Alessandro Michele - Designer, Creative Director of Valentino

[Lola701]

Alessandro is starting to feel himself...
So I guess that the things that are dirty comes from the Ghetto. I wonder which Ghetto he is talking about (certainly not the suburbs of Rome or Milan)...

I guess when he copied the Dapper Dan outfit, it had soul...

 

[mepps]

I want him to give a detailed explanation of what he means by dirty and ghetto.
Rolling my eyes into the back of my head.

 

[Deleted member 130879]

Love how nobody is touching this yet. This guy is a farce.

 

[Benn98]

Love how nobody is touching this yet. This guy is a farce.

Oh dear. The outlet where I picked this up from actually used the beginning of his response about copying as the headline. And even though I posted the feature in full, I didn't read over this part.

There's definitely something murky in that response. It's the way he laid out the parallels - dirty > clean, bourgeois > ghetto, broken > well done. Draw a simple conclusion and you come with something really vile. And just the other day I praised him.....

 

[Deleted member 130879]

And let's be real, it's not just that (although that is behind despicable, I know too damn well that tone and innuendo). The whole interview is a red flag. He is way over himself, reminds me too much of young Galliano's attitude and we all know where that train stops. And he doesn't have half of Galliano's talent to rise above if something breaks.

These kids all love to praise McQueen and they are yet to understand that one of the things that made him so special was the fact that he wasn't a self-absorbed (social) media w***e. Attitude can break a career nowadays.

 

[YohjiAddict]

A better choice of words would have been dog-eared or flea-markety but at the end of the day I think people give words too much power, many designers have talked about that same dichotomy (Rei, Miuccia, etc.) the only difference is that they do not refer to social class by framing it as bad taste/good taste, high-culture/low-culture and somehow implying that such hierarchy is no longer valid in the times we live in. I would simply not touch the world ghetto with a ten foot pole, it never comes out right.

 

[mistress_f]

Even without getting to his shady clean/dirty - bourgeois/ghetto comment, if his stale work is to be considered authentic in the age of artifice, we're in real trouble.

also, cackling at "If you try to make the same thing without a soul, it will be trashy and ugly." - trashy, ugly and souless is exactly what i see when i look at his clothes, lol

 

[Lola701]

Alessandro should not start with the non-sense. We all know how things works at Kering...Once the sales will take a slight slow down or if he doesn’t satisfy the expectations of the Pinault, he will be forced to leave like all his predecessors at Kering.
There’s an irony to what he said because I actually think that his Gucci is soulless. I may like some things or the spirit of some campaigns, his fashion is the clear high-fashion version of fast-fashion.

On the runway or in the stores, you just see a pile of stuff. It’s excessive, fabulous (at times) but it also represents what is wrong with high fashion today.

He has been the CD of Gucci for only 3 years and it feels like forever now. It’s not a good sign...And until he proves that he can be versatile, he should not get too comfortable.
If Kering let Nicolas & Hedi leave, his position is not safe!

 

[GivenchyHomme]

At the very beginning his clothes did have soul and passion. It was after he put women and men together on the runway when things began to change. The same can be said about brands that have decided to go the coed route. It feels like corporate machine now. The magic and beauty is gone. Everything looks rushed and clueless. The only saving grace is the campaigns. Alessandro and Demma rode the youth trend and milked it. Now that Bourgeois Fashion is slowly making a comeback it will be interesting to see what will happen to Kering's Golden Goose.

 

[Fashionstuff]

Oh dear. The outlet where I picked this up from actually used the beginning of his response about copying as the headline. And even though I posted the feature in full, I didn't read over this part.

There's definitely something murky in that response. It's the way he laid out the parallels - dirty > clean, bourgeois > ghetto, broken > well done. Draw a simple conclusion and you come with something really vile. And just the other day I praised him.....

I'm sorry bc i am late , lol.
I praised Michele and im going to praise him again because :
Seems that this interview was in english? Alessandro doesn't speak perfect english.
It is not easy to find the right words to describe your thoughts and your feelings, sometimes it is even not easy if you are speaking in your mother language, so imagine if you have to speak in foreign language.
I remember last year was Jared Leto and Michele live on Instagram, i saw them, it was some kind of converstation/interview between Leto and Michele, believe me, Michele's english wasn't so perfectly fluent, sometimes he used italian words because he didn't know to explaine himself in english.
It is clear what he meant under "ghetto" or "borgeois" ,in this moment i can imagine the look which could match with this description, is could be a trackpants with a silk blouse and pumps or tracksuit in jacquard or embroiedery.
It is my opinion.
And if somebody saw this live on Instagram , it was end of 2017 or in 2018 ,when Leto wrote an article about Michele, he/she remember that Michele's english wasn't so perfect. So same in this interview. Imo.

