Dive Brief:
- Walter Chiapponi has exited his role as creative director at Blumarine, according to a Thursday statement posted to the designer’s Instagram page, as well as other media reports.
- The designer, who has been at Italy-based Blumarine since November 2023, leaves following the presentation of his first collection for the house in February 2024 as part of Milan Fashion Week.
- Marco Marchi, sole director of Blumarine parent company Eccellenze Italiane Holding, said in Chiapponi’s Instagram statement that he thanked the designer for “his vision and his commitment to the brand.”
Dive Insight:
The past year was a challenging period for the designer, who in January, shared an Instagram post about his struggles.
In that post, he called 2023 a “horrible year in which I had to say goodbye to three of the beings that I loved the most.” Chiapponi’s best friend, designer Davide Renne, died in November less than two weeks after being appointed creative director at Moschino, and Chiapponi’s 14-year-old nephew died in January. Chiapponi’s dog, which he’d had for 12 years, died at the end of December.
The year also marked a career milestone for Chiappoini, who in his Thursday statement said his recent collection at Blumarine was a “flashback to the beginnings” of his work as a designer that allowed him to leave a mark “in the history of the iconic brand.”
Before joining Blumarine as creative director, Chiapponi was design director at the brand in 2001 working alongside Blumarine founder Anna Molinari. He left that position in 2005 and spent time at several labels afterward, including Givenchy, Valentino, Gucci, Miu Miu and Bottega Veneta. Chiapponi became creative director of Tod’s in 2019 and stayed there until he was appointed to the role he just relinquished at Blumarine.
“For me it was a sort of return to the future in which I [focused] all my love and creative passion,” Chiapponi said. “My thanks for this experience go first and foremost to Marco Marchi, who made it possible, but also to all those without whom I wouldn’t have been able to express myself as I did. I am especially referring to people I have loved and who are no longer with us, but who continue to [instill] strong emotions in me, to inspire my feelings and my journey.”
Marchi said the experience of having Chiapponi back at Blumarine “will remain unique” and came “at a special moment in Blumarine’s history.”
“I am grateful to Walter Chiapponi for pouring so much of himself into this collection,” Marchi said. “It has been an extraordinary adventure. I wish Walter all the best for the continuation of his journey.”
Chiapponi said his next move would be “to concentrate on new initiatives and projects with a social and humanitarian scope,” but added that he might return “at a later date, at the right time, to the catwalk.”
