After last week’s surprise announcement that Pier Paolo Piccioli had stepped down from Valentino, a brand that he called home for 25 years and for which he was creative director for sixteen years, it was announced today that a successor has already been chosen: Alessandro Michele.

Michele rose to international fame in 2015 when he took over the role of creative director of Gucci from Frida Giannini. His tenure at Gucci saw the introduction of a new vision for the brand, a maximalist and era-warping aesthetic that upped the glam and stripped away notions of gendered garments – emphasising a thread of androgyny throughout the subsequent collections. In an announcement, Michele stated that he had cut ties with Gucci at the end of 2022.

Maison Valentino is honored to announce today the appointment of Alessandro Michele as Creative Director.
This appointment marks the beginning of a new journey to continue shining unique values of the brand, its heritage and couture codes in the world through Alessandro Michele’s… pic.twitter.com/vVMxtuPPki

— Valentino (@MaisonValentino) March 28, 2024

In a statement released to the press, Michele said of his new role: “It’s an incredible honour for me to be welcomed at Maison Valentino. I feel the immense joy and the huge responsibility to join a Maison de Couture that has the word ‘beauty’ carved on a collective story, made of distinctive elegance, refinement and extreme grace.”

He continued: “Today, I search for words to nominate the joy, to regard it, to really convey what I feel: the smiles that kick from the chest, the bliss of gratitude that lights up the eyes, that precious moment when necessity and beauty reach out and meet. Joy, though, is such a living thing that I’m afraid to hurt it if I dare to speak its name. May my bow, wide open arms, speak for itself and salute in this early spring the regeneration of life and the promise of new blooming.”

Michele’s premiership at Valentino will be an exciting new chapter for the house. Will he bring his famed maximalism or will Michele be entering his quiet luxury era? We only have to wait a little while as Michele’s first show for Valentino will take place during Paris Fashion Week SS25 in September, along with a couture show that will likely take place during Paris Couture Week next January.