Why Alessandro Michele is a revolutionary fashion designer

Since his assignment as creative director of Gucci in January 2015, Alessandro Michele revolutionized the aesthetic codes of the Florentine fashion house, succeeding in a daring and equally fascinating operation: bringing back to the top vintage items and prints with a strong floral romance, in an interchangeable wardrobe, for both boys and girls.

Observing his latest collections it's almost hard to believe that he had been part of the Gucci team since 2003: "I used to work for someone who had an aesthetic very different from mine. And I did it well, very hard, all the way down. But my private has always been rich. My private has always been my imagination and I never gave it to my work simply because I was asked to" Michele revealed in a recent interview.

His private imagination includes art, music, literature, architecture, search of vintage items and antiques: all the passions Alessandro has deftly conveyed in his collections of clothing and accessories, which alone have been able to communicate and consolidate his world among the ruthless fashion audience. A public that has immediately worshiped and praised him: Gucci needed a revolution, and Alessandro has been the perfect interpreter of this need.

If we think of all the little – and big – changes introduced by the designer in the past months, it's almost surreal to think that it's been less than a year since his debut as creative director of the brand.

His latest Social initiative – yes, Alessandro was able to rejuvenate even the language of the brand on social networks – is called #GucciGram and has called upon a group of young contemporary artists to reinterpret the new Gucci Caleido and Gucci Blooms prints, mixing art history and interactivity.

The concept behind the project is simple: the advent of the internet has forever changed the way we relate to art and images – we no longer need to physically get inside a museum to access brilliant contents, we just have to slide the feed of our Instagram account.

The Spanish illustrator Ignasi Monreal (@ignasimonreal) presents a highly expressionistic interpretation of the female body. In Monreal’s remix of Gucci’s #GGCaleido and #GGBlooms prints for #GucciGram he employs a parody motif by appropriating retro TV weather forecasts and commercials, then inserting the Gucci name. Nostalgic fashion models stand in the foreground, in front of a Gucci pattern backdrop where new prints battle with the Gucci classic GG pattern, a reference to the ever-shifting tastes of fashion. The end result is a clash of eras and cultures, in which nothing is sacred and everything is digitized. Text by @alanakm

Un video pubblicato da Gucci (@gucci) in data: 28 Ott 2015 alle ore 07:36 PDT

Art related to social media was also the theme of the latest exhibition of the brand in Shanghai, "No longer, not yet", which showcased works by the British artist who hides behind the IG account @unskilledworker: dreamlike illustrations that turn the models from the Gucci shows into heroines in watercolour shades.

In an historical moment in which the world of fashion is full of clamorous abandonments – see Raf Simons at Dior and Alber Elbaz at Lanvin – the Gucci case suggests the need to rely on new names, innovative visions, revolutionary ideas. Think also of the achievements of Jonathan Anderson at Loewe. Don’t you agree?