The sudden departure of Gucci’s creative director shook up the industry.
Alessandro Michele, the 49-year-old who came from the anonymous caverns of the design department to revolutionise Gucci, suddenly exited his role as creative director of the brand. This leaves a trail of question marks about what happened behind closed doors and the future of the Italian luxury brand. Its new path and, potentially, yet another textbook reinvention are objects of much speculation, as no successor has been named for the time being.
In the press release, Marco Bizzarri, President and CEO of Gucci, thanked Michele for his dedication to the house over the past eight years, “and for his vision, devotion, and unconditional love for this unique brand.” François-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of Kering, which owns Gucci, stated that what Michele achieved will long be considered an important period in the history of the brand: “His passion, his imagination, his ingenuity and his culture put Gucci centre stage, where its place is. I wish him a great next chapter in his creative journey.”
According to sources, strong disagreements over the future of the brand caused a rift between Michele and president and chief executive officer Marco Bizzarri, who had championed the designer since naming him creative director of the brand in January 2015.
A “well-placed source” told that Michele “was asked to initiate a strong design shift” at the brand by parent company Kering. Gucci had a juggernaut for the conglomerate since Michele presented his first collection for the brand in 2015. But in 2021, industry insiders began speculating whether energy around the label had cooled. There was occasional chin-stroking over whether the magpie aesthetic Michele developed—that of a global travelling, gender-fluid hipster with a taste for Hollywood and history, accessorised to the hilt—might be stagnant. A Resort show staged at a castle in Puglia in May, was well-received for its strange sexiness, and the Spring 2023 collection modelled by 68 sets of twins won praise as a feat of casting, but perhaps this was not enough.
While Tom Ford is rumoured to make a comeback to the helm of the fashion giant but nothing can be said for sure.
His departure comes on the heels of his most recent show for the brand last September, which was one of the standouts of the spring 2023 season.
The twist came when a partition lifted to show that half the audience was watching the exact same show — the models in the show were all identical twins, in a personal reflection by Michele about the nature of identity. He revealed after the show that his mother was a twin and so he always felt he had two mothers.
The actress wore a custom navy three-piece suit and silver strappy sandals by Louis Vuitton to attend the premiere of her Netflix film in Berlin. She wore her hair up in a ponytail and her eye makeup simple with a bold, red lip.
Anne chose wide-leg jeans and a matching tailored jacket in dark wash denim, from Nili Lotan’s Resort 2023 collection for a Talk Show.
Current fashion sensation, Zendaya, turned heads in a sleek double-breasted autumn/winter 2022 Sportmax suit, featuring a jacket that cinches the waist and a subtly sculptural shoulder, and trousers with a generous flare. She chose to sport a leather tie, striking smoky eye, and a dazzling leaf-motif brooch and knuckle-duster rings courtesy of Bulgari.
While attending the premiere of ‘’Pinocchio’’ in BFI London Film Festival, Cate wore an Alexander McQueen Eye Print Double-breasted Tailored Jacket and Wide-legged Trousers from the Spring 2023 Collection.
Given tailoring being a strongpoint of Armani, Shayk’s black suit, white button-up shirt, and skinny black tie was certainly an appropriate choice for the Italian label’s show.
She dazzled the red carpet at the ‘’Glass Onion’’ Premiere in Paris as she posed in her sparkly silver blazer with a double-breasted front.
The bold look included a nude monogrammed bodysuit under a tailored Gucci suit featuring a large, intricate pattern of swirling gold, pink, beige, brown, and white.
