Who will take the creative reigns at Gucci?

As Gucci announced it was saying goodbye to its chief executive officer and creative director, the fashion world is gearing up for another luxury brand shake-up.

Patrizio di Marco and Frida Giannini, both colleagues and a couple in real life, are to be replaced at the Florentine fashion house. Rumours of a shake-up have been circulating since last summer, when reports of the brand becoming stale began to emerge.

In October, Gucci reported another weak quarter of growth in four years despite a much-trailed relaunch of its high-margin leather goods business.

Gucci sales fell to 851 million euros between July and the end of September, a 1.9 percent drop compared with the same period a year ago.

Luca Solca, managing director at Exane BNP Paribas, said Gucci would survive the departures because “it is the nature of the business that managers go and brands remain”.

While the new executive officer has already been named, Giannini's successor has yet to be announced. According to WWD, rumours are circulating that Givenchy’s creative director, Riccardo Tisci, is in the running. The publication also names Joseph Altuzarra.

In September Altuzarra sat front row at the Gucci show, and the brand’s parent company, Kering, took a stake in the designer’s fashion house in 2013.

Giannini's final show will be Gucci's AW15 collection in Milan in February.