040 Alexandre Mattiussi - The founder of AMI, A Menswear Brand That Is Everyone's Best Friend

There are some fashion insiders who call Alexandre Mattiussi “a one in a generation” fashion designer. And I would have to agree with that assessment. He is a bit of a fashion unicorn in that, not only is he a down to earth, friendly and gregarious guy who happens to be a very talented fashion designer, he also has a real head for - and a love of - both the business of fashion and the theatricality of it. Born in 1980 in the Normandy countryside, Alexandre studied at the Duperré fashion design school in Paris and decided to specialize in menswear design as he astutely saw that the market was much less saturated than the womenswear market at that time. Early on, back in 2002, he tried his hand at starting his own business, selling t-shirts he had designed but decided to press pause on that adventure to really learn his trade inside the walls of established menswear brands before stepping out on his own. To this end, he worked at Dior’s “30 Montaigne” menswear line and then joined Givenchy where for five years he built up real-world experience as he led the menswear design team before the arrival of Riccardo Tisci at the house. Following that, he had a stint designing for Marc Jacobs Men.It was while at Marc Jacobs, as he was working on some ultra-luxury menswear items, that Alexandre had his sartorial epiphany. The beautiful things he was creating, though he would never be able to afford to buy them, he wanted to create clothing that he would see being worn on the street –c