Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo take the helm at Moschino with immediate effect, two days after the departure of Adrian Appiolaza. Their debut collection will show in September 2026 at Milan Fashion Week.
Moschino has appointed Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo as Co-Creative Directors, effective immediately, succeeding Adrian Appiolaza, who departed the role on 19 June after two years. The announcement came two days after Appiolaza’s exit, making it one of the swiftest creative transitions in recent memory.
Messina and Rizzo co-founded Milan label Sunnei in 2014 and exited in September 2025, staging their final show as a mock auction before announcing their departure hours later. During their tenure, Sunnei became known for unconventional runway formats, models crowd-surfing, guests rating looks in real time, as well as a design vocabulary built around denim, striped T-shirts, and cocooning silhouettes.
In a joint statement, the pair described Moschino as “a cultural maison guided by a strong, recognisable and radical vision, using pop as a critical tool rather than as a mere aesthetic.” Massimo Ferretti, Executive Chairman of parent group Aeffe, said the appointment reflected the need to balance identity and innovation, citing the pair’s contemporary creative vision and cultural sensibility.
Franco Moschino founded the house in 1983 on a premise of fashion as social critique and satire. Sustaining that premise is the central challenge for any successor. Messina and Rizzo’s track record at Sunnei suggests familiarity with an ideas-led approach, though translating it to an established house of this scale is a different proposition entirely.
The appointment comes as Aeffe undergoes a broader corporate restructuring, having received a takeover offer from Oxy Capital and navigating a negotiated composition of a business crisis. Against that backdrop, securing a creative appointment of this profile is a signal of intent. Messina and Rizzo’s debut will be among the most watched shows on the Milan Fashion Week September 2026 calendar.