Alessandro Michele is leaving his role as creative director of the Gucci, the fashion house announced Wednesday, bringing an end to an eight-year tenure that sharply redefined Gucci’s codes with romanticism and gender-fluidity, all the while powering revenues for the Kering parent.

Womenswear Daily reported Michele’s expected departure on Tuesday, citing sources that said Michele had failed to meet a request to “initiate a strong design shift,” and that the chairman of Gucci’s parent Kering, Francois-Henri Pinault, was looking for a change of pace.

No mention of such backroom moves was made in the statement announcing Michele’s departure, in which Gucci credited him with having played “a fundamental part in making the brand what it is today through his groundbreaking creativity.”

Michele cited “different perspectives” as the reason for his departure, without elaborating.

“Today an extraordinary journey ends for me, lasting more than 20 years, within a company to which I have tirelessly dedicated all my love and creative passion,” he said.

Michele was appointed creative director in January 2015, just days after he led a creative team that pulled together a menswear show in just five days, following the hasty exit of his predecessor. That collection announced Gucci’s new direction, with silken blouses for men featuring elaborate bows and ruffled necks along with fur-trimmed capes, as Michele redefined masculine dressing codes.