Almost ten days after taking office, the new artistic director of the Italian fashion and luxury brand Moschino, Davide Renne, died on Friday at the age of 46, the fashion house announced.
The Tuscan-born designer, who had twenty years of experience designing women’s collections at Gucci before joining Moschino, died in Milan as a result of a “sudden illness,” Moschino said in a statement.
Renne, who has overseen Moschino’s women’s, men’s and accessories collections since November 1, was scheduled to present his first collection for the house at Milan Fashion Week in February.
“There are no words to describe our pain,” responded Massimo Ferretti, head of Gruppo Aeffe, Moschino’s parent company.
“With Davide we worked on an ambitious project, in an atmosphere of enthusiasm and optimism for the future,” he said in a statement.
“Although he only stayed with us for a short time, Davide immediately managed to gain love and respect. Today we have the responsibility to pursue what his imagination and creativity had only aspired to,” he added.
Renne was appointed in October to succeed American designer Jeremy Scott, who stepped down earlier this year after a decade as the brand’s artistic director.