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On Monday, the final round of this particular game of designer musical chairs came to a gentle conclusion. Balenciaga, the French couture house controlled by the Pinault family since 2001, named Pierpaolo Piccioli its new designer. He will succeed Demna, who is off to Gucci come July. Piccioli’s first collection will be shown in the fall, although the company has yet to communicate on that front. In some ways, Piccioli is an obvious choice for Balenciaga. In others, he is very much not. Less than two years ago, Piccioli was unceremoniously cycled out of Valentino, which is part-owned by Kering, and where he’d spent the majority of his career. His final collection, shown just weeks before his departure, was rendered in all-black—an ominous display of mourning for a fashion house where he’d been designing since 1999.

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So if it wasn’t working at Valentino, why would Kering bring Piccioli back into the fold? The recycling of designers within a group is not unheard of—LVMH does it all the time. But this boomerang situation is probably indicative of the limited pool of capable talent at this stage in the industry’s trajectory. Today’s creative directors cannot be, for lack of a more elegant descriptor, a mess. They have to be creative, sure, but also proficient managers, too—overseeing everything from product design to the employee experience. Some act as a co-C.E.O., others are simply in service to the C.E.O., but they must understand that these are multibillion-dollar businesses, not pet projects. For a struggling company like Kering, it was safer to offer another chance to a proven number one than take a risk on an unproven number two.

The birth of the modern luxury industry can be pegged to Lagerfeld’s appointment as creative director of Chanel in 1983. Note the cluster of assignments in the late 1990s, when the conglomerates were forming, then again in the first half of the 2010s, post-Great Recession, and then, finally, the recent surge, propelled by commodification at the top houses.

Regardless of how things ended at Valentino, Piccioli will likely bring stability to Balenciaga, especially on the ready-to-wear front. He already has a meaningful couture and ready-to-wear client base, many of whom will follow him to Balenciaga. He’s not a gifted accessories creator in the vein of his former Valentino co-designer, Maria Grazia Chiuri—or Alessandro Michele, for that matter—but that should be of little consequence given the right merchandising support. (Remember, the brand’s star merchandiser, Nathalie Raynaud, was just promoted to deputy C.E.O.) Piccioli also simply has the right attitude. In his note announcing the appointment, he went out of his way to thank outgoing designer Demna. When things like this happen, there are so many uncertainties for lower-rung employees—job security being the greatest—and knowing that the person coming in wants a peaceful transition can help with morale.

Everyone is wishing for the best, even if this isn’t quite a stock-moving announcement. (Balenciaga is a sub-$2 billion brand, after all, and the news was released about 30 minutes after Euronext trading closed.) Alaïa’s Pieter Mulier, an early favorite for the job, may have generated more of a spark if he had been appointed—not only does Mulier have a fast-growing ready-to-wear clientele, but he’s also been tremendously successful on the accessories front. Alas, it didn’t happen for multiple reasons. Meanwhile, I’m sure that Piccioli plans to bring in a good number of people from his Valentino team, adding further reassurance. “I hope, for the system, it works,” one C-suite luxury executive said to me late last week, when the speculation about Piccioli began to solidify. “Because we need things to be better in general.” No one likely feels that sentiment more than Kering deputy C.E.O. Francesca Bellettini, who must turn the whole business around while facing both macro challenges and micro issues specific to the group. It’s easy to say that her boss, Kering C.E.O. and heir François-Henri Pinault, should have never let Michele leave Gucci, but I disagree. Michele’s time there was up, and revenue growth would have been tough even if he stayed. However, they should have hired a big name, not Sabato De Sarno, if they wanted Gucci to become a true competitor to Louis Vuitton. (In perhaps the greatest irony of this whole debacle, De Sarno was Piccioli’s number two at Valentino.) In particular, they should have moved mountains to bring Jonathan Anderson to Kering, even by acquiring J.W. Anderson. The price tag would have been far less than what they’ve lost over the course of the past two years, both in terms of revenue and cultural capital. Even if Demna’s Gucci hits, it will be at least another two years before we see a real recovery at the group. Anyway, as I’ve discussed the Kering saga with various stakeholders over the past week, one name that rarely surfaces has come to the fore: François Pinault, who became a white knight in luxury fashion when he brokered a deal with Tom Ford and Domenico De Sole to acquire Gucci, in 1999, ostensibly saving them from Bernard Arnault’s less desirable overtures.

