Sabato De Sarno Is Out at Gucci

Less than three weeks from now, Gucci creative director Sabato De Sarno was set to make a splash at Milan Fashion Week with his biggest runway show yet. The co-ed production was intended to serve a couple purposes: Jump-start Gucci’s sales after an extended slump, and quiet the critics who questioned the direction the Italian designer was taking the house, where he cleaned out his predecessor Alessandro Michele’s rococo maximalism in favor of a youthful, practical wardrobe.

Instead, De Sarno is making an early exit. On Thursday, Gucci announced De Sarno’s departure, the latest high-profile designer shakeup amidst a wave of creative change that is steadily reshaping the fashion industry.

“I would like to express my deep gratitude to Sabato for his passion and dedication to Gucci,” the house’s CEO Stefano Cantino said in a statement. “I sincerely appreciate how he honoured Gucci’s craftsmanship and heritage with such commitment.”

In an Instagram post, De Sarno struck a magnanimous tone in saluting his Gucci colleagues: “Any important project relies on the passion, the intelligence and heart of extraordinary people,” he wrote. “To them I say: always look out for your joy. It is the true measure of whether you are true to yourself, whatever the opportunity, whatever the challenge. A thank you would not be enough maybe. But today my joy is for you.”

De Sarno joined Gucci in 2023 following a lengthy search for a leader who could follow up Michele’s critical—and, most importantly, commercial—success. At the time, the 41-year-old was a relatively unknown studio hand who had spent over a decade rising through the design ranks at Valentino. De Sarno got the job by promising a sense of luxe timelessness rather than season-to-season trendiness. “I’m the opposite of conceptual,” he told me last year.

De Sarno replaced the immersive world-building of his predecessor with a single-minded focus on the garments themselves. His debut, a women’s collection of trim outerwear and shiny mini-dresses, was inspired by the style of chic students he observed in Milan’s trendy Brera neighborhood. De Sarno’s Gucci was about practical fantasy, with clothes meant to work for the wearer. “I like real clothes, I like when clothes are desirable for people,” De Sarno said. The theme of his rebrand was “Ancora,” the Italian word for “again,” as in: “I want more!”

In fact, critics weren’t convinced that the clothes inspired such lustiness. But De Sarno proudly soldiered on. In an audacious response, his men’s debut last January was a “mirrored” version of his polarizing women’s show, a look-for-look companion collection featuring lustrous leather overcoats, skinny suits, and horsebit creeper loafers. In an interview with GQ, De Sarno fiercely defended his work from critics. “I love fashion, and I think most people love the idea of fashion,” he told me. “I love fashion. Not just the idea.”

The bold move seemed to pay off. De Sarno’s ideas began coming into focus as a new generation of heartthrobs like Paul Mescal and Bad Bunny took his tailoring (and daringly-hemmed short-shorts) to red carpets. Tennis star Jannik Sinner carried a Gucci duffle bag on Centre Court at Wimbledon. And the new house color (a beet-red hue dubbed “Ancora Rosso”) became increasingly ubiquitous. His second (and final) menswear collection was a grab bag of pop-art tailored beach shirts, sneakers, and mesh polos that did little to quell questions about the direction he was taking Italy’s most prominent fashion house. But De Sarno was starting to harness the cultural heat that is evermore critical to the success of any luxury brand today.

It was apparently too little, too late. Gucci sales tumbled 25% in the third quarter of 2024, adding to a 21% downturn in the first nine months of the year. In the face of an industry-wide luxury spending slowdown, De Sarno’s polished daywear simply didn’t break through, and parent company Kering could no longer afford to be patient as the group’s biggest house dragged down the company’s numbers.

In the statement, Kering deputy CEO Francesca Bellettini expressed her gratitude to De Sarno while previewing the future: “I am proud of the work that has been done to further strengthen Gucci’s fundamentals. Stefano and the new artistic direction will continue to build on this and to guide Gucci towards renewed fashion leadership and sustainable growth.”

What will that renewed leadership look like? After promoting two deputy designers in a row into the top spot, Gucci will likely look to an established rock star with a proven track record of driving buzz around heritage brands, with Hedi Slimane and Jonathan Anderson’s names floating to the top amidst a swirl of rumor and conjecture.

Meanwhile, the Gucci show later this month will go on—presented by the in-house design studio.