Valentino’s Alessandro Michele shines from the heights of haute couture

Alessandro Michele’s stream-of-consciousness thought process was ticker-taped on a screen behind the Valentino haute couture collection in Paris. Photograph: Daniele Venturelli/Getty for Valentino

There was never much doubt that Alessandro Michele – one of fashion’s biggest personalities and a man with a passion for capes, hats, pearls, pleats, bows, ruffs, lace and embroidery – would take to the world of haute couture like a duck to water.

Michele became a star designer during his time at Gucci, but a new job at the house of Valentino has given him a shot at haute couture, the Champions League elite of fashion, where each dress is made to order with hundreds of hours of work, all done by hand.