On Saturday, new Gucci creative director Sabato De Sarno offered a glimpse of his vision for the stalled Italian megabrand, posting an image from a high jewellery campaign starring model Daria Werbowy to his personal Instagram account.

The visual, shot by photographer David Sims and styled by Alastair McKimm, features Werbowy curled up next to the pool at Los Angeles’ Chateau Marmont hotel wearing oversized, gold statement earrings and subtly branded black bikini briefs.

Little had been heard from De Sarno since he was named successor to former Gucci designer Alessandro Michele in January. And with only weeks to go until his catwalk debut in Milan next month, some industry insiders were left scratching their heads.

The ad’s stripped-back aesthetic, along with the casting of Werbowy, who appeared in a 2004 campaign for Tom Ford’s Gucci and became the face of Phoebe Philo’s Céline before retiring in 2016, is in keeping with Gucci’s attempts to reinforce its high-end credentials as it works to transition from what parent company Kering has described as an era of fashion-driven “reinvention” to a new chapter of “sustainable elevation.”

Kering has faced mounting pressure over several years of underperformance at Gucci, which grew second-quarter sales a mere 1 percent.

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Marco Bizzarri led the Italian luxury giant through a historic expansion before the business struggled to bounce back from the pandemic. Parent company Kering announced the move as part of a broader executive shakeup after which Saint Laurent CEO Francesca Bellettini will oversee all the group’s brands.