He was "a man of lean build, and patrician nose, tall, wearing a cleverly cut coat and trousers too tight." The tightness of the trousers was to distract from the smoothness of the leg movements. Alessandro dressed and spoke as an Englishman, but he didn't actually look like one "boasting a long line of ancestors who had invested heavily in being dark, hook-nosed and brooding". He was also quite a dandy, and his nickname from public school was 'Sandy Dandy the Italian', which he personally hated. He frequently included detailed descriptions of his latest fashion purchases in his journals.