Valentino president bets that quiet luxury is over after hiring Michele

The era of so-called quiet luxury in the fashion industry is over and wealthy consumers will once again want bold designs, Valentino's president predicted.

Rachid Mohamed Rachid said it will be “a new chapter” for Valentino after the Italian fashion house hired Alessandro Michele as creative director last month.

Michele, Gucci's former star designer, is known for his quirky, bohemian-chic designs, a sign that Valentino could move away from the minimalist, monochrome styles of his predecessor Pierpaolo Piccioli, who is more associated with the “quiet luxury” trend. “which became popular. after the pandemic.

“We know that quiet luxury has prevailed in recent years,” Rachid said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “I think, like many others in fashion, this will end.”

He said bold colors and designs “will come back with a vengeance and we are preparing for that.”

Piccioli's collections caused a stir for their elegance and focus on a single color. Two years ago, the brand presented a fall and winter collection in which all the clothes were bright pink. At her final Paris Fashion Week show last month, Piccioli revealed more than 60 looks with models wearing only black pieces, with variations between embroidered and sheer lace dresses.

Valentino surprised the fashion world when it hired Michele. Under his direction, Gucci's sales nearly tripled between 2015 and 2019 as his designs appealed to younger generations and the company collaborated with other brands such as Adidas AG.

But when Covid-19 hit, Gucci's sales couldn't keep pace with those of its biggest rivals, such as Louis Vuitton, and parent company Kering SA parted ways with the designer at the end of 2022.

Valentino is controlled by Qatar's Mayhoola, but sold a 30% stake to Kering last year.

Rachid said conditions remain difficult for luxury goods. “This year started with the expectation that luxury markets would grow 2% to 4%,” he said. “My personal feeling is that it will be much less than that; it will probably be flat. “The reality is that Europe and the United States are still very stagnant right now and China is still weak.”

Still, he said there are signs that a Chinese recovery could take hold in the second half of the year.