Gucci designer Alessandro Michele on politics, being different and why beauty is like a religion

Designer Alessandro Michele of Gucci was as surprised as anyone to see his red, white and blue A-line coat, with its rows of feline buttons, become one of the more memorable – and mocked – visuals from US President Donald Trump’s inauguration. But there it was on that grey January day: Kellyanne Conway wearing his US$3,600 (HK$28,000) coat – a signature look from Gucci’s Resort 2017 collection – with a bright red hat and raspberry-coloured gloves and handbag. She called the ensemble “Trump revolutionary wear”, and she looked pleased as punch with her fashion battle cry.

While Michele, Gucci’s creative director since 2015, has had a hand in dressing many of the Hollywood celebrities seen wearing the brand, he had not worked with Conway. She bought the coat off the rack. “We have all kinds of customers,” Michele says. “Everybody is free to do what they want.”

But for a designer who espouses diversity, inclusiveness and a reach-across-borders worldview, the moment was a test of temperament and diplomacy. “To be against something or someone, it’s a dangerous thing,” Michele says. “It’s easy to be against your enemy, but if you give them a big hug ... ” And his words drift off into a fog of there’s-really-no-optimal-response.

Michele’s work at Gucci has put him in the centre of a conversation about gender definitions, beauty norms and the ways cultures intersect – all of which collide in a creative explosion that has enticed everyone from liberal pop-culture heavyweights such as Beyoncé and Jared Leto to Melania Trump and Conway, two of the most famous faces in an administration built on a populist, buy-American, build-a-wall platform. There is, it seems, common ground in Michele’s freewheeling, romantic mishmash of cultural conviviality.