Since the swift and drastic rebranding of Gucci, thanks to creative director, Alessandro Michele, this previously underrated brand has made leaps and bounds with its most recent seasons—this year’s AW season in particular.
Taking a brand that had already become fiercely rooted in the fashion world and turning it on its head was by no means a lighthearted task for Michele, but that’s exactly what transpired. Gucci had been described as a “sex and money fantasy of luxury” pre-Michele and it has transformed into a plethora of genderless idiosyncrasies constructed as a greater collective vision.
Under the harsh fluorescents of a staged, sterile-looking operating room and filled to the brim with eager influencers a newer, stronger era of Gucci was born. Michele wanted to represent the creative laboratory that he has in his head, much like a surgeon’s playground.
The underlying inspiration for this line comes from the idea that Michele describes as “[being] the Dr. Frankenstein of our lives,” according to Vogue. It is a concept that translates a greater narrative about individualism and deconstruction through the mode of fashion with a retrograde focus on an aesthetic that made the 70’s look like they were full of enchantment.
The Highlights
A lot of the looks were seemingly sealed with sheer suiters which insinuated that the models presenting the looks were figments in the mind of Michele—as if they were his original, unedited ideas becoming fully realized within his brain.
Many of the looks were topped off with head coverings, ornate balaclavas or eccentric eyewear that appeared to hide the face intentionally as if the subject was using the pieces to conceal surgical wounds as they heal.
But the most talked about feature of Gucci’s presentation was the handcrafted, hyper-realistic sculptures that a select few models carried with them down the runway. Some mythical creatures, some exotic animals and some exact replicas of the models’ decapitated heads. Why? Why not?
Out of the 90 looks in total that were showcased, each one of them harbored its own individually specific beauty that could be translated to represent a multitude of expressions depending on how it is looked at.
It’s the detail behind all of his thoughts that allows Michele to create such immense glamour.
