“I didn’t realise I was waiting for this until I saw it, do you know what I mean?” Florence Welch – musician, muse and newly unveiled Gucci watches and jewellery ambassador – is discussing Alessandro Michele’s design vision for the Italian house, and in doing so might have just summed up the entire fashion industry’s mindset, too. When Michele emerged into the spotlight back in January 2015, stepping up to replace a just-departed Frida Giannini, his androgynous, bohemian vision pumped much-needed lifeblood through the veins of Milan Fashion Week. In the 18 months that have followed, the world has been witness to full-blown Gucci mania – and from smash-hit campaigns to his fair share of catwalk copies, the ‘Michele Effect’ has been impossible to ignore.

It’s certainly not been lost on Welch, who today is on her home turf to celebrate her appointment with the brand, which is also creating wardrobes for her upcoming tour. The Florence + the Machine singer has had her eye on Michele from the beginning, having been tipped off by a friend at the house that the then-unknown designer, dramatically creating a debut collection in just a few weeks, had been soundtracking his work with her album How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful. “Obviously, I was really interested to see what the collection was like – when I saw it I loved it. I found it fascinating and I really wanted to meet him,” she recalls. For Welch, known for her own brilliantly unique dress sense, the new-look Gucci was enthralling – “a celebration of the whimsical and the eccentric and bold”. Below, she discusses working with Michele, the symbolism of his creations, and why she’s in awe of designers.

How did you first meet Alessandro?

Florence Welch: We had arranged to meet but got our hotels mixed up in New York, so we were both walking along the street and I saw this man with, like, a Shakespearean beard and a lot of jewellery – I think I was wearing some kind of red flare, pom-pom waistcoat type thing, and we both checked out each other’s outfits. Then when we did manage to meet in one place, we were like, “Oh, it’s you – I saw your outfit!” We just started chatting and I think we bonded over lots of things – his last collection had influences of Catherine de Medici, who was from a Florentine Renaissance family, and my mother’s a professor of Renaissance history so I’ve been brought up with that in my life too. And we both have a fascination with memento mori jewellery, and a very similar aesthetic... so we had a lot to talk about.

How do you think his personality is reflected in his design?

Florence Welch: It’s amazing that he has this whole world inside of him that we’re only just now getting to see. That was in there the whole time! He must have just been bursting because it’s a really fully formed universe. I think what’s so nice about it is that the collections all blend; there’s not one collection and then he changes his identity and the next one is totally different. You really feel like he’s giving you a very personal view on clothes, fashion and the things that he loves. So I think it’s a very generous way of working, because it feels like it’s done with a lot of love. You feel like he is really giving you his heart with his collection, that there’s a story. And his celebration of femininity, masculinity and sexuality are quite different, in a way.

“It’s amazing that (Alessandro) has this whole world inside of him that we’re only just now getting to see. That was in there the whole time!” – Florence Welch

What are your favourite elements of Gucci jewellery?

Florence Welch: He uses lots of snakes and bees and flowers – I love all the use of nature and animals. The bees I think are really interesting; they used to be seen as messengers between the living and the dead. Then there are the snakes, which are obviously temptation… so there are those themes that run throughout but there’s always a slight edge to it, which I think he does really beautifully. I can see a flower and it’s pretty but then there’s this idea of decay as well. Nothing is ever too pretty.

How did the process of creating the tour wardrobe unfold?

Florence Welch: It was about taking shapes and themes from the collections and perhaps altering them so they suit the stage. Because I move around so much we needed to find the pieces that would work on stage and then we altered them and chose the colours; we basically remodelled them so they had a lot of freedom of movement and would be easy to perform in.

So perhaps none of those super-high platforms?

Florence Welch: Those are actually quite comfy to walk in, but because I’m tall already they make me enormous! So I’m still barefoot on stage. I haven’t quite managed how to figure out how to do modern dance in platforms.