Alessandro Michele (Italian pronunciation:[miˈkɛːle]; born 25 November 1972) is an Italian fashion designer and creative director of Valentino.[1] He grew to international recognition as the creative director of Gucci, the Italian fashion luxury house where he worked from 2002 to 2022.[2] Known for his maximalist designs, Alessandro Michele revived Gucci's popularity, most notably with a Geek-Chic aesthetic. He had been responsible for all of Gucci's collections and global brand image[3] from January 2015 until he stepped down from the role in November 2022. [4]
Biography
Early life
Alessandro Michele grew up in Rome. His father was an Alitalia technician, and his mother an assistant to a movie executive.[5][6]
In the early 1990s, Michele completed his studies of fashion design at the Accademia di Costume e di Moda in Rome, where he learned to design both theatrical costumes and fashion wear.[7]
In 1994, Michele left Rome to work in Les Copains, an Italian knitwear firm based in Bologna. Three years later, he joined Silvia Venturini Fendi and Karl Lagerfeld at luxury house Fendi.[8][9] He worked with Frida Giannini and was appointed senior accessories designer, in charge of the brand's leather goods.[2][10]
In 2002, Tom Ford, Gucci's creative director from 1994 to 2004, invited Michele to work at the firm's London-based design office. He was originally in charge of the company's handbag designs.[11] In 2006, Michele was named senior designer of Gucci leather goods, and in 2011, was promoted associate creative director to Frida Giannini,[12] creative director of Gucci since 2005.[11] In 2014, the Italian designer also became creative director of Richard Ginori, the Florentine porcelain brand acquired by Gucci in June 2013.[13]
In April 2024, Michele became Valentino's creative director.[14][15]
Creative director of Gucci
In January 2015, Marco Bizzarri asked Michele to act as interim creative designer for the January menswear show, giving him a week to reshape Frida Giannini's original designs.[16] Michele accepted the challenge and introduced a “new Gucci: nonconformist, romantic, intellectual”.[17] Two days later, Kering appointed Alessandro Michele creative director of Gucci, with the goal to reinvent Gucci's props amid deflating sales.[18] A month later, Michele introduced a "sophisticated, intellectual and androgynous feel" for Gucci during his first women's collection show.[3]
A custom blue Gucci dress created by Alessandro Michele for Harry Styles was on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2022 for an exhibit called "Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear."
While creating iconic products, such as the Dionysus handbag,[19] Michele also reintroduced Gucci classics including the double-G logo.[20] He moved away from Tom Ford's "Sexy Gucci" props[21] and feminized Gucci's menswear ("you can be more masculine showing your femininity").[22] He reused the "My Body My Choice" slogan, the embroidered uterus design, and the "22.05.1978" date (the date on which abortion became protected by Italian courts),[23] transforming the brand into a postgender proposition.[24] He added a dramatic Renaissance component to Gucci's spirit,[25] replaced the modernist furniture of the Palazzo Alberini-Cicciaporci (Gucci's design headquarters in Rome) with antiques,[26] and chose buildings of historic significance for his theatrical shows.[27]
In 2016, for the Gucci Museum in Florence, Michele curated two additional rooms dedicated to Tom Ford's collections.[28] Since the 2018 opening of the Gucci Wooster Bookstore in New York, Michele seasonally contributes to the curation of the shop's items.[29] In October 2018, he co-curated with Maurizio Cattelan the 2-month Gucci art exhibition "The Artist is Present" in Shanghai.[30]
In 2019, Michele revived Gucci's Beauty collection,[31] and Gucci launched its first fine jewelry collection, which he designed.[32]
In March 2024, Michele was appointed as the creative director of Italian fashion house Valentino.[1] His appointment follows the departure of Pierpaolo Piccioli, who had worked at Valentino for 25 years.[33]
Work
Michele's father was also an avid artist who often took his son out to the museums. His family encouraged his interest in fashion at an early age. As a teenager, he read British magazines and was a fan of London's post-punk and New Romantic street style.[5][6] His designs have been described as eclectic, flamboyant and maximalist, almost psychedelic, and drawn from several influences that span from cinema and theatrics to post-punk, crochet and glamour.[34][35]
Michele refers to himself as an art archaeologist - historicist of garments - rather than a creative director, considering that clothes are meaningless without a historic context.[27] In his fashion Renaissance process, he explores how adornment and embellishment was used over the centuries, bringing a kaleidoscopic mix of times and cultures that resonates with Gilles Deleuze's idea of "assemblage".[36]
Personal life
Michele is gay. He lives in Rome with his longtime partner, professor of urban planning, Giovanni Attili.[37]
Prizes and awards
2015: International Fashion Designer Of The Year Award at the British Council Fashion Awards[38]
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