Vionnet and the Croce sisters part ways

By

Florent Gilles

Published
Aug 29, 2012

They had been Vionnet’s artistic directors since the autumn-winter 2012 collection, before going on to design a resort collection for spring 2013. The Croce sisters, however, are now no longer a part of the team at Vionnet.

The prestigious French fashion house, which was bought out last spring by billionaire Goga Ashkenazi, confirmed on Tuesday, 28th August – without giving any reasons – rumours of the split, which had recently been doing the rounds on the online press. According to reports on the internet, tensions between Barbara and Lucia Croce and the Kazak business woman, who is based in London, are to blame. However, in spite of the arrival of Ashkenazi – a finance entrepreneur who is also part of the emerging jet-set – amongst the ranks, the Milan-based company is still being run by Matteo Marzotti, who acquired it in 2009. “The shareholders, promoters and managers who revived the historic brand in 2009, remain investors and executives of the company and there will be no management changes”, the company’s headquarters confirmed when the contract with Goga Ashkenazi was signed.

The spring-summer 2013 collection will be presented in Paris as part of its fashion week on 28th September. An event is also scheduled to take place on 30th September to celebrate the fashion house’s 100th anniversary, where the Demi Couture collection will be presented. But who will be responsible for designing it? Answers to come at the next fashion week…

Below: Vionnet’s spring 2013 resort collection, designed by Barbara and Lucia Croce.