Alessandro Michele Says Farewell — Michigan Fashion Media Summit

By: Coco Corey

After twenty years of dedication to the brand, Gucci announced that Alessandro Michele would be stepping down from his position as creative director. Michele joined Gucci’s team back in 2002 as an accessories designer and took over as the creative director in 2015, elevating the brand to to have an entity of eccentricity that it is recognized for today. Michele stated that Gucci has been his home for several years, but “There are times when paths part ways because of the different perspectives each one of us may have…To this extended family, to all the individuals who have looked after and supported it, I send my most sincere thanks, my biggest and most heartfelt embrace.”

In light of Michele’s departure from Gucci, we would like to pay homage to some of his most notable contributions to the brand and the fashion industry at large through his timeless yet modern designs. In his very first collection, Michele pushed boundaries by blurring the line between masculinity and femininity. His out-of-the-box collection interweaved feminine textures such as satin and ruffles with masculine elements including simple leather shoes and rigid silhouettes. His pieces accentuated androgyny in the contemporary way he styled and accessorized male models. Prior to this collection, Gucci favored a strictly classy and minimalist aesthetic. This served as a turning point.

Gucci’s Spring/Summer 2018 campaign or “Gucci Hallucination” will forever stand out to us. According to DesignBoom, Michele created the collection in collaboration with multidisciplinary artist Ignasi Monreal, and drew inspiration from the Renaissance and Pre-Raphaelite eras. This campaign is a stunning illustration of Michele’s contribution to setting the brand years ahead of others. It displays a utopian fantasy, sweeping the brand in a whimsical, fantastical direction through this unforgettable series of paintings. This singular avant-garde collection demonstrates Michele’s innovative approach to his projects with Gucci.

Via Gucci, Gucci

In the historic Palazzo della Mercanzia, Gucci presented the Gucci Garden, an immersive walk-through museum designed by Michele. The Gucci Garden features one-of-a-kind Gucci items spanning gowns, leather goods, handbags and more, as well as the Gucci Osteria restaurant and the Gucci Garden Galleria Exhibition. It is home to a variety of iconic pieces including Hillary Swank’s dress from the 2011 Oscars. Women’s Wear Daily highlighted a quote from Michele on the Garden: “If we manage to even simply intrigue someone [with Gucci Garden], then we’ll have won. I wanted to avoid offering something deadly boring — 100 years may be a beautifully rounded date, but I see this as the first year of the future.”

At the Gucci Fall/Winter 2020 Women’s Fashion Show, Michele allowed viewers an exclusive peek behind the scenes as he opened up the entire backstage space to the audience, making it the main attraction while the performance took place on a rotating carousel. Michele sent out his show invitation via WhatsApp, a modern move that was both attention-grabbing and sustainable.

In this show, Michele exposed the typically arcane backstage hair and makeup processes as teams prepared 60 models and cast members in front of the audience. Not only was this display innovative, but it also shined a spotlight on teams that are often overlooked. Michele promoted inclusion through his diverse model selection and combatted society's idealized perception of femininity through a show that felt authentic. Our eyes were drawn all over the place; the show was brilliant. According to Vogue Business, “Alessandro Michele got things started with a major bang, staging a show that was as spectacular as it was intimate.”

Michele’s most recent show, Twinsburg, took place at Milan Fashion Week last year and was absolutely unforgettable. Sixty-eight pairs of identical twins were sent down the runway in matching looks. The featured designs were striking and the show as a whole emphasized the beauty of nuanced asymmetry via two runways that each served as a mirror image of the other. Michele spoke with AnOther Magazine on his fascination with twins stating, “The grace of their duplicated and expanded love gave rise to my eternal fascination for the double, for things that seem to reflect themselves.” It wasn’t the duplicity Michele was infatuated with, but more so the ways in which the differences between identical twins were highlighted or magnified. The siblings holding hands walking down the runway signified human connection and bond, and the show will go down in industry history as nothing quite like it has ever been done before.

Via Wonderland, Wonderland

In an interview with The New York Times seven years ago, Michele said: “...I always try to translate the beauty of the brand in a different language. I can’t resist the idea of creating another story from the very beginning. It’s time for this brand to tell another story. I’m changing everything. It’s not work, it’s my life.”

Michele is highly acclaimed for his creative work with Gucci, and because of this, many have wondered why he is leaving. Fashion Today News noted that Gucci is suffering from brand fatigue and that a new designer could help to revive sales. It’s possible that, though Michele’s work was outstanding, Gucci is looking to start a new creative chapter, with a new vision. The question of where Michele will go next is certainly up for speculation. Vogue Business mentioned that Michele’s skill set may be particularly suitable for Gucci’s rival, Louis Vuitton.

Vogue Business highlighted a statement from Gucci’s CEO Marco Bizzarri: “I would like to thank him for his 20 years of commitment to Gucci and for his vision, devotion and unconditional love for this unique house during his tenure as creative director.” While applauding Michele for reinventing and revolutionizing the brand in both maximalism and romanticism, some believe that Gucci is simply in need of a change. Nevertheless, Michele is a creative genius and an icon that forever altered one of the most famous fashion houses in the world.