Adrián Appiolaza, a 51-year-old Argentine, assumes the role of Moschino’s new Creative Director, succeeding Davide Renne following his sudden passing.
Moschino announced today that Argentine-born Adrian Appiolaza is their new Creative Director. The highly respected 51-year-old Argentine designer recently relocated from Paris to Milan to refine the inaugural collection set to debut later this month under his direction. Appiolaza’s appointment at Moschino follows in the footsteps of Italian designer Davide Renne, who tragically passed away in November, just 10 days after assuming the role.
Massimo Ferretti, CEO of Aeffe Group, Moschino’s parent company, stated in a press release: “Adrian brings with him a wealth of unique experience, creativity, and knowledge of fashion history that will be pivotal in penning a wonderful new chapter in the brand’s journey founded by Franco Moschino.”
In the same statement, Appiolaza added: “I am deeply grateful to Massimo Ferretti for allowing me to enter the world of Moschino and a house whose walls exude a history I am eager to explore. I am ready to take the maison into a new chapter, with a theatrical touch, in pure Moschino style.”
Appiolaza has long been considered for a leadership role after a varied and distinguished career under various creative umbrellas. His most recent position was at Loewe, where he served as Director of Prêt-à-Porter Design for 10 years. Prior to that, he worked under Clare Waight Keller for two years during her underrated tenure at Chloé, following stints under Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton and Miuccia Prada at Miu Miu, which he joined in 2006.
“It was Phoebe Philo who changed the course of my career,” Appiolaza added in a note. While working as a junior designer at Alexander McQueen and Miguel Adrover in the early 2000s, Appiolaza was also enrolled at Central Saint Martins. He added, “She saw the collection I graduated with and invited me to join her at Chloé in 2002.” When Philo was on maternity leave in 2005, Appiolaza was part of the design team that received acclaim after the presentation of that year’s fall collection. He returned to the runway a year later, following Philo’s departure, and shortly before his move to Miu Miu.
Born in 1972, Appiolaza claims to have spent much of his childhood and adolescence in his grandmother’s tailoring shop. It was his obsession with music, not fashion, that inspired him to leave home and move to the UK. He said, “During the years when Manchester’s music scene was thriving, it pushed me to imagine another seemingly distant universe where I could express myself like never before.”
In addition to his successful career in fashion design, Appiolaza is also a renowned collector of other designers’ work. His first obsession was Comme des Garçons, but his archive holds many rare pieces from designers like Yohji Yamamoto, Jean Paul Gaultier, Martin Margiela, Vivienne Westwood, and Issey Miyake. In his message, he added: “Franco Moschino has always been among them. Having access today to these memories, walking through these halls brimming with history waiting to be heard, touching garments I had only seen in magazines, has been invaluable and will serve as a compass on the journey I have just begun.”
The first milestone of that journey will be reached on February 22nd. One of the challenges Appiolaza faces along the way is that, unlike his former employers at LVMH and Richemont Group, Aeffe is a relatively small ship that must be operated tightly to stay afloat. However, for a designer so immersed in the transformative potential of innovation through design, that factor could be both a help and a hindrance.
-380x380.webp)
-380x380.webp)
