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Another fashion vacancy as Alessandra Facchinetti leaves Italian label Tod’s

Another month and another top fashion house loses its creative director – this time Italian label Tod’s. The company announced last week that the creative director of its women’s collections, Alessandra Facchinetti, was stepping down from her role with immediate effect.

“I would like to thank Alessandra for her contribution to Tod’s. We wanted to develop the Italian style as well as a strong point of view in fashion, presenting a show not to be missed in Milan, and we have reached these objectives,” said Tod’s chairman and CEO Diego Della Valle.

Facchinetti said: “It has been an honour to work with this extraordinary family company which puts quality, craftsmanship and excellency at the centre of its business and I am grateful to Tod’s, and especially to Diego and Andrea Della Valle, who have given me outstanding support and who will remain dear friends.”

Facchinetti’s departure follows those of Alber Elbaz, who quit French fashion house Lanvin in 2015, Raf Simons, who left Christian Dior around the same time, and Alexander Wang, who was replaced at Balenciaga by Demna Gvasalia. Anthony Vaccarello has replaced Hedi Slimane at Yves Saint Laurent, while Lanvin recently appointed Bouchra Jarrar to succeed Elbaz.

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Before joining Tod’s three years ago, Facchinetti worked with luxury brands including Gucci and Moncler. A highly publicised stint as creative director for Valentino came to an abrupt end when she was dumped by the house 24 hours after unveiling her second ready-to-wear collection. She later made a comeback by partnering with Spanish high street label Pinko and launching her own collection, called Uniqueness, which followed the see-now-buy-now model that high-fashion brands are increasingly adopting.

When Facchinetti arrived at Tod’s in 2013 she was tasked with creating a ready-to-wear line that showed off the fashion house’s expertise in leather and its craftsmanship and designing covetable products that would appeal to the modern woman. Her first collection, for spring/summer 2014, was an immediate success and featured elegant, paper-thin leather skirts and tailored shirt dresses alongside cool and contemporary versions of Tod’s classic Gommino shoes and D handbag.

Facchinetti soon made the Tod’s fashion show a hot ticket at Milan Fashion Week as she explored Tod’s heritage to create effortless and elegant clothing for women, including hand-stencilled floral prints, rock-inspired jumpsuits and leather jackets covered in guitar-themed patchwork. Her most recent collection, for autumn/winter 2016, paid homage to the 1970s, with fur-collared trench coats, bomber jackets and blazers covered in stitching to create a tartan effect.

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