Moschino Parent Aeffe Shares Edge Up Following Appointment of Davide Renne
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MILAN — Shares of Moschino parent company Aeffe closed up 1.76 percent at 81 cents after rising 2.26 percent in early trading in Milan following the news that Davide Renne had been named creative director of the Italian brand.
Hailing from Gucci, Renne will start at Moschino on Nov. 1, and his first collection will debut for fall 2024 in February during Milan Fashion Week. He succeeds Jeremy Scott, who exited the brand last March after a 10-year tenure.
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Massimo Ferretti, executive chairman of Aeffe, told WWD exclusively that, following the collaboration with Scott, “who greatly contributed to the growth of the brand,” the company “immediately started a research process that was prompted by a desire to reflect on the future of Moschino and what we would want for it. The meeting with Davide was immediately enlightening. Already in our first talks I appreciated his aesthetic sensibility and the ability to see the different levels of interpretation that Franco Moschino always inserted within his creations.”
Ferretti said the Moschino “universe goes beyond fashion, embracing art, culture and costume. I believe that Davide, also in light of his background, has been attracted by this possibility of wide-ranging action in a context where the primary objective has always been to surprise and excite.”
In addition, Ferretti said Renne has “immediately shown an approach that is extremely polite and respectful, which reflects our company culture where the values connected to the family and the sense of belonging are still the foundations of our daily life.” The new course, he concluded, will “surely lead to great satisfaction.”
Renne has designed women’s collections for two decades at Gucci, eventually becoming head designer of womenswear, and at Moschino he will oversee women’s, men’s and accessories collections, reporting to Ferretti.
“Franco Moschino had a nickname for his design studio: la sala giochi — the playroom. This resonates deeply with me: what fashion — Italian fashion especially, and the house of Moschino most of all — can achieve with its enormous power should be accomplished with a sense of play, of joy. A sense of discovery, and experimentation,” Renne said.
The designer described Ferretti as “a gentleman who has been almost fatherly in his ability to listen and establish a dialogue during our encounters.”
Renne penned a letter sent out on Monday morning, shedding some light on his life, which has taken him “through a journey of discovery: after all, I was born in 1977 in Follonica, Tuscany, on the Tyrrhenian Sea, a magical body of water, according to Greek mythology, the cliffs above the Tyrrhenian housed the four winds kept by Aeolus.”
While in high school, “for some mysterious reason I kept drawing women’s clothes,” he writes. “Nevertheless, I figured I’d go on to study architecture, but enrolling at Polimoda in Florence endowed me with a sense of absolute freedom, paving the way for a journey of creativity that, I soon discovered, became my life.”
His first steps in fashion were at Alessandro Dell’Acqua and Renne described the designer as his “first teacher and mentor in fashion,” then moving on to Gucci.
“I spent the past eight years with Alessandro Michele who taught me to dream bigger and pushed me further ahead, and helped me to make my dreams come true. Fashion, like life, is about discovering ourselves. I dislike fashion that dictates answers — I’m more inclined to find the right question, then the answers come in the designer’s dialogue with our audience: fashion is inherently bespoke.”
Dell’Acqua told WWD that he was “happy and proud” of Renne’s achievement.
“We shared the best years of my brand Alessandro Dell’Acqua, and we have always maintained our relationship alive with a constant exchange. I am also happy that an Italian group has chosen an Italian creative with an extensive experience and I wish Davide the success he deserves,” said Dell’Acqua, who is the creative director of the No. 21 brand he launched in 2010 after losing the use of his name and creative control of that eponymous brand in 2009.
Another Gucci alum, Simone Bellotti, has taken the creative lead at a luxury house, as he was named design director of Bally last May.
Renne continued by saying that “being tasked of taking charge of the house created by a genius of Italian design and contemporary art is an honor that I don’t take lightly. I realized that Franco ceases to appear an outlier only once you consider his work not outside but beyond the bounds of fashion, as a contemporary artist. He was the creator of an astonishing modern concept of luxury that still resonates today — his work is present even if he’s not here. Franco taught us that fashion cannot be explained, can only be lived because it’s essentially, intimately, about life — about the world around us. This is, to me, the poetry of fashion. I see fashion as a dialogue where the creation of beauty happens.”
Giovanna Brambilla, partner at Milan-based executive search firm Value Search, said Renne “belongs to that group of creative minds that have a deep knowledge of the product, fabrics and materials, and skilled expertise in the construction of clothes — and that is not a given.”
She believes Renne will “add substance to the collections, upgrade the luxury positioning of the brand, without losing that touch of irony, after a few seasons where the focus seemed to be to surprise the audience. After many years as a second-in-command, I think Davide is well-prepared for this role, and, although his background is in womenswear, he was at Gucci at a moment of great transformation on all product categories.”
A former Gucci colleague praised Renne’s “great talent, a creative mind with a strong imagination and respect for both fashion and the people he works with. In his previous experience, he was able to lead his team even in delicate moments, never losing his smile and enthusiasm, thus proving he is a sensitive man with a heart of gold.”
After Michele’s departure last November, a number of sources spoke of Renne as a potential candidate with the skills to take over as creative director of Gucci — a post that eventually went to Sabato De Sarno — and his name had been circulating in Milan as a successor to Scott for weeks.
Brands are increasingly paying tribute to second-in-command designers. De Sarno was previously fashion director overseeing both men’s and women’s collections at Valentino. Recently, Luigi Preziotti and Dario Vitale were internally promoted to head designers at Prada and Miu Miu, respectively, following the exit of Fabio Zambernardi, the longtime design director of the brands, after the spring 2024 collections.
Last month, Moschino marked its 40th anniversary with a fashion show presenting looks created by stylists Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele, Katie Grand, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson and Lucia Liu inspired by the works of Franco Moschino.
Scott succeeded longtime creative director Rossella Jardini, who carried forward the late designer’s torch for two decades.
Franco Moschino began his career in 1971, designing for Gianni Versace for six years. He launched his own company, Moonshadow, in 1983, followed by Moschino Couture! that same year. He was known for his quirky and tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, spoofing high fashion, but at the same time, his innovative designs were ground-breaking. He revamped the classic suit with imaginative details, such as bottle caps, embroidered price tags on little black dresses, or created skirts made entirely of men’s ties. “There is no creativity without chaos,” was one of his famous quotes. He died in 1994.
Following the designer’s death, Aeffe acquired a 70 percent stake in the company, further developing the brand globally.
Aeffe took full control of Moschino in 2021, paying 66.6 million euros for the 30 percent stake in the brand it didn’t own. It also acquired the license to produce and distribute the Love Moschino collections of women’s apparel in-house for 3.6 million euros.
In 2022, Aeffe revenues amounted to 352 million euros, up 8.4 percent compared to 325 million euros in 2021. While the group does not break down sales by brand, sources say Moschino represents 70 percent of the total.
In the first six months of the current year, Aeffe revenues decreased 7.7 percent to 162.9 million euros, compared with 176.5 million euros in the same period last year. Despite the drop, Ferretti said in July that he was “satisfied with the results of the retail channel, a direct consequence of the transition to a direct distribution model for the Moschino brand on the Chinese market.”
In 2021, Aeffe also took control of Moschino’s distribution in mainland China, signaling the increasing relevance of that market for the label. This involved around 20 stores, which had been operated for the previous 10 years by Scienward Fashion and Luxury (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.
In addition to Moschino, Aeffe comprises the Alberta Ferretti, Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini and Pollini brands.
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