Domenico De Sole

Tom Ford, the American designer who helped create a new, younger generation of high-fashion customers, on Tuesday confirmed what he'd long been hinting: He will step down as designer of the Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent brands on April 30. He will also resign his post as creative director of Gucci Group. Domenico De Sole, the managerial whiz behind the fashion powerhouse, will also depart.

Tom Ford, the American designer who helped create a new, younger generation of high-fashion customers, on Tuesday confirmed what he'd long been hinting: He will step down as designer of the Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent brands on April 30. He will also resign his post as creative director of Gucci Group. Domenico De Sole, the managerial whiz behind the fashion powerhouse, will also depart.

Ending months of speculation, a successor has been named for Domenico De Sole, Gucci Group's chief executive and president and the financial whiz who helped designer Tom Ford build the company into a $3-billion powerhouse over the last 13 years. Robert Polet, a 48-year-old Dutch national, will join the firm after 26 years at Unilever, most recently as president of the worldwide ice cream and frozen foods division, a $7.

Gucci America Inc. paid $20.5 million in back taxes to the U.S. government Thursday after pleading guilty to income tax evasion conspiracy from 1972 through 1982. In a plea bargain with federal prosecutors, the New York-based retailer of expensive leather goods and other luxury items also pleaded guilty to filing false corporate tax returns for 1978 and 1979. U.S. District Judge Shirley Wohl Kram immediately fined Gucci America, formerly known as Gucci Shops Inc.

When last heard from, Tom Ford was serving as guest editor of Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood issue and putting himself, Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley on the magazine's cover (he with clothes on, they without). Now word's out on his next venture: The former Gucci designer will launch a line of ready-to-wear and custom clothing, footwear and accessories for men under the Tom Ford label.

Italian fashion house Gucci emerged victorious Thursday from a months-long takeover battle after a Dutch court approved a key defense against French rival LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. In a pivotal ruling in the bitter feud, the Amsterdam court approved Gucci's sale of a 42% stake to white knight Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, making a takeover by LVMH unlikely.

French retailer Pinault-Printemps-Redoute agreed Monday to pay LVMH $806 million for control of Gucci Group, ending a 2 1/2-year battle for the company known for its figure-hugging clothes and leather handbags designed by Tom Ford. Pinault-Printemps will buy some of LVMH's stake, boosting its holding in the third-biggest fashion company to 53%. It agreed to offer $101.50 a share for the rest of Gucci, which sells handbags for more than $4,000, in March 2004.

It was a send-off worthy of a rock star. When Tom Ford presented his final collection for Gucci on Wednesday night, everyone was a groupie, embracing him after the show in what turned into a kind of congratulatory mosh pit. There were tears and goodbye kisses, and some people even held cameras over their heads to snap photos of one of fashion's last superstars.

About 80 designers will show their ready-to-wear women's collections for summer 2000 starting in Milan today, but the flood of mergers and acquisitions shaking up the business is likely to steal the show. Italian companies are on the prowl for purchases to build up their stables of brands as the wave of consolidation sweeping other global business sectors also hits the fashion world.

Italian fashion house Gucci Group, fighting a hostile bid by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, agreed Friday to sell a 40% equity stake to French premier retailer Pinault-Printemps-Redoute for $3 billion. In announcing the deal, Pinault also said an affiliate would buy French drug group Sanofi's beauty and fashion unit for $1 billion and then sell it to Gucci at cost.

Gucci, one of the biggest names in designer retailing, is finally coming to Orange County. About 33 years after entering the U.S. market, Gucci Shops Inc. of New York is scheduled to open a full-line store at South Coast Plaza on Nov. 1--a prelude to the peak Christmas shopping season. The flashy, high-fashion accessory store will be about half the size of Gucci's Rodeo Drive shop but will carry virtually the same merchandise, from leather handbags to designer sunglasses.