Swiss luxury brand Bally has named Simone Bellotti as its new design director, following the shock departure of recently appointed design head, Rhuigi Villaseñor.
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Bellotti, who spent 16 years at Gucci before joining Bally’s design team in October, succeeds Villaseñor who left the house in May, less than two years after joining Bally in the top design role.
At Gucci, Bellotti held various positions, including senior menswear designer. Most recently, he served as head of men’s ready-to-wear at the Italian luxury marque. Prior to joining Gucci in 2007, Bellotti worked as a senior menswear designer at Dolce and Gabbana, Bottega Venetta and Gianfranco Ferré.
In his new role, Bellotti will take charge of Bally’s design studio, with the JAB Holdings-owned house describing the designer as having “a deep understanding of both ready-to-wear tailoring and accessories craftsmanship.”
“Simone’s passion and appreciation for Bally’s heritage, coupled with his extensive industry experience, will enable us to continue to execute on our vision of creating timeless and elegant products that uphold our legacy of craft and stand the test of time,” said Bally CEO, Nicolas Girotto.
Bellotti will present his first collection for Bally during Milan Fashion Week in September.
“It is a great honour to be appointed Bally’s design director and trusted with contributing to Bally’s extraordinary legacy,” Bellotti said in a statement.
Bellotti’s appointment comes just two weeks after, Villaseño, the Filipino-American designer, who founded menswear brand Rhude, exited Bally unexpectedly. At the time, his appointment at Bally was a surprising one, given his lack of career experience in designing for women. Under his helm, however, Bally returned to the catwalk after more than 20 years, and released two modern collections for women.
In March, Bally also announced a high-profile collaboration with Oscar-winning actor and artist Adrien Brody, which will see the star make his debut as a designer, creating a series of standalone capsules for the label, to be launched by the end of 2023.