Moschino has announced that its creative director, Adrian Appiolaza, has exited the brand. The Argentinian designer has been at the helm of the Aeffe Group-owned brand for two and a half years. A successor will be confirmed in due course, according to the company.

“I would like to thank Adrian Appiolaza for his significant contribution to the development of Moschino over the past two years and wish him every success in his future professional endeavors,” Massimo Ferretti, executive chairman of Aeffe Group, said in a statement on Friday.

Appiolaza was appointed to the brand in January 2024 after David Renne, who was tapped to succeed Jeremy Scott following his own 10-year tenure at the helm, died suddenly at just 46 years old, only 10 days after assuming his role as creative director of Moschino. Appiolaza joined Moschino from Loewe, where he worked as the ready-to-wear design director for 10 years. Before that, he held stints at Chloé under Clare Waight Keller, Louis Vuitton under Marc Jacobs, and Miu Miu under Miuccia Prada herself.

“I was given a remarkable opportunity to express my creativity for an important Italian brand with an extraordinary creative heritage such as Moschino. I am grateful to Aeffe, and in particular to Massimo Ferretti, for this opportunity. I would also like to thank the entire creative team with whom I shared this intense experience,” Appiolaza said in the statement.

At Moschino, Appiolaza blended the excess and humor the brand is known for with smart tailoring and good clothes, in recent seasons blending lower-key accents (as low-key as Moschino can be) into collections steeped in irony, in a bid, one expects, to appeal to a broader range of customers. In a 2025 review, Nicole Phelps called this his “eccentric but real” equation for the brand.

Still, the brand has struggled in recent years under Aeffe Group, which also owns brands including Alberta Ferretti and Pollini, whose revenues were down 24.5% as of September 2025, the company confirmed in November 2025 upon postponing the publication and approval of its official results as part of a pre-bankruptcy filing. This was the last time the company reported earnings. Appiolaza’s exit comes amid a broader restructuring and follows the appointment of Riccardo Bagolin as general manager on June 3, who has been tasked with steering a turnaround for the Aeffe group alongside ​​chief restructuring officer Stefano Falliti.

Industry players are speculating that Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo, the founders of Milan-based brand Sunnei, will step into the creative director role, but the brand has not confirmed the reporting as yet.