Riccardo Bellini takes over the reins at Valentino on September 1, 2025
Riccardo Bellini, CEO of the Roman fashion house, will take office on September 1, 2025, succeeding Jacopo Venturini, who stepped down in mid-August for personal reasons. This appointment comes at a pivotal moment for the brand, marked by creative repositioning and a restructuring of its ownership. It is part of a broader strategy aimed at accelerating the company's commercial recovery while preserving its cultural prestige.
A strategic shift in a changing ownership environment
Since 2023, Kering has held a 30 percent stake in Valentino , acquired from Mayhoola , with an option to purchase the remaining shares by 2028. The arrival of Riccardo Bellini , a trusted executive at Mayhoola, comes as the brand faces a luxury and headwinds in America and China. This readjusted governance structure is intended to clarify the company's direction, reassure its teams, and provide a consistent message to its retail and wholesale partners.
An executive with experience at Chloé and Maison Margiela
A graduate of Bocconi University, Riccardo Bellini led Chloé from 2019 to 2023, a period marked by brand elevation, significant progress in sustainability, and a streamlining of the product offering. Prior to that, he headed Maison Margiela , following strategic roles at Diesel and twelve years at Procter & Gamble in selective beauty. In January 2025, he joined Mayhoola Valentino 's majority shareholder . This hybrid background, combining creative and operational experience, strengthens his credibility to lead a relaunch phase.
A duet with Alessandro Michele to reignite desire
The new CEO will form a tandem with Alessandro Michele , the creative director who joined in 2024. Their roadmap focuses on consolidating the couture DNA, an immediately recognizable visual language, and more precise commercial execution, collection by collection. After a mixed start in stores, the goal is to convert the house's enormous cultural capital into sustainable commercial traction, without abandoning Valentino .
Where does the house stand?
In 2024, Valentino experienced a slight decline in revenue and profitability, reflecting a more demanding global cycle and a transitioning creative calendar. Riccardo Bellini is to enhance perceived value, refine distribution, protect prices, and optimize retail events. It also involves re-harmonizing couture, leather goods, and accessories so that everything speaks with one voice, from private salons to e-commerce.
CEO 's priority projects
- First project : the offer . Strengthen the haute couture and cocktail signatures, clarify the pillars of leather goods, frame the volumes and colour schemes by region.
- Second area of focus : distribution . Optimize selective presence, increase the density of high-potential flagship stores, enhance hospitality and after-sales service, and improve digital conversion.
- Third area of focus : desirability . Haute couture events, exhibitions, relevant cultural collaborations, and editorial content that tells the story of craftsmanship, materials, and long-term vision. These levers, combined, must restore a healthy sell-through dynamic.
Governance at a crossroads: Kering and Mayhoola
The ownership context will be closely monitored. Kering has made an initial capital investment, while Mayhoola retains a controlling stake in the short term. The appointment of Riccardo Bellini signals operational continuity to the long-standing shareholder, while keeping the strategic options related to the 2023 agreement open. For the company, the challenge is to focus on the present, with a clear understanding of priorities, without being dictated by the pace of transactions.
Impact on customers and on the network
From the customer's perspective, the expectation is clear: more legible products, an instantly recognizable Valentino style, and services that elevate the experience. From the network's perspective, partners expect a more tangible seasonality, better-timed launches, and assortments tailored to each city. The success of the Riccardo Bellini and Alessandro Michele will be measured as much by the coherence of the window displays as by the consistency of restocking, by the quality of the in-store details as by the clarity of the online messaging.
What the sequence reveals
The decision to appoint Riccardo Bellini Valentino 's ability to attract leaders well-versed in the cycles of the luxury market and the complexities of international retail. In an industry undergoing transformation, this leadership style prioritizes precision over excess. If the house succeeds in aligning creation, product offering, distribution, and communication, it has all the necessary elements to transform its immense cultural heritage into sustainable growth.
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