Alessandro Michele is leaving Gucci after 20 years. Michele who recently killed it at Milan Fashion Week with his SS23 show Twinsburg joined the brand in 2002 per invitation of Tom Ford. Let’s take a quick look into Michele’s fashion trajectory so far.
Italian Roots
Alessandro Michele, who’s born in 1972, grew up in Rome. His father was a technician at the Italian airline Alitalia. His mother was the assistant of a movie executive and an identical twin. It was his mother who inspired his latest Spring Summer 2023 show, Gucci Twinsburg. Check out my blog post “Neutrals and Rock & Roll in London & Milan” to read more about the show.
Getting started in Fashion
Graduated from The Accademia di Costume e di Moda in Rome, Michele starts his career in 1994 with Les Copains, an Italian based knitwear company. Three years later he joins Fendi where he gets to work with Silvia Fenturini Fendi and Karl Lagerfeld.
His time at Gucci
It is Tom Ford who eventually invites Michele to join Gucci at its London based Design Office. Where he’s appointed Senior Designer of Gucci Leather Goods in 2006 before being promoted to Associate Creative Director to Frida Giannini in 2011.
When Giannini left the brand in 2015, then CEO Marco Bizzarri challenged Michele to design and present the House’s AW menswear show in 5 days. The show was a hit and two days later Gucci appointed Michele as Creative Director. Since his appointment Michele re-energised the brand contributing to both Gucci and Kering’s, the brand’s parent company, fortune.
However, recently the House recorded sluggish growth compared to other brands in the Kering wallet. The turnaround plan announced by François-Henri Pinault lies most likely at the basis of Michele’s recent departure of the brand.
Michele’s Gender Fluid Style
His initial show for Gucci was ground-breaking because of the gender fluid style Michele brought to the catwalk. By dressing men in a pussy-bow blouse he kick started a genderless revolution. A new way of fashion that brought traditional female design characteristics into menswear and vice versa. Michele himself does not like to think in gender tags and boxes which was very refreshing at the time.
His collaborations with celebrities such as Harry Styles and Jared Leto have allowed him to bring that idea to the mainstream. When he thinks of beauty it is not an idea that belongs to men or women. That’s why he can cross those lines. Michele strongly believes one can be more masculine by showing one’s femininity.
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In 2015 he started a genderless revolution through his first show for Gucci menswear, seven years later Alessandro Michele is leaving the brand.
