Breaking news! Today, GUCCI announced that Alessandro Michele is exiting the House after nearly eight years with the brand. The Roman designer was hired by Tom Ford and worked than after Frida Giannini before taking over the helmet himself. With his maximalist vision, he changed the look of fashion and brought colorful looks to the runway. Unexpected color combinations, animals such as tigers, lions and bees were his favorites.
The Hacker Project, 2021
Michele had a flair for rule-breaking hookups. There was the F/W 2021 Hacker Project with Demna of Balenciaga, a Kering «colleague» and then a year later he collaborated with adidas collab. However, the brand was hit during corona and numbers haven’t been on the rise recently. GUCCI seems to suffer from brand fatigue.
Gucci x adidas, 2022
In a statement GUCCI CEO Marco Bizzarri said, «I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet Alessandro at the end of 2014, since then we have had the pleasure to work closely together as Gucci has charted its successful path over these last eight years. 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.»
S/S 2023 Welcome to Twinsburg show.
Alessandro Michele said: «There are times when paths part ways because of the different perspectives each one of us may have. Today an extraordinary journey ends for me, lasting more than twenty years, within a company to which I have tirelessly dedicated all my love and creative passion. During this long period Gucci has been my home, my adopted family. 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. Together with them I have wished, dreamed, imagined. Without them, none of what I have built would have been possible. To them goes my most sincerest wish: may you continue to cultivate your dreams, the subtle and intangible matter that makes life worth living. May you continue to nourish yourselves with poetic and inclusive imagery, remaining faithful to your values. May you always live by your passions, propelled by the wind of freedom.»
Personally speaking, I felt that GUCCI has become kind of arrogant lately. Its loyalty towards people who have been supporting the brand since a very long time has kind of disappeared. Let’s hope that the there will be a new prosperity in all ways, also on a human level as I love the brand a lot!
Thank you, Alessandro, for all the magic!
LoL, Sandra
Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht / David Biedert Photography
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