Alessandro Michele first started working for Gucci in 2002 at the invitation of Tom Ford. In 2015, he was appointed Creative Director and during his tenure was responsible for the creation of the Dionysus handbag and revival of the double-G logo.
Gucci’s revenues have tripled over the past seven years, rising from 3.9 billion euros in 2015 (AUD$6.03 billion) to 9.7 billion euros (AUD$15.02 billion) in 2021.
Michele is stepping down from his leading role with the storied Italian house, effective immediately. But apart from his fashion prowess, he was also a major force behind the success of Gucci Beauty.
Gucci launched its first beauty collection of 200 lip, eye and face products in 2014. But it wasn’t until Michele re-ignited the Coty-licensed range that it really took off.
His first triumph was a 58-piece lipstick line in 2019 inspired by the Golden Age of Hollywood.
In addition, he steered the launches of Gucci Beauty’s L’Obscur mascara and the 40 SKU foundation lineup – Fluide De Beaute Fini Naturel.
Michele also made waves using “imperfect” models for beauty campaigns such as Superbort’s Dani Miller, the darling of punk.
Gucci Beauty has gone from strength to strength over the past two years, opening a pop-up in Los Angeles in 2020 and its first Southeast Asian counterpart in Kuala Lumpur in May this year.
The brand also attracted major attention with a new flagship store in Hainan, the hotspot of Chinese travel retail, in July last year. Following its launch on Alibaba’s Tmall in early 2021, Gucci Beauty reached the number 10 spot on the platform within 10 months.
In February this year, Sue Y. Nabi, CEO of Coty, singled out Gucci Beauty as a major driver of its prestige sales in the Chinese market.
“Our story activations have driven our Gucci makeup sales in China to triple year-on-year. In fact, as we advance our strategy of building Gucci into a truly two axis brand, Gucci makeup sales in China now exceed Gucci fragrance sales.
“As a result of this momentum, prestige makeup sales grew from less than 3 per cent of our total sales in the first half to over 4 per cent. We continue to target approximately 10 per cent penetration by 2025.”
In Australia, Gucci Beauty is available from Sephora, David Jones, Myer and the brand’s website.
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