Gucci's Urban Garden

Fashion alchemist Alessandro Michele brings his whimsical take on luxury to the fragrance counter (and Times Square),with help from Dakota Johnson, Hari Nef and Petra Collins. 

- Belinda McKeon

Alessandro Michele is a magpie. Witness his Instagram feed, which regularly features object tableaux from his home in Rome; he voraciously gathers the artifacts of other centuries, be they Renaissance altar frontals or 1960s Adidas kicks. He paints a picture of himself that any collector will recognise: Sitting in bed late at night, buying piece after piece, click after click, unable to stop, but seeing his finds as rescues. “Because otherwise they’re thrown away or forgotten; they don’t know how they are precious.”

This creates a certain aura. “My boyfriend always says, ‘Oh, there is a really strong smell of old in here,’” Michele says with a laugh. “I always say, ‘You can really smell the dead and the things that have happened, and now what is happening.’ ”