Alessandro Michele Explained

Alessandro Michele
Image Upright:0.4
Birth Date:25 November 1972
Birth Place:Rome, Italy
Partner:Giovanni Attili
Occupation:Fashion designer
Years Active:1994–present
Creative director of Valentino

Alessandro Michele (pronounced as /it/; 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, Alessandro 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]

Career

In 1994, Alessandro 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.[10]

In 2002, Tom Ford, Gucci's creative director from 1994 to 2004, invited Alessandro 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, Alessandro Michele was named senior designer of Gucci leather goods, and in 2011, he was promoted associate creative director to Frida Giannini,[12] creative director of Gucci since 2005. 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, Alessandro Michele becomes Valentino's creative director.[14] [15]

Creative director of Gucci

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.[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.While creating iconic products, such as the Dionysus handbag,[19] Alessandro 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, Alessandro 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, Alessandro Michele revived Gucci's Beauty collection,[31] and Gucci launched its first fine jewelry collection, which he designed.[32]

In March 2024, Alessandro Michele was appointed as the creative director of Italian fashion house Valentino. His appointment follows the departure of Pierpaolo Piccioli, who had worked at Valentino for 25 years.[33]

Work

Alessandro 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. 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]

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. 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 openly gay. He lives in Rome with his longtime partner, professor of urban planning, Giovanni Attili.[37]

