Meet Tod’s New Creative Director

Click here to read the full article.

Tod’s Group has announced the appointment of Walter Chiapponi as creative director of the women’s and men’s collections of the brand.

As president Diego Della Valle said this morning in a statement: “Walter is a talented Italian creative who knows and is able to combine Tod’s Italian lifestyle with a touch of modernity, without ever losing sight of the high quality and craftsmanship that represents the brand’s DNA. I welcome him and wish him well in his new role.”

More from Footwear News

• Kylie Jenner Teams Fall's 'It' Shoe With Her Leather Minidress

• Hailey Baldwin Coordinates the Season's 'It' Sandals With Her Baseball Cap

• Tod's Has a New Designer, Sources Say

“It is a great honor to work for this Group. Tod’s is a brand that has always represented an excellence in the international panorama of Italian quality and style,” added Walter Chiapponi. “Being able to contribute to the development of this Italian lifestyle is, for me, a challenge and a reason to be proud.”

Chiapponi was born in 1978 in Milan and after studying at the European Institute of Design, he entered the fashion world towards the end of the ’90s. Following a period at Givenchy in Paris, he returned to Italy in 2007, working for brands such as Valentino, Gucci, Miu Miu and Bottega Veneta under former creative director, Tomas Maier.

At Tod’s he will work with another Bottega alumnus, the label’s former CEO, Carlo Alberto Beretta, who joined Tod’s in February as general manager.

We will have to wait until fall ’20 to see what Chiapponi has in store for his new house but with his varied background, it’s certainly an interesting appointment. He will, no doubt, set to further implement Della Valle’s strategy to tap into a younger market. Recent drives include the No Code Project with it’s sneaker hybrids and Alber Elbaz’s youthful capsule collection for the brand launched this summer.

In that his role extends across both men’s and women’s, his appointment will also unite the creative direction of the entire label, a first in recent memory. Men’s creative director, Andrea Incontri left this summer, and following the exit of Alessandra Facchinetti in 2016, the women’s hot seat has remained empty with the collections designed by an in-house team.

Sign up for FN's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.