Sabato De Sarno's Next Brand

On September 7, ICICLE named Sabato De Sarno as its new creative director. He will oversee the brand's overall creative direction, from women's and men's ready-to-wear to accessories and eyewear, with his first collection set to debut in the Fall/Winter 2027-28 season.

De Sarno left Gucci in February 2025. Since then, he has kept a relatively low profile at the forefront of fashion, curating "Insieme," an exhibition on craft and design, at Milan Design Week 2026. The most interesting part of this appointment is that the stage he chose for his return is ICICLE, a brand that started in China and is now expanding as far as Paris.

From Gucci to ICICLE

After working at Prada and Dolce & Gabbana, De Sarno joined Valentino in 2009 and rose to fashion director overseeing both men's and women's collections. In 2023, he was named creative director of Gucci, succeeding Alessandro Michele.

At Gucci, he distanced the house from its flamboyant, decorative previous era and proposed a more refined, minimal direction. However, Gucci's results deteriorated sharply at the time. Revenue fell 23% year over year in 2024, and De Sarno left the brand in February 2025. Of course, it's hard to see this as the result of design direction alone. A slowdown in the luxury market, including China, and Gucci's own brand transition were underway at the same time.

Interestingly, though, the refined minimalism that felt somewhat unfamiliar at Gucci appears, if anything, close to ICICLE's existing brand language.

What Kind of Brand Is ICICLE?

ICICLE is a brand founded in Shanghai in 1997 by Ye Shouzeng and Shawna Tao. Rooted in Eastern philosophy, it is defined by combining natural materials, refined craftsmanship, and calm, contemporary design. The brand has described this through its philosophy of "Made in Earth."

It's already far from small. It currently operates more than 200 stores and also has a boutique in Paris. Its global revenue in 2025 was reported to have exceeded €300 million, and it has sustained double-digit growth in recent years. In 2018, it acquired the French brand Carven, and both brands now sit under the ICCF group.

Another defining feature of ICICLE is its production structure. It runs a vertically integrated supply chain that produces about 90% of its products in its own facilities, and it has a creative structure that operates between Paris and Shanghai. In other words, it has a foundation that allows it to be directly involved not only in design but also in materials and production.

De Sarno Joins Five Months After Kering's Investment

What makes this appointment even more interesting is the connection to Kering.

In April, Kering made a minority investment in ICCF, ICICLE's parent company. The group said the investment would support ICICLE's international expansion and the development of new product categories. The plan is to combine Kering's understanding of the Chinese market, ICCF's local foundation, and Kering's European experience in brand management and craftsmanship. Then, about five months later, De Sarno, who once led Gucci, Kering's largest brand, joined ICICLE.

It can't be concluded that there's a direct causal link between the two decisions. However, the flow of a former Gucci creative director joining a Chinese brand whose global expansion Kering has begun to support aligns with the direction of ICICLE seeking to grow the brand's weight in international markets going forward. Vogue also noted that the appointment re-establishes, if only in a limited way, a connection between De Sarno and Kering.

Why ICICLE?

De Sarno himself also pointed to the brand's philosophy as the reason for his choice. He explained that he has long been interested not only in finished products but also in the origins of raw materials and the craftsmanship that gives them form, and that he felt a strong affinity between ICICLE's principles, which emphasize harmony between humans and nature, and his own creative philosophy.

This creates an interesting contrast with his Gucci days. If the refined, restrained design De Sarno showed at Gucci didn't generate enough commercial response alongside the house's existing image at the time, ICICLE has placed natural materials, minimalism, and quiet modernity at the center of the brand from the very beginning.

So rather than De Sarno's design language itself changing significantly, it may be more interesting to watch whether this move means he has found a brand closer to that language.

From Chinese Brand to Global Brand

ICICLE's challenge is also clear. It has already reached considerable scale in China, but its global expansion is still in progress. It has joined the official Paris Fashion Week calendar and operates a Paris store, while Kering's investment is also focused on international expansion and the development of new categories. The possibility of an ICCF IPO has also been reported, with some investors said to value the group at around €1 billion. However, an IPO is still under consideration.

Kering's investment → bringing in a former Gucci CD → first collection for Fall/Winter 2027-28.

Looking at this flow, ICICLE can be seen as having entered a stage of going beyond a local brand that sells well in China, seeking to reset its position in the international luxury and contemporary market.

💡 EDITORIAL SMALL TALK

The most interesting question raised by this appointment is, "Why did a former Gucci director go to a Chinese brand?" Just a few years ago, it would have been natural to expect another Paris or Milan house as the next destination for a designer leaving a major European house. But ICICLE has already built scale in China, owns Carven, and has even received investment from Kering. And now De Sarno has joined as well. This move can be read not only as a widening of designers' options, but also as a signal that the very place we call the "center" of global fashion is gradually shifting.