Without denying, all of us know Gucci thanks to 3 people: Guccio Gucci, Aldo Gucci and Alessandro Michele. The first one has gifted us with the brand, the second has established a brand identity by setting an easily recognisable logo and the last one has fully become Gucci himself.
The success of Gucci’s last years mostly lies in the hands of Alessandro Michele. Tens of billions of dollars made for Kering (the French luxury conglomerate that also owns Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, among other brands) are the result of his design, strategy and sensibility towards Gucci. All those freaky-geeky, beardy-flowery aestetics covers with the voice of Harry Styles are also credited to Alessandro. But on the 23d of September it appeared that Alessandro Michele, who had been a creative director of Gucci for more than 7 years, left the brand. What did he enrich us with and what will we lose?
Although he had been a creative director for only 7 years, it was even earlier when Alessandro became a part of the House of Gucci. He joined the brand in 2002 as an accessories designer. Later, he became associate creative director to Frida Giannini (she was the creative director of the house of Gucci from 2005 to 2014). As soon as the incomes under her ruling became lower, the head department came up with an initiative to switch the leader. The new era was launched.
A Brave new world of Gucci has been commemorated with the establishment of Alessandro Michele. He managed to stay in the first row of trendsetting without losing the brand’s DNA and heritage — that is what made his existence in Gucci so special. According to Vogue, it was a “new Gucci: nonconformist, romantic, intellectual”.
Earl Cave with Jan Baiboon in a Gucci gown.
Yet he was a master with a solid love towards the past of Gucci, he had made up new items in his uniquely expressive manner. Together with the very new pieces such as the iconic red shirts with a bow and flowered suits he brought back the intellectual chic which had been so long ignored by Tom Ford. Michele plays his Gucci-game with an ardent passion for bold decisions. Gucci with Alessandro became more understandable and various at the same time.
«I always try to translate the beauty of the brand in a different language »
— Alessandro Michele
It was he who reinvented Gucci by adding totally new motives. Being a 70-s lover, he explores and exploits this hippie and glam-rock ways of self-expression. As an Italian-born creator, Alessandro transfers Gucci to the world of Ancient Rome and fantasy gardens. He comes into a fortune of his own and the brand’s motherland, and that is why his collections are full of Italian passion, beauty and pageantry.
«Old things make me feel really contemporary. It’s all about that kind of contradiction between the past and the future. It’s my way to work»
— Alessandro Michele
Alessandro Michele paves the way to the camp — a grotesque, mad and almost senseless aesthetic movement. This eccentric manner is achieved by the combination of “uncombinable”: sporty pants and high heels, silk skirts and jeans, flowery and checked prints.
«The stranger you’re, the more beautiful you are»
Alessandro Michele had a point of view, and it changed not just how people dressed, but the whole trajectory of fashion. By saying that I mean that the absence of Michele in Gucci might really lead us to the gap in the whole world of high and mass fashion. He was fully into Gucci. He was Gucci.
«It’s not work. It’s my life. It’s like a Love affair. It’s like a religion»
— Alessandro Michele
