18 Facts About Alessandro Michele

Alessandro Michele is an Italian fashion designer who most recently served as the creative director of Gucci, the Italian fashion luxury house where he had been working since 2002.

Alessandro Michele had been responsible for all of Gucci's collections and global brand image from January 2015 until he stepped down from the role in November 2022.

Alessandro Michele's father was an Alitalia technician, and his mother an assistant to a movie executive.

In 1994, Alessandro Michele left Rome to work in Les Copains, an Italian knitwear firm based in Bologna.

Alessandro Michele worked with Frida Giannini and was appointed senior accessories designer, in charge of the brand's leather goods.

Alessandro Michele was originally in charge of the company's handbag designs.

In 2006, Alessandro Michele was named senior designer of Gucci leather goods, and in 2011, he was promoted associate creative director to Frida Giannini, creative director of Gucci since 2005.

In January 2015, Marco Bizzarri asked Alessandro Michele to act as interim creative designer for the January menswear show, giving him a week to reshape Frida Giannini's original designs.

Alessandro Michele moved away from Tom Ford's "Sexy Gucci" props and feminized Gucci's menswear.

Alessandro Michele reused the "My Body My Choice" slogan, the embroidered uterus design, and the "22.05.1978" date, transforming the brand into a postgender proposition.

Alessandro Michele added a dramatic Renaissance component to Gucci's spirit, replaced the modernist furniture of the Palazzo Alberini-Cicciaporci with antiques, and chose buildings of historic significance for his theatrical shows.

In 2016, for the Gucci Museum in Florence, Alessandro Michele curated two additional rooms dedicated to Tom Ford's collections.

Since the 2018 opening of the Gucci Wooster Bookstore in New York, Alessandro Michele seasonally contributes to the curation of the shop's items.

In 2019, Alessandro Michele revived Gucci's Beauty collection, and Gucci launched its first fine jewelry collection, which he designed.

Alessandro Michele's father was an avid artist who often took his son out to the museums.

Alessandro Michele's family encouraged his interest in fashion at an early age.

Alessandro Michele's 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.

Alessandro 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.