Los Angeles-based Alo brand named Benedetta Petruzzo as international chief executive officer [CEO], effective Saturday.

In a head-spinning twirl from CEO of Miu Miu to managing director of Christian Dior Couture in October 2024 to her new assignment at Alo, the highly-qualified Petruzzo leaves Dior at an interesting moment.

No speculation on AOC is allowed, although we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about ‘New Dior’ in recent weeks.

"We believe the future of luxury is wellness -- and we're building a global ecosystem around that belief," said Alo co-founder Danny Harris, who remains as co-CEO with fellow co-founder and co-CEO Marco DeGeorge.

"Benedetta's luxury expertise, strategic rigor, and feel for brand energy will help us take Alo's momentum to the next level. She understands how to build desire at the highest end of the market while staying true to a brand's DNA, which is exactly what this next chapter of Alo requires."

Supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is featured in this new Alo [IG] campaign, lensed by Marie Schmidt [IG].

An obvious question to ask was if Rosie or her shared-partners, wellness-focused, branding and investment company The Equity Studio — founded by investor Anna Sweeting — was also an investor in Alo.

The response was negative, that Danny Harris and Marco DeGeorge are the sole owners. As we said, it’s an interesting moment for Benedetta to leave Dior for an even better opportunity. She is given the lion’s share of credit for Prada-owned Miu Miu’s raging success in recent years.

In her interview with WWD, Petruzzo said that accepting the Alo job “was natural — this was love at first sight.”

A fortuitous meeting with Harris sparked a mutual connection. "In our conversation, I was impressed by the pureness and authenticity of the idea behind this company," said Petruzzo.

"I wasn't actively looking for a new job, and this wasn't a case of an analytic choice. Even though I'm a person of numbers, I take the most important decisions with the heart and the guts," she continued. "There was a strong connection I didn't wanted to ignore, maybe because I'm turning 40 and I want to be more and more intentional in what I do. I believe in the identity of this brand and what it stands for."

That’s quite an embrace of Alo’s values and an exciting time for this American brand. ~ Anne