Pinault, who is 88, has been out of the game for more than 20 years. As with nearly any succession, executives claim François was skeptical of his son’s abilities in the early days of the transition, but went on to benefit financially from François-Henri’s strategy of culling the business to create a pure-luxury strategic group. By 2018, François was worth $36 billion, in no small part because of the work that François-Henri did turning Gucci, Saint Laurent, and Bottega Veneta into profit machines. Now, however, some people say they sense François’ “frustration” as Kering continues to lose market share. A source close to pretty much everyone involved said that while that may be true, François remains as removed from the daily operations as he always has been. Indeed, it’s all up to François-Henri to fix the business. After all, he is only 62 years old—downright young in C.E.O. terms—and his succession plans mostly include people outside of the family. His son François is getting his M.B.A. in the United States, and may someday be a candidate. But this isn’t like LVMH, where there are multiple children running significant parts of the family business. Also, as with any personal relationship, I’m wary of outsider projection. For instance, you may all think you know who Bernard Arnault will be anointing as his heir, but my educated guess is that even he doesn’t know yet, and that the answer will be complex. But there is no getting around the fact that Kering is in trouble. Groupe Artémis, the Pinault family office that also includes CAA and Christie’s, owns 42.3 percent of Kering, with 59 percent of the voting rights. François-Henri has the final say. For years, many analysts speculated that the company would need to merge with another firm (maybe Richemont) to increase its negotiating power in terms of real estate, supply chain, etcetera. Now, though, it’s possible that another scenario could play out. There is market speculation that Kering’s deal to wholly acquire Valentino, which must happen by the end of 2027, will take place sooner: either by the end of this year, or early 2026. Sources inside Kering said that’s unlikely, though, and that while the acquisition will definitely go through at some point, the group would like to wait until it has more cash on hand. No matter when it goes down, there is a chance that the deal would include a share exchange, and Mayhoola—the Qatari investment vehicle that currently owns a majority stake in Valentino—could become a meaningful shareholder in Kering. Without the proper infrastructure and industry network, Mayhoola has struggled to develop its fashion businesses as much as hoped. (In 2024, Valentino’s profits dropped 22 percent, while revenue declined about 3 percent, indicating that the group relied on discounting and off-price to manage slow sales.) A partnership with an actual strategic group, like Kering, would presumably make the operations part easier. Perhaps financial support from Mayhoola is exactly what François-Henri needs to help build what he is surely hoping will be Kering’s next phase of growth. One of François-Henri’s best qualities, especially for the designers and executives working for him, has been patience. But he may no longer have the luxury of exhibiting it.

Best dressed at Cannes, so far: Rooney Mara in Givenchy, Joaquin Phoenix in Givenchy, Natalie Portman in Dior, Alexa Chung in Celine, Juliette Binoche in Dior, Alba Rohrwacher in Loewe, Jennifer Lawrence in this Dior in particular. Robin Givhan talks to Anna Wintour about how this year’s Met Gala became an act of resistance. [WaPo] Recon on the Apple Watch, 10 years after its launch. (My personal observation: The Apple Watch trained a new generation of consumers to wear a watch every day. Many have since moved on, including me.) [The New Consumer] Workers at several of LVMH’s champagne houses (as well as Pernod Ricard) went on strike last week. [Just Drinks]

And finally… Back in the magic kingdom of Hollywood, Team Puck is prepping for our Stories of the Season: Emmys extravaganza, happening tomorrow, May 20, at 5 p.m., right up the street from our Los Angeles headquarters. If you would like to hear from Parker Posey, John Mulaney, David Oyelowo, and a personal favorite of mine, Lauren Greenfield (the photographer and director behind Generation Wealth and Girl Culture), please email Fritz@puck.news and CC me. Until tomorrow, Lauren P.S.: We are using affiliate links because we are a business. We may make a couple bucks off them.

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