HED 2: Moschino Taps Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo As Its Next Creative Directors
HED 3: Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo Are Moschino’s Next Creative Directors
Moschino is about to enter a brand-new era. The Italian label has just named Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo as its new co-creative directors, according to Vogue. In their role, the pair will lead Moschino’s brand vision and design teams across the Italian label’s various collections, including womenswear and menswear. Previously, the position was held by Adrian Appiolaza, who left the brand days before their appointment.
Both Messina and Rizzo have the design backgrounds to support their new jobs at Moschino. The duo previously founded the beloved independent label Sunnei in 2014, known for its colorful and playfully subversive designs. In 2020, the pair sold the brand’s majority stake to Vanguards Group for €6 million (approximately $6.86 million USD), later stepping down from the label before its liquidation last year.
Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo.Alessandro Rota/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty ImagesSunnei’s fall 2025 show at Milan Fashion Week.WWD/WWD/Getty Images
Indeed, they also continue a recent grand tradition of appointing independent fashion designers to the top role at Moschino. Appiolaza held the role at the iconic Italian brand since early 2024, following the sudden death of Davide Renne nine days after he was appointed its creative director the November prior. With a stacked resume designing for Chloé, Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton, and Loewe, Appiolaza brought a reverence for theatrical design and Moschino’s own history to his collections. This also resulted in viral pieces like the label’s spaghetti and pizza slice clutches, as well as its buckled Tie Me handbag line.
Moschino’s fall 2026 show at Milan Fashion Week.Ferda Demir/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
Before Renne and Appiolaza, Moschino faced a true fashion success story under the leadership of Jeremy Scott. Known beforehand for his own namesake brand’s bold collections and longtime Adidas collaboration, Scott was appointed as Moschino’s creative director in October 2013. During his tenure, the label massively resurged with a renewed focus on whimsy and play, seen in cartoon-like collections themed around Barbie, the circus, fast food, astronauts, game shows, and even the reign of Marie Antoinette.
Messina and Rizzo’s sense of humor is certainly one that aligns with Moschino. It’s also another fitting entry to the current mid-2020’s designer shuffle, which has also seen Henry Zankov rejoin Diane von Furstenberg and Grace Wales Bonner move to Hermès as creative director of menswear. One thing’s for sure: Messina and Rizzo certainly have big shoes to fill before their first Moschino collection hits the runway in September.
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