Jacopo Venturini, chief executive of Valentino, has a message that he wants to get across: “There is no magic formula. To me, it doesn’t exist.” The company is in the midst of a transformation that includes a new creative direction led by former Gucci star designer Alessandro Michele.
Venturini and Michele are a tried-and-tested team, having worked together at the Kering-owned brand for four years. At the time, Venturini led Gucci’s merchandising. (Kering also bought a stake in Valentino from Qatar’s Mayhoola in July 2023, and has the option to take full control of the house by 2028.
) For some, that raises the question of whether Venturini is attempting to recreate the sparkle from his time at Gucci, when the brand took a more fashion-forward approach, with buzzy accessories and gender-fluid styling that proved a hit. Its sales more than doubled from €3.9 billion (US$4.
32 billion; S$5.62 billion) in 2015 to more than €10 billion in 2022. Operating profits more than tripled.
Much hinges on Michele’s official debut at Valentino, taking place via a show at Paris Fashion Week this month, to lift the fortunes of the Italian couture house, which saw a 3 per cent year-on-year dip in 2023 profits, at constant exchange rate, to €1.35 billion (a slump that Venturini attributes to the broader luxury slowdown). “What I can tell you is that in my experience, at any company I’ve been at, I did my job in a different way,” he says, from Valentino’s headquarters in M.