Gucci's Alessandro Michele Responds to Plagiarism Allegations

Gucci’s Creative Director, Alessandro Michele, recently broke his silence regarding plagiarism allegations. Last week, Gucci released a teaser for alien-inspired fall campaign concept on Instagram, which Central Saint Martins student, Pierre-Louis Auvray, claims was stolen from images from his Instagram. Auvray took to Instagram to repost Gucci’s campaign with the caption, “Young creatives struggle enough without big companies shamelessly stealing from them.” Michele spoke to BoF on the issue stating, “It’s not true, it’s something that makes me feel really sad. People build a story around nothing.” The creative director also noted he only learned about Auvray’s Instagram following the allegations and refutes the similarities as simply “obvious” design choices when creating aliens. Michele also discussed his feelings towards Central Saint Martins and Instagram, noting the institution and platform both play a role in warping young designers’ view of the world. Take a look at the Auvray’s claims below and head over to BoF to read Gucci Creative Director, Alessandro Michele’s full response to the plagiarism allegations.

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