Gucci’s Alessandro Michele On Authenticity In The Age Of Artifice

Augmented reality. Fake news. Alternative facts. It’s a troubling time for seekers of authenticity. Gucci’s creative director, Alessandro Michele, knows this better than most. Since reinvigorating the luxury fashion house when he came on board in 2015, the 46-year-old Italian designer has been working through ideas about dovetailing originality and appropriation. Take, as evidence, Gucci’s recent partnerships with Trevor Andrew, an ex-Olympic snowboarder whose graffiti alter ego, GucciGhost, led to a handbag collaboration; and Dapper Dan, the Harlem-based designer whose Louis Vuitton “knock-up” jacket was copied by Michele into a jacket of his own, which then ended in an unlikely arrangement whereby Dan was invited to design a capsule collection for the house. Confused yet? Read more at Interview.