Is Versace set to poach Riccardo Tisci from Givenchy?

London - Although 2016 can be seen as the year of the designer musical chair dance, it seems as if 2017 will be no different as sources claim Italian fashion house Versace is in the process of luring Riccardo Tisci away from Givenchy. In fact, Versace is said to be so serious about hiring Tisci that it has decided to postpone its impending initial public offering (IPO).

Versace said to be eyeing up Riccardo Tisci and postponing IPO as it plans for the future

Market sources claim that Versace has decided to hold off on going public, after announcing in 2014 that it aimed to go public sometime within the next three to five years, in order to focus on a new expansion plan, which includes Tisci as its new creative director, according to WWD. The two parties are said to have held a number of discussions over the last three months, but an exact out come of the talks has yet to emerge.

Riccardo Tisci is a long admirer of Gianni Versace’s legacy and maintains a close relationship with Donatella Versace - he even featured her in Givenchy’s fall/winter 2015 campaign. However, poaching Tisci from Givenchy will be no easy task for Versace, as he has been credited with reinventing the French’s fashion house image and breathing new life into its collection. The creative director is currently preparing for Givenchy’s Fall/Winter 2017 show this Friday during Paris Men’s Fashion Week and is the middle of expanding the fashion house’s currently product offering.

A spokesperson for Versace firmly denied any rumours that the company has postponed its IPO indefinitely Wednesday evening, stating that there was never “a specific timetable for that or any other financial event.” The spokesperson added that they did not have a particular target date, “thus nothing has been postponed.” However, in 2015 and 2016 former CEO Gian Giacomo Ferraris stressed the company was “seriously” preparing for its IPO, although he declined to outlined a timeline for the public listing.

Givenchy denied to commented on the rumours concerning Tisci talks with Versace, as the Italian company’s spokesperson stressed Donatella Versace’s role as the fashion house’s Creative Director. “At this time we do not have any plans to change that. Beyond that, of course, we do not comment on rumours.” The speculation comes as Versace’s CEO Jonathan Akeroyd calls off Atelier Versace’s upcoming couture show at Paris Couture week, citing an “excessive” number of shows, combined with increased publicity from its red carpet celebrity dressing as part of the reason.

Photo 1: By Markus Bernet (Own work) [CC BY-SA 2.5 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

Photo 2: By Celebrityabc,[CC BY-SA 2.5 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5),] via Flickr

Photo 3: By Renan Katayama (11 - Ricardo Tisci e Naomi Campbell) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons