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Gucci Parts Ways with Design Chief De Sarno

FILE - Sabato De Sarno, creative director of Gucci, accepts applause after the Gucci Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)
FILE - Sabato De Sarno, creative director of Gucci, accepts applause after the Gucci Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)
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Gucci Parts Ways with Design Chief De Sarno

FILE - Sabato De Sarno, creative director of Gucci, accepts applause after the Gucci Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)
FILE - Sabato De Sarno, creative director of Gucci, accepts applause after the Gucci Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)

Gucci-owner Kering said on Thursday its creative director Sabato de Sarno would leave the Italian flagship label after less than two years in the job, the latest high-profile designer change as the luxury industry grapples with a slowdown.
De Sarno took over as Gucci's design chief in 2023, succeeding Alessandro Michele, one of the towering figures of the fashion industry whose exuberant and playful designs had defined the brand for seven years.
A new artistic director will be announced in due course, Kering said. Its shares were down almost 3% in early trade, underperforming industry peers.
Revenues at Gucci, which account for about half of the group's total, were down 25% in the third quarter, dragging down Kering's performance. The company's share price has fallen by roughly a third over the past 12 months.
"I think the writing was on the wall. The demure style of Sabato De Sarno didn't fit the exuberant image that consumers have built of Gucci in the past 30 years," Bernstein analyst Luca Solca said.
Kering has been managing a broad overhaul of the century-old Italian fashion house, rebuilding top executive teams. Kering is due to report financial results next Tuesday.

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Fashion

L’Oreal Quarterly Sales up 6.7% on Growth in US, Emerging Markets

L'Oreal's first-quarter sales rise 6.7%. (AFP)
L'Oreal's first-quarter sales rise 6.7%. (AFP)
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L’Oreal Quarterly Sales up 6.7% on Growth in US, Emerging Markets

L'Oreal's first-quarter sales rise 6.7%. (AFP)
L'Oreal's first-quarter sales rise 6.7%. (AFP)

L'Oreal's first-quarter sales rose 6.7%, it said on Wednesday, as strong demand for premium hair products and perfume, particularly in North ‌America and ‌emerging markets, ‌more ⁠than offset weakness ⁠in the Middle East.

The Paris-based maker of Kerastase shampoo and YSL Libre perfume said ⁠total sales for ‌the ‌three months to ‌end-March came to 12.2 ‌billion euros ($14.32 billion), up 6.7% from 11.7 billion euros on ‌a like-for-like basis after slightly adjusting down ⁠last ⁠year's comparable figures.

The rise also included a 3.4% boost from overstocking ahead of an ongoing overhaul of the group's IT system.

Fashion

What to Know About the 2026 Met Gala

ogue editor Anna Wintour attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala on May 6, 2019, in New York. (AP)
ogue editor Anna Wintour attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala on May 6, 2019, in New York. (AP)
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What to Know About the 2026 Met Gala

ogue editor Anna Wintour attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala on May 6, 2019, in New York. (AP)
ogue editor Anna Wintour attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala on May 6, 2019, in New York. (AP)

Fashionistas knew this already: “Fashion is Art.” But how will Met Gala guests interpret that dress code at this year’s extravaganza?

Last year’s theme, “Tailored For You,” led to a lot of great suits; this year’s promises to produce some truly flamboyant attire as guests mount the famous carpeted steps on May 4. As always, the dress code is inspired by the spring exhibit at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Costume Art” will pair some 200 art objects with 200 garments to highlight the connection between fashion and art through the centuries.

Here are some key things to know as fashion’s biggest night approaches:

When is the Met Gala? As always, the first Monday in May.

What exactly is the Met Gala? It’s a fundraiser for the Costume Institute, the only self-funding department at the Met — and it's a huge one. Last year the evening brought in a record sum of more than $31 million.

Who’s hosting? None other than Beyoncé, a familiar gala guest, is a co-chair, joined by Nicole Kidman, tennis champ Venus Williams and the one who runs it all, Vogue’s Anna Wintour. There's also a “host committee” chaired by designer Anthony Vaccarello and filmmaker Zoë Kravitz, and featuring names from Sabrina Carpenter and Teyana Taylor to Lena Dunham and Misty Copeland.

But the names generating the most discussion are .... “The exhibition and benefit are made possible by Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos,” said a Met press release in February. We tried, but the museum won’t say how much the Amazon founder and his wife, as lead sponsors and honorary chairs, are contributing. Protest against their participation has come from an activist group called Everyone Hates Elon, which posted an Instagram video of members hacking subway display cases to post anti-billionaire messages.

Who WON’T be there? New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who took office on an affordability platform, told the local news outlet Hell Gate he will not attend. Among past New York mayors who've attended is Eric Adams, who wore a tuxedo with the words “End Gun Violence” on the back in 2022.

Anything new this year? Yes, new digs. “Costume Art” will inaugurate the Conde M. Nast Galleries, created from what was formerly the museum’s retail store and occupying nearly 12,000 square feet (1,115 square meters) off the museum’s Great Hall.

Aside from giving fashion a grander display space, this means gala guests now can stroll easily between the show and the dinner at the Temple of Dendur. In a more lasting way, it will prevent snaking lines elsewhere in the museum once the show opens to the public on May 10.

Despite the prominence of classic body shapes through art history, curator Andrew Bolton has made sure there’s an element of body positivity in his exhibit, with sections on body types long ignored in art: the corpulent body, for example, and the disabled body. And he’s added 25 new mannequins that reflect these body types.

How long has this been going on? The Met Gala started in 1948 as a Manhattan society midnight supper — held at various places like the Waldorf Astoria and the Rainbow Room. It took many years before it turned into a global event and one of the starriest nights of the year.

Can anyone buy a ticket to the Met Gala? No. You must be rich, famous or powerful enough to be invited.

If I had one, how much would it cost? Individual tickets are $100,000, and a table of 10 starts at $350,000. There will be approximately 400 guests in all.

Fashion

Britain's JD Sports Says Chairman Higginson to Step Down

A branch of JD Sports is seen on a high street in London, Britain April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska/File Photo
A branch of JD Sports is seen on a high street in London, Britain April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska/File Photo
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Britain's JD Sports Says Chairman Higginson to Step Down

A branch of JD Sports is seen on a high street in London, Britain April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska/File Photo
A branch of JD Sports is seen on a high street in London, Britain April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska/File Photo

British sportswear retailer JD Sports Fashion said on Wednesday its chairman Andrew Higginson will step down from the role in July.

Higginson has chaired the group since 2022. He will leave after its annual shareholders meeting on July 21, Reuters reported.

Higginson, a retail ⁠veteran who was ⁠a long serving executive at Tesco before chairing Morrisons, oversaw the global expansion of JD Sports with about 40% of its business now ⁠in the United States. He also transformed its governance framework.

Analysts said his imminent departure was a surprise.

JD Sports said its board has started the process to find a successor.

It said independent non-executive director Darren Shapland will become interim chair following the July ⁠AGM ⁠until a permanent chair is appointed.

In January, JD Sports reported a fall in underlying sales over the key Christmas trading period. Its shares are down 9.5% so far this year, giving it a market capitalization of 3.7 billion pounds ($5.0 billion).