Alessandro Michele
Michele in 2015
Born	(1972-11-25) 25 November 1972 (age 52) Rome, Italy
Occupation	Fashion designer
Years active	1994–present
Title	Creative director of Valentino
Partner	Giovanni Attili

Alessandro Michele (Italian pronunciation: [miˈkɛːle]; 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]

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, 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]

In 1994, 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.^[2][10]

In 2002, Tom Ford, Gucci's creative director from 1994 to 2004, invited 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, Michele was named senior designer of Gucci leather goods, and in 2011, was promoted associate creative director to Frida Giannini,^[12] creative director of Gucci since 2005.^[11] 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, Michele became Valentino's creative director.^[14][15]

In January 2015, Marco Bizzarri asked 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.^[3]

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

In March 2024, Michele was appointed as the creative director of Italian fashion house Valentino.^[1] His appointment follows the departure of Pierpaolo Piccioli, who had worked at Valentino for 25 years.^[33]

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.^[5][6] 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]

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.^[27] 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]

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

• 2015: International Fashion Designer Of The Year Award at the British Council Fashion Awards^[38]
• 2016: Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards^[39][40]
• 2016 International Accessories Designer of the Year Award at the British Council Fashion Awards^[38][41]
• 2016: GQ Men Of The Year Award for best designer^[42]
• 2017: Listed in Hypebeast's HB100^[43]
• 2017: Time 100 Most Influential People^[44]

• List of Italian designers

• Official biography Archived 2020-08-08 at the Wayback Machine