”Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, the longtime accessories duo at Valentino, will take up the fashion reins and succeed Alessandra Facchinetti at the Roman house, according to sources. Facchinetti, who was succeeded at Gucci by its accessories director Frida Giannini, was said to have clashed with management over the design direction and production costs. Stefano Sassi, chairman and chief executive officer of Valentino, brushed off questions of a designer change backstage after the Valentino show Friday afternoon, saying only, “We will make the situation clear very shortly. It is understood the move is subject to board approval.”

—from WWD

I think this is pretty expected. For the record, Valentino didn’t really look like Valentino under Facchinetti. The legendary designer himself loves glamour, and uses solid bold colours very often. When she came along, things went mellow. She obviously has a flair for subtle colours and chiffon, her creations are really mature and sophisticated. People do love her collections, she can do beautiful but they are just not in the same league, no?

But Alessandra is very talented indeed, just look at her first couture collection. She definitely needs an identity of her own now. First it was at Gucci and then Valentino, two houses with very very different aesthetics. I really hope that there will be heaven for her up next. She deserves something.