Prizes and awards

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Zargani . Luisa . 2024-03-28 . Valentino Confirms Alessandro Michele as Creative Director . 2024-03-28 . WWD . en-US.
  2. Web site: Zargani. Luisa. Foley. Bridget. 21 January 2015. Gucci Confirms Alessandro Michele as Creative Director. 2020-07-19. WWD. en.
  3. News: Mesco. Manuela. 25 February 2015. Fashion Executive Sets About Fixing Gucci. en-US. Wall Street Journal. 2020-07-19. 0099-9660.
  4. Web site: Paton . Elizabeth . Major Gucci Shake-Up as Designer Steps Down . nytimes.com . New York Times . 23 November 2022.
  5. Book: Polan. Brenda. The great fashion designers. Tredre. Roger. Bloomsbury Publishing. 2020. 978-1-350-09161-0. Second. London. 1132342390.
  6. Mead. Rebecca. 12 September 2016. Gucci's Renaissance Man. 2020-07-19. The New Yorker. en-us.
  7. Web site: Alessandro Michele. 2020-07-19. The Business of Fashion. en-GB.
  8. Web site: Bowles. Hamish. June 23, 2015. Inside the House of Gucci: Meet the New Creative Director. 2020-07-19. Vogue. en-us.
  9. News: Armstrong. Lisa. February 20, 2019. 'Being with him was like being with a very clever 14-year-old': Gucci's Alessandro Michele pays tribute to Karl Lagerfeld. en-GB. The Telegraph. 2020-07-19. 0307-1235.
  10. Web site: Piskorz. Juliana. May 3, 2019. Met Gala 2019: Everything you need to know about Alessandro Michele. 2020-07-19. Evening Standard. en.
  11. Web site: Frankel. Susannah. February 15, 2018. "People Need Reality" Alessandro Michele on his Gucci. 2020-07-19. AnOther. en.
  12. Web site: Gucci: A Renaissance Brought to Life by Alessandro Michele. Volupt Art. 17 November 2018 .
  13. Web site: January 21, 2015. So, Who is Alessandro Michele?. 2020-07-19. The Fashion Law. en-US. 2020-07-19. https://web.archive.org/web/20200719045659/https://www.thefashionlaw.com/so-who-is-alessandro-michele/. dead.
  14. Web site: Alessandro Michele est nommé directeur artistique de Valentino . 1 April 2024 . Vogue.
  15. Web site: Valentino: Alessandro Michele est nommé directeur créatif . 1 April 2024 . Fashion Network.
  16. Web site: Amed. Imran. 2015-09-22. Reinventing Gucci. 2020-07-19. The Business of Fashion. en-GB.
  17. Tim Blanks, Fall 2015 menswear Gucci, Vogue, 19 January jj2015
  18. News: Marriott. Hannah. 21 January 2015. Gucci names accessories chief Alessandro Michele as creative director. en-GB. The Guardian. 2020-07-19. 0261-3077.
  19. Web site: July 26, 2017. The Dionysus Bag: An Icon For a New Century. Icon-icon.com.
  20. Sarah Royce-Greensill, Gucci's Alessandro Michele and the rebirth of the logo, The Telegraph, 10 May 2016
  21. Michael Erbert, Sven Michaelsen, The Book of Gucci According to Alessandro Michele, 032c, 10 September 2018
  22. Web site: Yotka. Steff. 29 January 2020. Alessandro Michele And Fashion's Genderless Revolution. 2020-07-19. GQ. en.
  23. Web site: Brara. Noor. 30 May 2019. Gucci's Alessandro Michele Took a Stand in Favor of a Woman's Right to Choose in His New Show at Rome's Capitoline Museums. 2020-07-19. Artnet. en-US.
  24. Web site: Murray. Georgia. 19 February 2020. Gucci Just Turned The Backstage Area Into The Catwalk. 2020-07-19. Refinery 29. en.
  25. News: Friedman. Vanessa. 24 February 2016. Gucci's 70 Shades of Renaissance. en-US. The New York Times. 2020-07-19. 0362-4331.
  26. Mead. Rebecca. 12 September 2016. Gucci's Renaissance Man. 2020-07-19. The New Yorker. en-us.
  27. Web site: Stoppard. Lou. 30 August 2019. Alessandro Michele — National treasures. 2020-07-19. Financial Times.
  28. Web site: Solomatina. Ira. Why Tom Ford's Tenure at Gucci Was so Memorable. 2020-07-19. Sleek. en.
  29. Web site: Petrarca. Emilia. 20 November 2018. Gucci's Latest Drop? Books!. 2020-07-19. The Cut. en-us.
  30. Web site: Lai. Cherry. 22 October 2018. The Artist Is Present: Inside Gucci's Art Exhibition In Shanghai. 2020-07-19. Tatler Hong Kong.
  31. Web site: Pike. Naomi. May 3, 2019. Gucci To Relaunch Make-Up Collection Under The Creative Direction Of Alessandro Michele. 2020-07-19. Vogue. en-GB.
  32. Web site: Blanc. Emeline. July 5, 2019. Gucci unveils its first fine jewelry collection. 2020-07-19. Vogue Paris. en-GB.
  33. Web site: Guilbault . Laure . 2024-03-22 . Pierpaolo Piccioli Is Leaving Valentino . 2024-03-28 . Vogue . en-US.
  34. Brenda Polan, Roger Tredre, The Great Fashion Designers: From Chanel to McQueen, the names that made fashion history, Bloomsbury Publishing, 9 January 2020
  35. Anders Christian Madsen, Gucci's poetry of luxury, I-D Vice, 18 April 2016
  36. Rebecca Mead, Gucci's renaissance man, The New Yorker, 12 September 2016
  37. Cooper. Leah Faye. September 7, 2021. Gucci's Alessandro Michele Is Obsessed With the Present. 2021-09-07. Vanity Fair. en-GB.
  38. Web site: Armstrong. Lisa. November 25, 2015. Gucci's Alessandro Michele crowned International Fashion Designer of the Year. 9 September 2018. telegraph.co.uk.
  39. https://cfda.com/cfda-fashion-awards/2016/honoree/alessandro-michele-gucci Alessandro Michele, Gucci
  40. Web site: Cope. Rebecca. 2016-06-07. The CFDA Fashion Awards 2016 winners. 2020-07-27. Harper's BAZAAR. en-GB.
  41. Web site: Conlon. Scarlett. December 5, 2016. The Fashion Awards 2016: The Winners. 2020-07-27. Vogue. en-GB.
  42. Web site: 6 September 2016. All the winners at GQ Men of the Year 2016. 2020-07-27. Gucci. en-GB.
  43. Web site: Alessandro Michele. 2018-02-13. HYPEBEAST.
  44. Alessandro Michele: The World's 100 Most Influential People. 2020-09-23. Time. en-us.

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