Fashion Wire Daily - Paris - Pollini, the colorful Italian accessories and fashion label, has hired the hot Scottish talent Jonathan Saunders to be its new creative director.
Saunders, whose shows in London, and most recently in New York are avidly followed events, succeeds Turkish designer Rifat Ozbek, who completed a four-year contract with Pollini with his fall collection staged this February in Milan.
Pollini added that it had also brought on board Nicholas Kirkwood to head up accessories division.
The new Saunders and Kirkwood duo will present their first ideas for Pollini with a spring 2009 collection to be show in Milan this coming September.
"Jonathan Saunders is an internationally recognized talent who will surely emphasize the extraordinary potential of Pollini with excitement, consistency and vitality thanks to his powerful creativity and contemporary vision on fashion," said Aeffe chairman Massimo Ferretti in a statement.
Pollini is a key division of Aeffe, the Italian fashion conglomerate controlled by siblings Massimo and Alberta Ferretti, which was quoted on the Milan Borsa last July. Aeffe controls the following labels; Alberta Ferretti, Philosophy by Alberta Ferretti and various Moschino lines as well as producing collections for Jean Paul Gaultier. Pollini accounted for some 18 percent of Aeffe's revenues in 2007, with 52 million euros, or $81 million, in sales.
Saunders is a graduate of the Glasgow School of Art, site of the world’s most famous modern library by architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, as well as having an MA in printed textiles from Central St Martins, the London college that has been the greatest conveyor belt of design talent to fashion in the past two decades.
Kirkwood is a noted UK shoe designer who also counts Central St Martins as his alma mater. His own signature line, launched in 2005, is well known for its structural sleekness.
"Nicholas Kirkwood has a vision for shoes which is creative and innovative as well as faithful to tradition and quality. This echoes perfectly Pollini’s core values," added Ferretti.
It turns out that Saunders had already started working for Pollini, choosing Craig McDean and design duo M/M to produce the fall 2008 Pollini ad campaign.
Both Saunders and Kirkwood will continue with their day jobs of producing their own lines, so expect lots and lots of commuting to northern Italy.
