Gucci Announces Francesca Bellettini As Their New CEO

Gucci has announced Francesca Bellettini as its new Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Stefano Cantino after nine months in the role. The appointment was confirmed by French luxury group Kering on September 17, 2025.

Bellettini previously served as Deputy CEO for Brand Development at Kering since 2023, overseeing Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, and Bottega Veneta. Her earlier tenure as CEO of Saint Laurent is widely credited with strengthening the brand’s commercial performance.

This leadership change comes at a challenging time for Gucci, which has reported declining sales in recent quarters. The house remains central to Kering’s portfolio, accounting for a significant share of revenues, but has faced mounting investor concern over its slowdown.

The shake-up also reflects a broader restructuring within Kering under its new Group CEO Luca de Meo. The company has eliminated its deputy CEO roles, streamlining governance. Jean-Marc Duplaix, Bellettini’s fellow deputy, will remain as Chief Operating Officer.

With Bellettini at the helm, Gucci enters a new phase of leadership as it works to stabilise operations and regain momentum in the global luxury market.

Bellettini, who worked wonders at Saint Laurent, now inherits the unenviable task of making Gucci hot again. Her résumé is stacked- she’s gone from tailoring Saint Laurent into a billion-dollar quiet-luxury machine to overseeing a whole stable of Kering darlings. But as of September 17, she’s the official new CEO of Gucci, replacing Stefano Cantino, whose tenure lasted less than a TikTok trend cycle.

It’s part of a bigger closet clean-out at Kering, where new group CEO Luca de Meo is trying to stitch together a turnaround. He’s already eliminated the clunky “deputy CEO” layer in hopes of making decisions faster. The stakes? almost as huge as the new Gucci totes. The brand still accounts for nearly half of Kering’s revenues, but its sparkle has dimmed.

Remember when Alessandro Michele’s maximalist peacocks had everyone pawning their rent money for a Dionysus bag? That magic’s been missing. Investors, meanwhile, have been side-eyeing the brand harder than Anna Wintour at a polyester runway. Now it’s Bellettini’s turn on the catwalk of corporate fashion. Will Gucci’s slump continue, or will another reinvention continue?

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