Dive Brief:
- Daniel Fletcher, Fiorucci’s menswear artistic director, will leave his position with the brand at the end of June, according to an Instagram post on Tuesday.
- The British designer joined the brand in 2019, four years after graduating London’s Central Saint Martins, and also designs a label under his own name. In addition, he released a 9-look limited bespoke collaboration with Savile Row luxury tailor Huntsman to open London Fashion Week’s June edition earlier this month, codesigned with Campbell Carey, Huntsman’s creative director.
- British husband-and-wife retailers Stephen and Janie Schaffer bought Fiorucci from Japanese brand Edwin in June 2015, one month before the death of founder Elio Fiorucci.
Dive Insight:
In his farewell message, Fletcher wrote, “After nearly four years as Menswear Artistic Director at Fiorucci, I will be leaving the brand at the end of this month after completing my final collection. I am immensely proud of what we have accomplished together during my time here, and have had so much fun along the way.”
He added, “It has been an honour to contribute to this brand that has such a rich history and I wish Fiorucci all the best for the future. I would like to extend thanks to all of the team who have supported me along the way, in particular Janie and Stephen Schaffer, who hired me initially back in 2019.”
When Fletcher arrived at Fiorucci, he gave the storied line a chic, tailored update while still keeping true to its fun, flashy roots.
While he did not announce any plans for his next move, the designer has been busy working on the just-released Huntsman capsule, which builds on the Savile Row staple’s 174-year history. In a statement regarding the Huntsman collaboration, Fletcher said, “To work with Huntsman in such a way, that has been so much about detail and craft, is a real honour. I know that being able to observe and take note of the way that Campbell and the Huntsman team works will inform how I go on to design for the rest of my career. Building from the collaboration, I wanted to show the best of what we do here in the UK and the craft behind creating these collections and the heritage of British fashion.”
In addition to the bespoke 9-piece capsule, Fletcher will issue an additional 12-piece ready-to-wear collection across his own network in the fall, which will incorporate elements of his own brand paired with Huntsman’s classic tailoring, as popularly seen in the “Kinsgsman” movies.
A bit of a celebrity in his own right, Fletcher has been no stranger to the spotlight. He was nominated for the LVMH prize in 2017, and he was awarded the European Semi-Final of the International Woolmark Prize in 2018. He was also named Breakthrough Designer of The Year by British GQ in 2020, the same year he became a runner-up on the Netflix fashion competition show “Next in Fashion.”
The brand opened its first store in Milan in 1967, and its namesake founder Fiorucci expanded the company worldwide throughout the 1970s and 1980s before ending up in bankruptcy in 1989. Japanese denim brand Edwin then purchased the ailing company, which it sold in 2015 to former Victoria’s Secret CEO and Knickerbox founder Janie Schaffer and her husband. The couple currently sell Fiorucci online and via a Soho flagship store in London.
There’s been a recent slew of creative and artistic director departures from the fashion industry in 2023, including Jeremy Scott’s exit from Moschino in March, Charles de Vilmorin’s departure from Rochas in April, Rhuigi Villaseñor’s exodus from Bally in May, and Christian Juul Nielsen’s decision to leave Hervé Léger earlier this week.
