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Italian fashion house Valentino has named industry veteran Riccardo Bellini as its new chief executive following Jacopo Venturini’s departure this month.
The former chief executive of Chloé and Maison Margiela will begin his new role on September 1, the company said on Wednesday.
Bellini is currently managing director at Mayhoola, the Qatari luxury investment fund backed by Sheikha Moza bint Nasser al-Missned, mother of the Gulf state’s emir, which owns a 70 per cent stake in Valentino. Designer Valentino Garavani started the iconic label in Rome in 1960.
The appointment comes amid questions over Valentino’s future ownership and a wider downturn in the luxury goods industry, which has suffered steep declines in tourist spending in Japan and Europe in the first half of the year and is facing high US tariffs.
Rachid Mohamed Rachid, Mayhoola’s chair, said Bellini will work with creative director Alessandro Michele “to drive the maison forward and amplify its unique identity”.
Michele, Gucci’s former star designer, was appointed to the role last year only months after Kering, the French luxury conglomerate that owns Gucci, took a 30 per cent stake in Valentino for €1.7bn.
Kering’s chief executive François-Henri Pinault earlier this year said his group aimed to buy Valentino from Mayhoola within the next few years. However, Bellini’s appointment strengthens the Qatari company’s hold on the fashion house. Mayhoola last month denied it intended to sell its majority stake in Valentino.
Kering has been hit particularly hard by falling revenues at Gucci, its main brand, and it has hired Luca de Meo, the former chief executive of carmaker Renault, to turn around its fortunes.
More than half a dozen other brands have also changed their creative directors over the past 18 months as part of luxury groups’ drive to boost sales by re-engaging disaffected consumers.
Valentino, a favourite among Hollywood A-listers whose style is associated with bold red gowns, reported €1.3bn in revenues last year, a 2 per cent dip on 2023 which also had declining revenues on the previous year.