It was apparent at Gucci that it was indeed a new era for them. With their former creative director Frida leaving earlier than planned, the design team spearheaded by Alessandro Michele -head of Accessories at Gucci- had only 5 days to create an entirely new collection totally scrapping what was supposed to be Frida’s last creative effort. The change that everyone was yearning for was indeed delivered in double dose.
It was a shocking collection to most people who are familiar with the brand, especially under its last creative director. However it was brilliant in many ways. Firstly it was intentionally genderless. There were even a couple of female models on the catwalk for effect. Blouses with tie collars in silk and chiffon showed up on the runway. Lace tops, back button closure, crop knitwear, high waist trousers and all the punk rock aesthetic style nodes were present.
There was loads of references to Gucci’s iconic aesthetic codes like the horse bit and the interlocking GG belt buckles but they weren’t stale re-interpretation of previous existing designs in albeit different colours. For once, Gucci created new accessories. People could argue that there was a bit of Dries van Noten, JW Anderson or Loewe in the collection but it was still unmistakably Gucci.
