a structure like Dior and LV etc so the current merch team was already under supervision of Maria Cristina Lomanto friend of Francesca Bellettini as well Ex Miu Miu and Roger Vivier (both brands periods under watch where non significant for the brands as well )

Hiring of the Ex LV ex Prada guy forgot his name Cantino guy that just joined to be co CEO at gucci has also a weak reputation and no he is no gold standard either.People at LV wher happy he left.

The cleaning at Gucci had to do also with politics of one internal group taking power over from another and bringing their friends in along the way.
non have real accomplishment under their belts or reputational wise known for a expertise that brought or steered a brand's course in a direction that is notable positive or groundbreaking you see it in every step of the output of the brand not just with Sabbato´s work.

If Francesca Bellettini learn anything under Hedi´s time she should have taken the Gucci Ceo job and prove herself instead of hiding behind the comfortable desk of groups ceo and comment on the side line so when sh*ts get real bad she is not fully responsible.

How many CEO´s and co CEO´s and presidents does Gucci need to know the fact´s aint matching with what they say and do, everything is just so half *** and its start with these positions and statements at the top.

if this was LV they would have moved some one like the CD of Bottega to gucci to really elevate the brand to compete with LV and Chanel and have a wide base as well of classics Bottega seems to have to many ideas for such a smaller house wile Gucci is much bigger and is starving from ideas and elevation.

 

[mathiaskatz]

I'm still upset they took all the wind out of Daria's comeback.

 

[NoInvite]

I'm still upset they took all the wind out of Daria's comeback.

The fact that he posted the colour proof before the campaign release right before Phoebe was just so immature. He knew exactly what he was doing.

 

[Creative]

You guys write a lot!

Maybe they are waiting to see if SdS ends up "happening". PPP and MGC were really lost when they started at Valentino, and after a few seasons they found their way and started gaining better reviews (I hated it so much, ugh). Do you guys remember the "Avatar" collection they did? lmao. Then, a few seasons later, they were doing princesses.

I really doubt SdS will happen. But I think they will give him at least one year or more. Although now, with social media, everybody is reading about how bad Gucci is doing, how bad sales are at the moment... Clients have Instagram and this kind of news pop up and it kind of drives away potential customers.

Real connoiseurs don't buy at Gucci at all. It's all for cheap new clients or cheap existing clients. I went to a Gucci store the other day and I was shocked with the quality of the clients. They were so, so, so cheap. If I see someone with a GG belt, I don't know, for me it's like she/he lost the game of life. There's no hope for someone with a GG belt.

And yeah, CEOs are usually clueless. These past few days a certain brand is working on a certain strategy and I am like . These guys, all around 45-50 years old with tons of "experience" at big brands, are really saying THESE THINGS? And they are getting millions... for dumb ideas. Ugh.

I don't know how other business work, but for me, in fashion, most of the people working at big maisons know nothing about the business. I don't know how it was in the past, maybe it all changed during the last 10 years. I used to work with a huge independent luxury brand a few years ago and it was run like your around the corner grocery store. I was always shocked about hoy f***ng big they are with that kind of management and strategies. I think most of the successes have to do more with luck than with anything else.

 

[Lola701]

And yeah, CEOs are usually clueless. These past few days a certain brand is working on a certain strategy and I am like . These guys, all around 45-50 years old with tons of "experience" at big brands, are really saying THESE THINGS? And they are getting millions... for dumb ideas. Ugh.

I don't know how other business work, but for me, in fashion, most of the people working at big maisons know nothing about the business. I don't know how it was in the past, maybe it all changed during the last 10 years. I used to work with a huge independent luxury brand a few years ago and it was run like your around the corner grocery store. I was always shocked about hoy f***ng big they are with that kind of management and strategies. I think most of the successes have to do more with luck than with anything else.

Exactly!
I don’t think people realize that the corporatization of fashion is a very recent phenomenon.
Most of the fashion CEOs were either clueless or lucky and the best of them had just real common sense.
I’ve always said that for me, the best fashion CEO ever was Domenico De Sole. He was a lawyer first but his key was common sense and a real understanding of his environment.

I will always use Balenciaga under Nicolas Ghesquiere as an example because even if James McArthur and Isabelle Guichot were the CEO, who at the end was really the one making all the strategic decisions, coming with ideas, concepts and everything? Nicolas and his team. That’s why he felt so unsupported.

What I have to say about Francesca is that she seems very hands-on and seems to share the same values as Vaccarello. I also wonder if she is not the one behind the elevation strategy….Because obviously, it wasn’t a concern of Pinault before.

