It's Not Me, It's You - Facchinetti Sacked From Valentino Via the Media

The farewell catchprase to see-off failed designers on the UK's Project Catwalk is "Fashion has no mercy." Alessandra Facchinetti would be inclined to agree. The creative director of Valentino, who took over for the man himself when he retired last year, found out she'd been sacked from stories in the media announcing her replacements. At the helm now is Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, the team behind the successful accessories branch of the brand.

Vogue.co.uk reports that Facchinetti wrote in a public email after the show "It was with deep regret that I learnt from the press that I would no longer be working with Valentino.

"This news came as a great surprise since the company's top management has not yet seen fit to inform me. I would like to thank Valentino s.p.a. for showing their appreciation of my 'creative contribution and my sophisticated talent' although I deeply regret the fact that this talent and contribution do not seem to have been adequately acknowledged."

Valentino himself publicly welcomed the duo with whom he has worked closely with for years, and even got in a dig at Fracchinetti, saying "There is an existing archive with thousands of dresses where they (Chiuri and Piccioli) can draw and take inspiration from to create a Valentino product that is relevant today. It is a shame that their predecessor didn't feel this need."

As if things didn't sting enough. Yet, her third and last collection, just shown at Paris fashion week, garnered fairly positive reviews from the fashion editors who acknowledged the strengths along with the relatively minor weaknesses, weighing the output against the huge task of maintaining the essence of the Valentino brand while taking it forward. There seems to be consensus that she was headed in the right direction, and that in time she'd get it right.

Here's a look at a few dresses from the show: