DifferentMagazine

“I would never have guessed
that I would be given an award
for doing the job that I love, and
for my creativity.”
Alessandro Michele, on winning the International Award
was always late for things, because he didn’t care about appointments. So I think he was quite ready for
his appointment with death.” He died a decade ago. Michele recalls, “He said to me, ‘You and I are very
lucky, because we spent a lot of beautiful seasons together, and they are so many that I can’t remember
how many they are.’ ”
Michele’s mother, who is also deceased, was more urbane. She worked as an assistant to a movie executive,
and her sense of style was influenced by Hollywood. “She had this beautiful blond hair,” he said. “Fake
blond—she’s Italian.” He went on, “I think I am completely the mix of both of them. I am obsessed with
fashion, like my mother, and I am obsessed with art, like my father. I have something inside of me that
every day tells me that nature and beauty is the soul, the meaning, of our life. And I also love Hollywood
and cinema.” In February, Michele attended the Academy Awards, at the invitation of Jared Leto, who
was recently appointed a brand ambassador for the fragrance Gucci Guilty.
A few months later, on a steamy June evening in New York, Michele was honored at the American fashion
industry’s equivalent of the Oscars: the Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards. The ceremony
took place at the Hammerstein Ballroom, on West Thirty-fourth Street. A red carpet had been set up
along the sidewalk, and as the cocktail hour got under way designers and celebrities lined up to take their
turn before the ranks of hollering photographers. Hari Nef wore a peppermint-green tulle gown with
a glittering appliqué panther on the bosom; Gia Coppola, another Gucci devotee, was in a long dress
confected of black netting embellished with red and pink sequins. Lena Dunham embraced Michele and
complimented him on his cologne. Even his fragrance is antique: it was created in 1828 by the Florentine
apothecary Santa Maria Novella.
Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, wore a Gucci design: a sleeveless ivory column, in satin duchesse,
embroidered with birds and flowers. She presented Michele with the International Award, declaring that
he “has helped us dream more freely.” Michele ascended to the stage, his head slightly bowed. “I am quite
nervous,” he said, clutching the award between fingers laden with vintage rings. “I would never have
guessed that I would be given an award for doing the job that I love, and for my creativity.” The humility
of his manner was in direct contradiction to the flamboyance of his dusty-pink silk tuxedo, which suggested
a dandy who had run off to join the Hells Angels. On the back of the jacket, pearl beads formed the
image of a coiled snake.
When Michele first became interested in fashion, as a teen-ager, his impulse was to go into costume design.
After high school, he enrolled in the Accademia di Costume e di Moda, in Rome. “I think that I still work