Caroline Deroche Pasquier has joined Versace as vice president for global communications, the Italian brand said in a statement Monday.
Most recently, the French executive worked for three years as global communications director of Bottega Veneta, the latest chapter in a starry career that has included stints at Coach, Stella McCartney, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton and Saint Laurent.
Deroche Pasquier is a longstanding fixture of the fashion industry: her mother was Yves Saint Laurent’s longtime press secretary, while her modelling credits include shots by Helmut Newton and Alasdair McLellan.
Deroche Pasquier will report to Georgina Scholtens-Day, who joined Versace as global vice president of marketing, communications, digital and customer journey last year.
The brand used the occasion of Deroche Pasquier’s appointment to formally announce a series of hires made in recent months as new chief executive Emmanuel Gintzberger recasts its senior leadership for its next chapter. In addition to the new marketing and communications chiefs, the brand has also quietly brought on new vice presidents for innovation and IT (Valeria Breda), digital and omnichannel (Giorgia Carastro), visual merchandising (Stefania Lacarenza) and brand transformation and strategy (Fabio Colacchio).
New regional presidents were also named in the past year, including for Versace Americas (Karis Durmer), EMEA (Julien Bertic), APAC (Sung Kun An) and Japan and Korea (Pasquale De Santis).
”I am extremely pleased that Versace has attracted these top-tier industry professionals to guide the brand in its next phase of growth and profitability. With these leadership changes, we will continue to drive the transformation strategy, elevating the brand with a consumer, creative and innovation-driven approach,” Gintzburger said.
Slowing luxury sales, particularly in Versace parent company Capri Holdings’ home market of the US, risk thwarting the brand’s ambitions to roughly double its revenues to $2 billion mid-term. After reporting record sales of $1.1 billion in the fiscal year ending April 2023, Versace’s sales dipped 8 percent to $539 million in the six months through September.
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