Valentino Dismisses Facchinetti; Chiuri and Piccioli to Take Over

by Terri Potratz | October 6, 2008 at 01:57 pm

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Valentino creative director Alessandra Facchinetti was dismissed from her lead designer post after her collection premiered at Paris Fashion Week on Friday, and found out about it through the press. Facchinetti took the reins from Valentino when he retired and has produced just 2 collections for the fashion house. She is being replaced by longtime Valentino accessories designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli.

Less than 24 hours after the Valentino show, the company announced the departure of the label's creative director, Alessandra Facchinetti, following a "misaligned vision with the company". It added, with biting brevity: "Her creative contribution and refined artistic talent were greatly appreciated." Facchinetti had been in place for less than two seasons after the label's founder, Valentino Garavani, stepped down. What made this announcement particularly harsh was that Facchinetti was unaware she had been fired.

Two hours later, she issued her own statement, saying that she felt "deep regret" to have learnt that she was fired from the press "since the company's top management has not yet seen fit to inform me. I would like to thank Valentino SPA for showing their appreciation of my 'creative contribution and sophisticated talent' although I deeply regret the fact that this talent and contribution do not seem to have been adequately acknowledged."

Valentino fired back at Facchinetti with this scathing remark:

Then Valentino himself weighed in: “[Chiuri and Piccioli] are two serious, capable professionals that I had alongside me for many years. They always demonstrated an enormous respect and love for my work. There is an existing archive with thousands of dresses from which they can draw and take inspiration to create a Valentino product that is relevant today. It is a shame their predecessor didn't feel this need.”