Alessandro Michele steps down as Gucci creative director

Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele is stepping down from his role at the luxury brand, with the designer explaining it was due to “different perspectives” between him and the storied fashion house. 

Kering, Gucci’s parent company, also released a statement yesterday confirming his departure and acknowledging Michele’s “fundamental part” in shaping the brand today.

Michele shared a photograph of himself bowing on Instagram, accompanied by a statement echoed in Kering’s press release. He 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.

“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,” he continued.

“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,” he finished.

A new creative director has yet to be announced, with Kering stating that “Gucci’s design office” would take over in the interim until a new appointment was made. Marco Bizzari, Gucci’s President and CEO, also thanked Michele for his 20 year commitment to the brand alongside Kering CEO Francois-Henri Pinault. 

Michele’s tenure as Gucci’s steward has seen the designer bring gender-fluid designs to menswear wardrobes, bringing extravagant ruffles, pussybow blouses and sheer lace to his menswear shows. With a host of celebrities including Harry Styles, Billie Eilish and more counted amongst the brand’s fans under his directorship, Jared Leto has also been a notable friend of the house and of Michele - even dressing as the designer at this year’s Met Gala.

While he has worked at Gucci for twenty years, he was first appointed creative director in 2015 - diverging from the sultry minimalist style of his predecessors including Tom Ford. 

Fans such as Naomi Campbell, Styles’ stylist Harry Lambert, Eilish and more shared their love for the designer in the comments under his Instagram announcement, with Campbell particularly thanking him for “embracing the young creatives from Africa and emerging markets.”