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alessandro michele
Leaves Gucci
Ord af: sharon edelson
Image Courtesy of Gucci
There must be nary a dry eye at Kering today. Instead, the luxury giant is contemplating its future without the help of cash cow designer and creative director, Alexander Michael, who announced two days ago that he is leaving the fashion house. Of course, Kering will replace Michele with a bright young fashion school graduate – because in corporate America, or England, for that matter – nobody one is irreplaceable.
Like a cat, Gucci has had many lives in its 64-year history, including family feuds, take-over attempts, a near-bankruptcy filing, a public listing, storybook turnarounds, and even a murder. For all intents and purposes, the company was declared dead when Bergdorf Goodman executive Dawn Mello plucked an unknown Tom Ford from Parsons School of Design, giving him complete creative control to evolve the brand. The rest is history. Fast forward to 2022, and Sara Gay Forden's [my former colleague at WWD and W] insightful book, "The House of Gucci" was released, directed by Ridley Scott. The blockbuster film starred a scene-stealing Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani, den morderiske ekskone til Guccis grundlægger og designer Maurizio Gucci.
Ford spiller en central rolle i filmen, banede vejen for Micheles enestående vision for mærket. Grundlagt af Guccio Gucci, WHO, som legenden siger, i 1897 var en piccolo på Londons sofistikerede Savoy Hotel, hvor han blev inspireret til at skabe Gucci af de luksuriøse kufferter og kufferter fra de aristokrater, der bor på hotellet. Ford associerede mærket med luksus og aristokratiske tidsfordriv, såsom ridning, which gave rise to the brand's signature horse-bit decorative hardware on handbags, luggage, smykker, and apparel.
If Ford paved the way for Michele, the younger designer took the reins and confidently got off and running. Inspired by nature, Michele introduced motifs borrowed from herbs, plants, flowers, heste, serpents, and other animals. The aesthetic struck a chord with Baby Boomers and Millennials, who were nostalgic for the brand's signatures, which reigned when they were infants and toddlers.
Æstetikken hos de to designere kunne ikke have været mere forskellig. Ford gik ind for en slank "diskotek" club-look med sexede og slanke silkekjoler med få udsmykninger. Guccis popularitet skød op med det samme. Hvis Ford var en minimalist, Michele var en maksimalist i verdens bedste forstand.
Micheles forkærlighed for den naturlige verden viser sig i hans signaturbier, summende over små lædervarer og håndtasker, inklusive de nu ikoniske slangehåndtasker med tunge metalslanger på forsiden af håndtasken.
Michele genså Guccis ikoniske dobbelte G-logo, lærredstasker, og hestebitte loafers, som i hans skæve hænder blev til pelsbeklædte hjemmesko og træsko, yderligere driver salget af tilbehørsdivisionen - historisk set mærkets cash cow. Logoposer kom derefter håndmalet med blomster eller broderet med gigantiske insekter - et tema Michele fortsatte med at udforske under sin tid hos Gucci.
Michael ind 2015 blev plukket fra rækken af Guccis afdeling for lædertilbehør, hvor han arbejdede under den daværende kreative direktør Frida Gianninni. Micheles stil hjalp Gucci med at genvinde sin plads i modepantheonet ved at tiltrække en yngre kunde. Husets dobbelte G-logo og ikoniske hestebilleder fremmede brandets vækst på 35 % plus i fem på hinanden følgende kvartaler, hvilket fik daværende administrerende direktør Marco Bizarre til at opfordre til en 10 milliarder euro omsætningsmål i juni samme år.
Michele har offentligt vist interesse for filmindustrien - ironisk nok, hvor Tom Ford parkerede sig efter sin afhoppning fra modehuset. Fem år efter hans første show på Gucci, in the middle of the global Covid-19 pandemic, Michele upended another fashion convention – he declared he wouldn't adhere to the fashion industry's "worn-out ritual of seasonalities and shows." Rather, he opted to regain a new cadence, "closer to my expressive call. We will meet just twice a year, to share the chapters of a new story," Michele proposed, conceiving new names for the collections inspired by the music world.
If the words Rock Star come to mind when thinking of Michele, you wouldn't be too far off. His nearly eight-year tenure – a lifetime in the fashion industry – ended because he reportedly wanted to produce a couture collection, and Kering nixed the request. Of course, Michele won't be a lone ranger for long. He'll likely be snapped up quickly for his singular aesthetic and proven design sensibility, not to mention his leadership skills. The world can only wait and see what his next project will be.