Gaelle Collet appointed brand and communications director

Alexander McQueen is reorganising. The Kering label has appointed a new chief brand and communications officer, Gaelle Collet. The Spanish-born manager will take up her post on May 15, reporting directly to CEO Gianfilippo Testa. She will be responsible for steering the brand’s strategy in terms of public relations, communications, image and marketing.

The appointment, revealed by WWD, has been confirmed by the British fashion house. It comes at a time when Alexander McQueen’s EMEA president, Julia Goddard, has recently left the company to take up a position at UK fashion retailer Harvey Nichols. Indeed, with the departure of Sarah Burton after 26 years with the company, fourteen of which she was in charge of style, Alexander McQueen is undergoing a transformation phase, marked by a radical change of style driven by its new creative director, the young Irish designer Seán McGirr, who arrived six months ago.

With this appointment, Alexander McQueen has enlisted the services of a leading luxury expert, Gaelle Collet, who has worked for some of the biggest names in the industry. After working as a consultant for the Spanish group Puig and then for Schiaparelli, she moved on to the communications department at Chanel and then Dior, where she held a number of different positions, from fashion communications manager for the Spanish subsidiary to director of special projects.

It was at the star house of the LVMH group that Gaelle Collet worked for Hedi Slimane, when he was in charge of Dior’s men’s collections from 2000 to 2007. She stayed by his side for a long time, first following the designer at Saint Laurent, then joining him in 2018 at Celine, first as director for public relations and press, then as global head of public relations, media and social networks.