Valentino Creative Director Pierpaolo Piccioli Is Leaving the Fashion House After 25 Years

Pierpaolo Piccioli is parting ways with Valentino after 25 years. 

The fashion house announced the news on Friday, March 22, explaining that Valentino’s collaboration with Piccioli, 56, has come to an end. “We extend our deepest gratitude to Pierpaolo for writing an important chapter in the history of the Maison Valentino. His contribution over the past 25 years will leave an indelible mark,” Valentino’s chairman Rachid Mohamed Rachid said in a statement, per Reuters. 

Piccioli expressed his appreciation and gratitude for the luxury label, telling Vogue, “Not all stories have a beginning or an end, some live a kind of eternal present that shines so bright that it won’t produce any shadows.” 

He added, “I’ve been in this company for 25 years, and for 25 years I’ve existed and I’ve lived with people who have woven the weaves of this beautiful story that is mine and ours... Thanks to Mr. Valentino and [Valentino co-founder] Giancarlo Giammetti who have blessed me with their trust, thanks to every single person who made this possible in one way or another. It was a privilege and an honor to share my journey, and my dreams, with you.” 

Since starting at Valentino in 1999, and taking on the creative director role in 2016, Piccioli has modernized the luxury label with artful silhouettes, intricate designs and bold colors. 

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He’s to thank for the Barbiecore craze after unveiling the pink-clad fall 2022 collection at Paris Fashion Week in March 2022. “I was fascinated by the idea of having this moment of reflection and digging deeper,” he told Vogue in an interview that same month, adding that the shade is meant to “intensify the senses.”

Throughout his career, Piccioli has formed formidable bonds with celebrity muses including Anne Hathaway, Dua Lipa, Naomi Campbell, FKA twigs and Florence Pugh.

Pugh, 28, was announced as a Valentino ambassador in April 2023, a collab that was sparked after her response to body-shamers, who criticized her for showing her nipples in a sheer fuchsia dress at Valentino’s Haute Couture show in July 2022.

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“I wanted to talk to her after that,” Piccioli told The New York Times last year. “The statement was the perfect one to embody the idea I was talking about months ago, about not having canons of beauty — but being unique and different and diverse, showing yourself in a fierce way. Florence was just asking for respect about a choice, which is exactly what I’m saying when I do my collection.”