 

[LadyJunon]

The issue is that these CEOs know how to run a businesses, but don't know how to a luxury business. In luxury industries, curation and perception is everything.

Lots of these CEOs think that luxury fashion is the typical buy-make-sell procedure at a higher price tier, without realising the subtleties that go behind demanding the price points the brands are able to.

A lot of CEOs also seem to be oblivious that in creative/artisanal industries, they're at the bottom of cultural food chain. Luxury customers support brands for the legacy of the founder or the vision of the creative director, not the strategy of the executives.

Trying to raise product prices during an identity crisis marked by an unlikable 2nd-in-command is a dumb*** move.

 

[lookatme]

The issue is that these CEOs know how to run a businesses, but don't know how to a luxury business. In luxury industries, curation and perception is everything.

Lots of these CEOs think that luxury fashion is the typical buy-make-sell procedure at a higher price tier, without realising the subtleties that go behind demanding the price points the brands are able to.

A lot of CEOs also seem to be oblivious that in creative/artisanal industries, they're at the bottom of cultural food chain. Luxury customers support brands for the legacy of the founder or the vision of the creative director, not the strategy of the executives.

Trying to raise product prices during an identity crisis marked by an unlikable 2nd-in-command is a dumb*** move.

Perfectly put.

They all seem to deeply misunderstand that the driving force of luxury is desirability and cache. It's a totally emotional dynamic between the creator and the consumer. It is not something that can be cooked up in a board room or a merchandising meeting. It never has, and it never will. In fact - the more cooked up and calculated it is, the more the customer can sniff out the BS.

Success in luxury is something that only comes from creativity, ingenuity and lot of right-place-right-time-right-person kind of luck.

 

[yslforever]

Sorry to burst one bubble about Bizarri the reality of his image outside the company versus what different people working there told me is another thing , and lets say his taste level and priorities he showed already with the brands he is investing in via his new company.


Gucci is too dependent on a creative director. and the no one man show comments is bit odd because , the splitting of main collections team and fashion show team already was under Alessandro last year and a half in place to have a structure like Dior and LV etc so the current merch team was already under supervision of Maria Cristina Lomanto friend of Francesca Bellettini as well Ex Miu Miu and Roger Vivier (both brands periods under watch where non significant for the brands as well )

Hiring of the Ex LV ex Prada guy forgot his name Cantino guy that just joined to be co CEO at gucci has also a weak reputation and no he is no gold standard either.People at LV wher happy he left.

The cleaning at Gucci had to do also with politics of one internal group taking power over from another and bringing their friends in along the way.
non have real accomplishment under their belts or reputational wise known for a expertise that brought or steered a brand's course in a direction that is notable positive or groundbreaking you see it in every step of the output of the brand not just with Sabbato´s work.

If Francesca Bellettini learn anything under Hedi´s time she should have taken the Gucci Ceo job and prove herself instead of hiding behind the comfortable desk of groups ceo and comment on the side line so when sh*ts get real bad she is not fully responsible.

How many CEO´s and co CEO´s and presidents does Gucci need to know the fact´s aint matching with what they say and do, everything is just so half *** and its start with these positions and statements at the top.

if this was LV they would have moved some one like the CD of Bottega to gucci to really elevate the brand to compete with LV and Chanel and have a wide base as well of classics Bottega seems to have to many ideas for such a smaller house wile Gucci is much bigger and is starving from ideas and elevation.

Since Michele's departure, I have always said that Gucci, like Dior, Hermès, Vuitton, etc, needs several CDs, one by department: menswear, womenswear, and, accessories, timepieces and jewelry etc and not just one .... They have passed the time and size of a one, unique, providential CD. They tried to reach 10 billions, and still entertain the delusion of the 15 billions, but those are milestones you simply can complete with a one CD, they need a strong CD for every one of their departments.

For exemple, I know Kering/Gucci have heavily invested in watchmaking; they have several productions site, for dials, in-house movements etc, but the looks of those watches is so cheap you just think they are fake, and they are litteraly 1/10th of the price of the Tambour by LV. Same for fine jewelry, super inconsistent too... high jewelry with Jessica Chastain and now nothing ???

I would also strongly suggest a committee like Hermès, or a better one like Loro Piana with Nathalie Marrec, which does an excellent job keeping together a brand image, without shows, while coordinating x lines, slowly reducing their dependance to iconic pieces (those white sole open walk loafers), slightly introducing some aesthetic references (like the large Japanese influence from the last LP collection).

Sabato should have never been the frontman of the whole brand, but maybe just a member of that committee (for his domaine of expertise, which I am still not sure what is it).