Alessandro Michele has got us used to runway shows in theatrical settings, bordering on the worlds of art and provocation. Demiurge of a new fashion language, in line with the spirit of the times that echoes various trends, such as gender fluidity, Gucci’s creative director has brought out collections where maximalism flirts with references and pop culture.
The label’s Spring Summer 2020 show opens on a clinical, aseptic scene, with intense lighting, Plexiglass seats and an aquamarine runway resembling an airport conveyer belt. Once again, everything suggests that the fashion show conceived by Michele aims to convey a provocative, polemic message inspired by Paul-Michel Foucault’s “microphysics of powers”.
Fashion has a very specific purpose: it plays a crucial role in anticipating social-cultural changes and emphasizing diversity in all its form by allowing for the creation of individual aesthetic identitities.
It is an instrument to resist power and homogenisation: this is the message projected by the coming and going of barefoot models moved by the catwalk-conveyer belt and wearing uniforms, working attires and restraining clothes, such as straitjackets. Sixty outfits in a gradient of white, cream and beige tones, allegories of a fashion dictated by society that leaves no room for self-expression.
Diversity must be celebrated in spite of all diktats, and that threatened freedom of expression can be rediscovered in fashion, exacerbated in a sort of orgasm – to the point that Michele stamped his bags with “Gucci Orgasmisque”.
As the lights go out at the end of the first part of the show, which displayed costumes off the collection on sale, the real rebellion sparks up: the setting changes appearance and the models dragged around by the belt come out of their immobility to start parading fast.
The Spring Summer 2020 line is inspired by vintage styles, echoes from the ‘70s – the fashion house’s golden years – and Gucci’s 1990s, shaped by Tom Ford’s creativity.
Yet, what truly marks the Spring Summer 2020 line is the sensual twist that Alessandro Michele imposed on the collection. Go-ahead to shimmering, sequined long dresses, petticoat styles and bodysuits paired with leather long gloves, but flare trousers, overcoats and gender-fluid pieces are not lacking either.
Black dominates the collection, alongside a palette of blue and all its shades, colorways inspired by earthy tones and metal hints, while all-over prints have made room to color-blocking.
An eye-catching accessory is bound to become the next summer It piece: a pair of glasses with a maxi chain.
Alessandro Michele has written a new page in Gucci’s history, as the brand ascends higher and higher on the Olympus of fashion.
