Giving Dynasty a run for its money, the past couple of days have been drama-fuelled over at Valentino.

Almost immediately after Alessandra Facchinetti presented her second ready-to-wear collection for the fashion house on Friday rumours began circulating that the Italian designer’s days were numbered.

Reports now confirm that accessory designers at Valentino Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, will take over from Facchinetti. Why? Poor sales and an alienation of the traditional Valentino clientele are being cited as reasons for Facchinetti’s immediate dismissal.

Commenting on her successors Valentino said,

They (Chiuri and Piccioli) always demonstrated an enormous respect and love for my work. There is an existing archive with thousands of dresses from which they can draw and take inspiration to create a Valentino product that is relevant today. It is a shame their predecessor didn’t feel this need.

Judging from Valentino’s comments all has not been well between Facchinetti and the fashion house. Giancarlo Giammetti (Valentino’s business partner) backed up Valentino’s sentiments saying the reshuffle was a wise decision and added,

Valentino’s style is very strong and recognisable which can only be taken forward, with necessary updating, by those who love it, respect it and above all know it perfectly.

Sadly for Facchinetti this is a classic case of history repeating itself. Gucci also replaced Facchinetti after two seasons with an in-house accessory designer. Strange…

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