It's official. After more than 20 years with the company, including seven as its creative director, Alessandro Michele is leaving Gucci.
“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 20 years, within a company to which I have tirelessly dedicated all my love and creative passion," the Italian designer posted on Instagram on Wednesday.
And what tireless creative passion it has been.
During the course of his tenure, Michele single-handedly reinvented Gucci, from a then-ailing house in 2015, to making it one of the hottest brands on the planet.
But how did he do it? By sending his own, very personal take on romantic, dreamy and boundary-crossing clothes down the runway. Given just days to create his debut show — he rejected the collection left by his predecessor Frida Giannini's hasty departure — Michele created his own collection from scratch, and began writing Gucci into the history books in the process.
And it didn't stop there. A self-confessed Anglophile, Michele scored something of a coup when he persuaded Westminster Abbey in London to let him hold the Gucci cruise 2017 runway show in its cloisters, marking a first in its 1,000-year history, and a moment that Michele would later describe as "magical".
For autumn/winter 2018, he was clearly in a magical mood when he sent models down the runway carrying their own synthetic heads, while another tenderly cradled a sleeping "baby dragon". Bizarre and charming, it fitted perfectly with the new Gucci he was creating — a safe space where anything and everything was possible.
For his cruise 2019 show, Michele transported his runway to Alyscamps, the ancient graveyard in Arles, France, where models strode through smoke, down a walkway lit only by flames. Inspired by the darker recesses of Catholicism, it was stunning and terrifying in equal measure, as reflected in the corseted clothes drawn from Mary Queen of Scots and the hell-fire of damnation.
For spring/summer 2022, Michele persuaded his doppleganger, the actor Jared Leto, to appear in the Love Parade show in Los Angeles. Shutting down Hollywood Boulevard for the event, it harked back to the silver-screen glamour of US film's golden era.
Michele brought his love for the cinematic wardrobes of yesteryear to life, with cowboy hats, feathered gowns, faux fur coats, diamond tiaras, crop tops, wide-legged trousers and voluminous dresses. He offered a mixture of colours through his models who wore lavender, teal and hot-pink suits along with metallic and gold gowns. Black was another colour of preferences.
Then, for what would be his final show for the house, for spring/summer 2023, Michele called on 100 sets of identical twins to wear matching looks. Visually dazzling, it was created around ideas of otherness and identity.
Michele is a born dreamer with a unique sense of mashed-up style that encompasses romance, opulence and beauty. His time at Gucci has been remarkable, both for the huge surge in sales it generated and for the unfettered, dazzling imagination he demonstrated.
"During this long period Gucci has been my home, my adopted family. To this extended family, to all the individuals who have looked after and supported it, I send my most sincere thanks, my biggest and most heartfelt embrace," he said in his farewell post.
"Together with them I have wished, dreamed, imagined. Without them, none of what I have built would have been possible. 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.”
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
