MILAN — Marcelo Burlon is stepping down from his role as creative director of the County of Milan brand he founded in 2012.
The brand’s parent New Guards Group said in a statement that the County of Milan team will design the collections going forward.
The unexpected development comes as the fate of New Guards Group remains in doubt following the rescue of its owner, Farfetch, by Coupang. As reported, Style Capital is eyeing the acquisition of NGG but a deal has yet to materialize.
Burlon — a nightlife PR, DJ, stylist and designer — jumpstarted the brand as a T-shirt project, which rapidly evolved into a full-fledged fashion brand, with nods to crafts and Burlon’s Argentinean roots (the designer was born in the Patagonia region, specifically in El Bolsón), which he has reinterpreted through a techno-folk lens. In 2014 he was Pitti Uomo’s guest designer, cementing his reputation within the fashion system and the men’s arena.
In 2015, a few years after launching the label, Burlon formed an alliance with Davide De Giglio and Claudio Antonioli to establish the Milan-based New Guards Group, which was sold to Farfetch two years later.
The designer remained in the creative director’s role after the acquisition and marked the brand’s 10th anniversary in 2022 with a big show during Milan Fashion Week at the Velodromo Vigorelli venue featuring a giant satellite in the middle of the track field and a cast of 50 friends of the house.
Marcelo Burlon County of Milan men’s spring 2023
Giovanni Giannoni/WWD
In recent years Burlon has nurtured side projects. In 2021, he set up his own foundation, Fondazione Marcelo Burlon, to help disadvantaged people and marginalized communities, for example, making a donation to Tuscany-based Casa Marcella, a house for transgender people, and helping to offer a shelter to Ukrainian refugees in Milan.
As reported, he is also among the supporters and backers of Morphine.Online, a secondhand and vintage venture established in 2018 by editor and art director Macs Iotti, his sister Martina and fashion designer Tommaso Vaiani.
Burlon now lives between Ibiza — where his house surrounded by olive trees is an art oasis featuring artworks from Keith Haring, Damien Hirst and Stefan Brüggemann, among others — and his native Patagonia, occasionally coming to Milan.
He has also invested in a Mezcal brand and padel club in Patagonia.
New Guards Group is home to 10 international brands, which include Palm Angels, Unravel Project, Heron Preston, Alanui, Peggy Gou, Ambush and There Was One, in addition to Marcelo Burlon County of Milan. It is also the licensee of Off-White and is the European partner of Reebok. LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton in 2021 bought a majority stake in Off-White LLC, the trademark owner of the late Virgil Abloh’s Off-White brand.