A seven-year-old US boy, Max Alexander, who thinks that he has a deep connection to designer, businessman and the founder of Gucci, has been making clothes for celebrities across the globe, as per a report in People Magazine. He told the magazine with confidence that he was Guccio Gucci in a past life. "I actually was," he said. The child prodigy has been designing, creating and selling outfits since he was four years old.
Sherri Madison, Max's mother, stated she didn't notice her son's design talents until he expressed an interest in dressmaking at the age of four. "I didn't notice. He told us. We were at dinner during the lockdown, and he just literally announced, 'I need a mannequin'," she recalled.
The woman further said, "He was very serious. No laughing. I was like, 'Okay, I've never seen you interested in fashion. What are you talking about?' He said, 'That's because I don't have a mannequin. If you get me a mannequin, I'll show you. I'm a dressmaker'."
Ms Madison, a cardboard artist, then made her son his first mannequin out of cardboard. She added that his work took off after that and he "just started making dresses". She described the activity as "the craziest thing".
"I ran and got my husband. I was like, 'Come out of your office, you have to see what Max is doing. It's crazy,'" she told the outlet. Although the boy had no exposure to fashion, his mother claims "it runs in his genes". "His grandparents were in the fashion business in Montreal. My grandparents and my mom were all sewists, but Max didn't know any of that, it came out of nowhere," she said.
Soon after, he started creating outfits out of knots and tape and was taught to sew by a professional. His parents purchased him a real mannequin once his designs improved. At the age of five, he organised his first fashion show, as per a video posted on his Instagram account.
"He wants women to feel beautiful and that's the drive behind it. He's never expressed any interest in wearing the dresses himself. He doesn't make men's wear. He really wants women of all sizes to feel beautiful," she told the outlet.
At such a young age, "the self-taught designer" has already created over a hundred designs, marketed his work abroad, hosted fashion events and even commissioned a jacket for actor Sharon Stone, as per People Magazine. "He wants to be the head of the house of Gucci or he wants to have his own atelier, Couture to the Max Italian," his mother concluded.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world