Fashion to the max

In Los Angeles, California, while many kids are into videogames or TikTok, 10-year-old Max Alexander has another idea of fun.

Believing that he was Guccio Gucci, House of Gucci’s Italian eponymous founder, in his past life, Max started sewing and designing at four years old. In an interview, Max’s mom joked that he was the reincarnation of “The Czar of Fashion,” Karl Lagerfeld.

Both Max and the late German designer were child prodigies — but Karl didn’t start designing until he was 21 or 22, when he won the coat category of the 1954 International Wool Secretariat prize. Also, Lagerfeld had to go through as assistant to fashion legend Pierre Balmain and top designer and creative director to other fashion houses like Patou, Chloé, Fendi and Chanel, before making it with his own namesake brand.

That Max Alexander also has in his name the name of another child prodigy, fashion’s enfant terrible Alexander McQueen, is no coincidence.

Max, however, already has his own label at only the age of 10: couture.to.the.max. Prior to this, the Guiness World Record recognized him as the youngest runway fashion designer in 2023.

The following year, in 2024, the United Nations invited Max to talk about his key competitive advantage as designer — sustainable design.

“I am happy I got to show the world my designs and maybe encourage people to think about reuse and not buying so much fast fashion,” he said, elaborating on his talk on how to prevent over-consumption of textiles and fashion waste.

Just last 3 March, Max debuted at the Paris Fashion Week as its youngest designer, carrying with him his sustainable cause for the Women’s Ready-to-Wear Fall/Winter 2026–2027 collection presented at Palais Garnier, the historic opera house built by Emperor Napoleon III and the setting of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic musical The Phantom of the Opera.

Inspired by creative recycling and florals, the collection included an Indian sari upcycled into an asymmetrical gown and French military parachute and old Hermès duster bags repurposed into a dress.

“My collection consists of 15 dresses and they’re all, well, 90 percent of my show is biodegradable, recyclable, sustainable, made from dead stock and surplus,” Max told CBS News about his debut collection that builds on his sustainability ethos.

“Most designers start with sketches. Max starts with fabric. A few yards of forgotten Italian silk turned into a Paris runway dress. Watching his ideas come to life never stops feeling a little magical,” an Instagram post showing him draping a piece for his collection said.

Also on Instagram, Max expressed gratitude for his new milestone: “Grateful to those who believed in him from the beginning.”