 

[tatouejeremie]

I'm sorry bc i am late , lol.
I praised Michele and im going to praise him again because :
Seems that this interview was in english? Alessandro doesn't speak perfect english.
It is not easy to find the right words to describe your thoughts and your feelings, sometimes it is even not easy if you are speaking in your mother language, so imagine if you have to speak in foreign language.
I remember last year was Jared Leto and Michele live on Instagram, i saw them, it was some kind of converstation/interview between Leto and Michele, believe me, Michele's english wasn't so perfectly fluent, sometimes he used italian words because he didn't know to explaine himself in english.
It is clear what he meant under "ghetto" or "borgeois" ,in this moment i can imagine the look which could match with this description, is could be a trackpants with a silk blouse and pumps or tracksuit in jacquard or embroiedery.
It is my opinion.
And if somebody saw this live on Instagram , it was end of 2017 or in 2018 ,when Leto wrote an article about Michele, he/she remember that Michele's english wasn't so perfect. So same in this interview. Imo.

why would you even try to defend him here

 

[MulletProof]

HARAMIS: I’ve heard you say that you don’t care about the future.

MICHELE: I don’t. I mean, come on. I’m not god. You could think that I’m the coolest and most attractive fashion designer, but I’m not unique. I’m only unique because I’m me. Just like you are only unique because you’re you. I’m not a diva.

haha

Sometimes I forget Zoolander is actually a documentary about fashion.

"What do you think about the shutdown?" "shutting things down is something I have tried to integrate into my art, my collections, what does my inspiration mean.. if I'm just me? am I trying to convey beauty because I am beautiful or is my own beauty my obstacle and I will never shut anything down? that is the challenge".

 

[jeanclaude]

This guy bores me to death. I hope he gets the sack soon, too much of mothball- smelling clothes since 2015...

 

[Salvatore]

haha

Sometimes I forget Zoolander is actually a documentary about fashion.

"What do you think about the shutdown?" "shutting things down is something I have tried to integrate into my art, my collections, what does my inspiration mean.. if I'm just me? am I trying to convey beauty because I am beautiful or is my own beauty my obstacle and I will never shut anything down? that is the challenge".

If he didn't know what to say, he should have just said "no comment" or simply that he didn't know what to say.

 

[kenndale]

This guy bores me to death. I hope he gets the sack soon, too much of mothball- smelling clothes since 2015...

I wouldn’t hold your breath. Gucci will keep him as long as they can.

 

[jeanclaude]

I wouldn’t hold your breath. Gucci will keep him as long as they can.

Yeah, I know...but the day will come. His work doesn´t feel "fresh" anymore.

 

[Fashionstuff]

why would you even try to defend him here

Hahaha, why not?
Sincerely, i saw this Leto/Michele live and Michele's english wasn't so super fluent, sometimes he didn't know the words in english and replaced them with italian.
I don't think he really meant something bad or disrespectful. Not in Michele's case and surely not in this case/ interview.

 

[Fashionstuff]

Yeah, I know...but the day will come. His work doesn´t feel "fresh" anymore.

Why his work has to feel fresh?
Fashion is not a few hype items. What shall we say about Chanel by Lagerfeld? That it is not fresh anymore or what?
Gucci offers a big range of products, first year with Michele they didn't have a lot of pieces and i don't think they produce so big quantities.

 

[Lola701]

I don’t think we can compare Karl and Alessandro. To be fair, Chanel in 2018 doesn’t look like Chanel in 2015. We can’t compare someone with a 50+ years career and a relative newcomer.The narrative might be the same but for better or worse, there are some difference.

I can compare JWA and Alessandro and now, same time frame and all, the gap is huge.

But Gucci is just overexposed. They don’t produce in small quantities...There are just too much stuff. They might have the most insane product reference in the business right now.

A think a reset or touch of fresh air could help Michele on a long term...The same for Demna.

Eventually, people will be tired of their aesthetic and they needs to move on. But in fashion, in order to lead the conversation, you have to move on while on top.

Hahaha, why not?
Sincerely, i saw this Leto/Michele live and Michele's english wasn't so super fluent, sometimes he didn't know the words in english and replaced them with italian.
I don't think he really meant something bad or disrespectful. Not in Michele's case and surely not in this case/ interview.

He surely didn’t meant something disrespectful. Except for Stefano Gabbana, I don’t know who can do this kind of things.
But the comparison and all felt ignorant. It’s just a fact.
The reality is that designers nowadays are not doing interviews « like that ». There’s the PR somewhere and certainly they are checking the interviews before it’s published. This is what is done for those big brands...
Unless you’re Karl or Tom aka mastermind media manipulators, you can’t really do interviews « freely ».

 

[tatouejeremie]

Hahaha, why not?
Sincerely, i saw this Leto/Michele live and Michele's english wasn't so super fluent, sometimes he didn't know the words in english and replaced them with italian.
I don't think he really meant something bad or disrespectful. Not in Michele's case and surely not in this case/ interview.

i'm sure he knows what dirty/clean means and ghetto/bourgeois
i also doubt he had ill intent, he's just your typical case of an ignorant italian, but someone from gucci PR isn't doing their job right