Harry Styles and Alessandro Michele attend the Met Gala Celebration Camp 2019: Notes on Fashion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in May 2019 in New York City.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/
hide captions
switch captions
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/
Harry Styles and Alessandro Michele attend the Met Gala Celebration Camp 2019: Notes on Fashion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in May 2019 in New York City.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/
Alessandro Michele will step down as creative director of Gucci, the company announced Wednesday.
Michele, who has been with Gucci for 20 years, took over the role in 2015. Before becoming creative director, he worked in the company’s footwear and accessories division.
“There are times when the road splits because of the different views each of us may have,” Michele said in an interview. statement released by Kering, the luxury brand that owns Gucci. “Today, an extraordinary journey has ended for me, spanning more than twenty years, in a company to which I have tirelessly devoted all my love and passion for creativity.”
Michele brought a versatile and maximized gender aesthetic to the brand, which is a departure from the sleek and provocative rebranding of Tom Ford that saved the company in the 1990s.
Kering wrote that Michele “played a fundamental role in making the brand what it is today thanks to his groundbreaking creativity, while at the same time adhering to the famous codes of the House.”
Dakota Johnson, Harry Styles and Lana Del Ray all spearheaded Gucci campaigns, helping to boost sales while Michele was in charge. Based on washington articlesGucci’s revenue has grown from less than 4 billion euros ($4.1 billion) in 2015 to 9.7 billion euros ($10 billion) in 2021. Its success has been marred by the pandemic, however. and now Gucci is looking to reform.
Michele described the people behind Gucci as his adoptive family and thanked them in his statement. He leaves them one wish: to continue to nurture their dreams, “the subtle and invisible thing that makes life worth living.”
“Hope you continue to nourish yourself with poetic and comprehensive images, remaining true to your values,” he said. “May you always live your passion, carried by the wind of freedom.”
A new creative director has yet to be announced.
