Tom Ford and Domenico de Sole, the creative and financial forces behind the turnaround of Gucci said yesterday they would be leaving the company in the spring.
In a joint statement with Gucci's owners, the French retail giant Pinault Printemps-Redoute, the pair said they would resign on April 30 from the fashion house which they transformed in the last ten years from an ailing family business into the world's third biggest luxury goods group.
There is speculation in the industry that the pair are to take over the troubled house of Versace, but the Italian company has denied that, or that they may decide to set up a new label on their own.