What is a mask – an attempt to hide your face or attract attention to yourself? Similar considerations shared behind the scenes of the show of Gucci Clothes by Alessandro Michele.
Impressed by the ideas of the philosopher Hannah Arendt, who considered the fundamental characteristic of society to achieve a balance between publicity and privacy, the designer continues to reflect on duality – including gender.
So, if you distract from the masks on the faces of the models (they will not be on sale) and look at the clothes, it will become clear why the designer dressed the girls in baggy men’s suits, and the boa made of colored fur supplemented the male images.
However, the new Gucci collection, in comparison with the previous ones, is still a little less crazy and shocking. The designer made a bet on the fashion of the 70s with her indispensable attributes: velveteen, lace, and naive mini-dresses.
How was the fashion show in 2020?
In 2020, the Gucci show ended in Milan. The show was held under the hashtag #RaveLikeYouAreFive – this year Alessandro Michele celebrates five years as the creative director of the brand. In the notes to the show, it was said about toxic masculinity – that it fuels violence and sexism: “It’s time to honor the freedom of self-determination without social restrictions, authoritarian sanctions and stifling stereotypes. A man who can reunite with his tenderness and fragility. ” The pendulum in the center of the podium symbolically fluctuated between extremes – male and female.
The girls in the show looked like guys, guys – on the contrary, wore short doll dresses with white collars. Embroidered seals on sweaters, lollipop costumes, and iridescent necklaces also fought toxic masculinity in the new collection. There were also shirts with a deep neckline emphasizing the chest (which is important for men) and jeans at a very low waist. In the final, the models went under the waltz of Shostakovich.
2020: Year of Freedom and Outrageous
If anyone supports the trend of Milan Fashion Week for sexuality, then this is Gucci. Along with two-piece suits clasped under the throat, unambiguously explicit fashionable images of latex, chiffon, and lace appeared on the catwalk. Peignoirs alternated with dresses with original cutouts in the form of flowers, formal suits, and images, in which the influence of the uniform of the workers was read. Accessories seemed to enclose models in a cocoon – gloves, hats, wide glasses and of course wide collars, chokers made of different materials and large plastic chains hanging from the arches of glasses – all this seemed to “chained” them to their looks.
But the most controversial part of the show was its final. Models in white clothes, resembling hospital gowns and straitjackets, entered the catwalk. In a white room of almost hospital cleanliness, where the models moved along a travelator with transparent handrails, it looked provocative and frightening. The model Ayesha Ten Jones, who participated in the show, was outraged by such fashionable images and appeared on the podium with raised hands, on the open palms of which was written: “mental health is not fashion” (“mental health is not fashion”). Jones called her to protest peaceful and urged Gucci not to use clothes that became a symbol of stigmatization of people with mental difficulties for fast fashion. After the show, Alessandro Michele said that he did not want to hurt anyone, and straitjackets should have become an absolute symbol of the uniform that fetters people.