TLL Staff
The luxury lingerie house La Perla Atelier has promoted its Chief Brand Officer Alessio Vannetti (pictured at right) to the position of CEO.
Vannetti will take up the role on Sept. 1, as part of owners Kristen and Peter Kern’s continued efforts to relaunch the brand. The Kerns, operating through Luxury Holdings LLC, acquired La Perla’s brand and its Bologna production facility in September 2025 following the company’s collapse, a deal that preserved more than 200 jobs.
La Perla has built its reputation over more than 70 years around Italian craftsmanship and femininity, and its new owners have said they aim to build on that legacy while positioning the brand for a more contemporary future.
Vannetti says he’s thrilled to take on the new role. He described La Perla as carrying “irreplaceable equity” tied to its factory, craftsmanship and cultural history, and said his priority from September would be translating that heritage into sustained commercial performance.
“La Perla is a unicum: a unique brand carrying genuine, irreplaceable equity, rooted in a factory, a craft, and a cultural authority that cannot be manufactured from scratch. From September, my focus will be on converting that heritage into consistent, contemporary performance,” Vannetti said.
Paolo Vannucchi, who has served as CEO since the Bologna Atelier reopened last December, will move into a strategic advisory position to support what the company described as an “orderly transition” through the end of the current financial year.
Analysis: Delay in Paramount/WBD Merger Creates Licensing Uncertainty
Vannetti brings more than two decades of experience in Italian luxury fashion. He held senior positions at Prada and Zegna before joining Gucci’s leadership team in 2015 under then-CEO Marco Bizzarri and creative director Alessandro Michele.
In 2020, he moved to Valentino as executive vice president and chief brand officer, working alongside creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli. He returned to Gucci in the same capacity three years later, remaining until the end of 2024. Most recently, he advised Barcelona-based eyewear brand Etnia Eyewear Culture and worked with Allemandi/Intesa Sanpaolo on the editorial and commercial redesign of Italian art publication Il Giornale dell’Arte.
Kristen and Peter Kern, La Perla’s principal shareholders, said they first met Vannetti earlier this year and were struck by his understanding of the brand’s potential. They said their goal is for La Perla to reclaim its position at the top of the lingerie category and establish itself as a distinctive presence within the broader luxury sector, adding that Vannetti’s background in craftsmanship, brand equity and commercial performance made him suited to lead the company’s next phase.
“With Alessio leading the business, together with the exceptional teams in Bologna and across the company, we are confident in the future of La Perla and in the next chapter we are building together,” the Kerns said.
The Kerns also credited Vannucchi with helping restore operational continuity, saying he played “a key role in restoring operational continuity following the acquisition.”