Italian fashion designer Alessandro Michele was BOTD in 1972. Born in Rome to a middle-class family, he studied fashion design at the Accademia di Costume e di Moda, beginning his career as a designer with Les Copains in Bologna. In 1997, he moved to the Fendi fashion house, becoming senior designer for accessories and leather goods under creative director Karl Lagerfeld. In 2002, Tom Ford invited him to join Gucci, where he led the company’s leather goods range, helping revive the brand’s popularity with his luxurious designs. In 2015, he undertook a last-minute salvage of Gucci’s winter menswear range. Two days later, he was appointed Gucci’s creative director, shifting away from Ford’s maximalist and sexualised designs and introducing minimalist, androgynous “postgender” menswear and womenswear. In 2024, he was appointed creative director of the Italian fashion house Valentino. Openly gay since forever, Michele lives in Rome with his partner Giovanni Attili.