Alessandro Michele

[laughs]

But just talk about how, how do you work with these brands? When did you start taking meetings with them? Just how do you get them to come around and say, "You know what? We're not gonna do fur anymore"? And I think to your point about Kering, I just wanna say, I think that Alessandro Michele, wasn't he the creative director there when, when Gucci banned fur?

Um, yes.

Yes.

Um, and I think a lot of the people that I spoke to who went said they had a great time.

Obviously, the robots were really dumb and freaky and bad, and, um, I think the unfortunate thing about this round of Vogue World is that the thing that everybody will remember are Miuccia Prada and Alessandro Michele's faces when the robots came out.

But I just think, like, I don't know.

I think it's an interesting brand-building mechanism.

Yes, those sorts of, uh, connections being made.

Alessandro, Demna, Mrs. Prada, Raf, Domenico-

Don't forget Donatella who had big news this week

...

I can't wait for all our stories and content, like, with, like, the deep dive of the looks to, to go out because there is so many.

Like, so many designers and were so generous in opening archives.

And so you see the current designer with his interpretation of a certain look, like for example, uh, Alessandro Michele at Valentino, but also the actual real look by Mr. Garavani.

Wow, like, together in the same show.

I must be kind of a loser because I never got a gift.

I remember one time I wrote about Alessandro Michele, who was then the head designer of Gucci.

And I got this package in the mail and I was so excited.

And I was like, Zach's coming up.

Sometime.

You would go over to dinner at Alessandro Michele's house when you were filming in Rome.

Mm-hmm.

And you guys have been friends for a long time.

Well, he is wearing- [laughs] My...

Okay, he's wearing Valentino- Mm-hmm ... which I talk about all the time on the pod any chance I get, 'cause I love Alessandro Michele, who's the creative director at Valentino.

Mm-hmm.

And I love that he's doing menswear there, because that's not something they've ever really done before.

Roberto Bolle, who was at the announcement of Vogue World, right? Was also at the announcement.

With Alessandro Michele, you had such a lineup.

So, you

know, we always

[laughs]

"Alessandro Michele." Like, it felt like just this beautiful, like, Alessandro era Gucci ad.

Um-

It was very, it's very much a-

As I said before, Gucci is not Hermès.

You know, people expect innovation from Gucci, and that's what Alessandro Michele did.

However, they asked him probably too much to do what he's done at Balenciaga, and he said it.

He said it in an interview, so this is a fact.

So yes, so it's a little bit different, and again, I give you another example.

Sometimes giving negative example is easier for people to understand.

When Gucci decided that Alessandro Michele, flamboyant, extraordinary creative style, had become the emperor new clothes, they strategically, well, they acted on fear.

They acted fast on worry, and they didn't think strategically long-term, and they say, "We need someone who's the opposite." And so they took this guy, who's probably a very good designer, Sabato De Sarno, from number two at Valentino, by the way, who was a classic designer, the opposite of Alessandro.