Gucci spring/summer 2023

Gucci brand is undoubtedly known as one of the greatest fashion giants. For many, it is a true synonym of wealth, elegance and timeless beauty. The Italian fashion house owes its wide audience to the highest quality of the presented collections of clothes and accessories, hand-sewn in Italy. The name Gucci may also be associated with a large number of scandals within the company and within the family, which once brought the company to the verge of bankruptcy.

Today, Gucci is a huge creative force in the fashion industry, its activities are closely followed not only by the entire industry, but also by us, ordinary consumers. It is on this scale that fashion empires present their latest collections, to some extent show us what we will wear in a given season. Creating trends is therefore an essential, but not the only, role of the brand. On the one hand, Gucci boldly intervenes in the world of fashion, presenting more and more innovative and surprising designs, but on the other hand, it constantly demonstrates to the world its own aesthetics loved by thousands.

This fashion approach is identified with the current creative director of the brand, Alessandro Michele, who has been responsible for Gucci’s global image since 2015. Michele himself began his professional career designing accessories for the famous Italian fashion house Fendi. His talent was noticed by Tom Ford, which step by step introduced the young designer to the world of the London Gucci design studio. Over the following years, he held various positions in the company until he finally became the leader of the product offer and was appointed creative director.

“Gucci Twinsburg”

Held every six months Milan Fashion Week it is one of the most important fashion events and therefore a unique opportunity to present new solutions, as it turns out, not only in clothing. The world’s largest brands compete with each other when it comes to the most unusual show conventions, and each season each of them presents a real spectacle combining creation with scenography, light and music.

During this year’s Fashion Week in Milan, Gucci once again shocked the fashion world by presenting its new collection in a rather unusual way. As many as 68 pairs of identical twins took part in the brand’s show. The designer initially created two identical shows, in which models dressed in the same outfits walked separated by a wall. The participants of the show were completely unaware that a similar spectacle was taking place nearby, and the trick was revealed to the audience only when the wall was raised and the identically dressed twins joined hands on the catwalk, holding hands.

Interestingly, out of 68 pairs of identical twins, three pairs come from Poland. On the catwalk we could see the faces of: Oskar and Kacper Grzelak, Oliwia and Natalia Dziadul, and Maria and Małgosia Dmitruk, who are not normally associated with the world of fashion and modeling.

Like two drops of water

The aura surrounding the show was truly magical, and the visually dazzling concept, created around the idea of ​​otherness and identity, delighted the audience and aroused many positive emotions. What inspired Alessandro to create such an extraordinary spectacle? As it later turned out, this topic is very close to the designer because his mother and aunt are also identical twins and, as he himself emphasized many times, in his childhood he called them both “mom”.

It is no wonder that the designer dedicated his work to his mother Eralda and her sister Giuliana with the inspiring words: “All twins from the moment of birth are very aware that they are not at the center of the universe. They learn to live with their other half, their copy. The limits of their corporeality have nothing to do with the limits of their being. I dedicate the collection to my twin mothers – Eralda and Giuliana, who were able to understand life only thanks to the presence of the other.”

Alessandro Michele has been fascinated by twins for years. His penchant for sameness can be seen, for example, in this year’s Costume Institute Metropolitan Museum gala, where he appeared with Jared Leto, styled exactly the same. The same motif was used in the latest Gucci campaign, which featured the timelessly terrifying Grady sisters, twins in matching blue ruffled dresses. So he put it phenomenally also during this year’s Milan Fashion Week.

Of course, the models in the show were not 100% identical. Gucci’s creative director was more interested in creating an illusion of perfect harmony and symmetry. And it certainly worked, the same styling was refined down to the smallest detail, and the models were as similar to each other as possible.

“Ready to wear” clothes

Moving away from the motif of twins, it is worth emphasizing that the spring and summer 2023 collection itself is certainly one of the most interesting. There were plenty of inspirations and references to be found on the catwalk, which I will discuss in a moment. The clothes were presented in the “Ready to wear” style, i.e. intended for everyday wearing by the brand’s consumers. And although, of course, some styles were only part of runway fashion, others could undoubtedly become part of the permanent assortment.

What themes were most prominent? Has Gucci opted for minimalism this time, or maybe exaggerated eccentricity? Let’s follow the “Twinsburg” collection.

As every season, there was no shortage of raw tailoring, a nod to the times of Tom Ford and the classic white set from the 1970s, which reminded us all why Gucci became famous. Eclectic suits were a symbol of the brand’s aesthetics. However, an interesting solution was to combine a suit with underwear with a timeless logo. This time, unconventional elements were used, such as sock garters placed on the legs of suit trousers, which subtly distorted their simple cut.

For contrast, there was also 1980s sportswear with its signature square shoulders in metallic leather, embroidered skirts, mini dresses and gorgeous capes in pink and powder blue. The audience also noticed numerous motifs taken from Asian countries. The models were dressed in clothes resembling traditional Japanese kimonos. Also, symmetrically made decorations such as long earrings and headgear seemed to many to refer to ancient civilizations.

There are many accessories available. In addition to the already mentioned giant necklaces and earrings, the show also featured handbags Mogwais – mythical characters from the 1984 film Gremlins, and most models wore glasses with chains hanging almost to their shoulders.

As we can see, this show focused primarily on design, various motifs taken from both nature and Eastern cultures were vividly intertwined with a range of colors and lush flowers on chiffon dresses. Gucci focused on contrasts, typically elegant haute couture creations appeared next to much more extravagant and avant-garde ones. An explosion of colors, ideas and energy – this is the new collection of the fashion empire.

“Fuori”

This is not the end of the references. In one of the stylings, men’s denim dungarees with the Italian “Fuori” embroidered on them, which refers to a magazine published in the 1970s, played the leading role. ,, Fronte Unitario Omosessuale rivoluzionario italiano’’. This magazine, in turn, was edited by the first homosexual organization in the country fighting against the most right-wing government elected in Italy after World War II. Thus, it was an expression of opposition to the government’s efforts to threaten the LGBTQIA+ community. Alessandro, who was very close to the events of that time, comments on them as follows: “The elections show that freedom is being eroded. There was a time when we achieved a lot, but now it is very complicated. We should not take anything for granted.” This is an extremely neat way to smuggle a political context into fashion, often used by designers.

The new Gucci collection is probably appreciated not only for its incredible innovation and specialized tailoring, but also for the designer’s personal references. Following the brand’s previous collections, you can see that Michele’s work for Gucci has always reflected his own life, but this year’s was his most personal yet. He spoke not only about his twin mothers, but about the long process he went through in therapy, trying to understand his own duality.

All this shows how deep the message was hidden under the headings “duality”, “identity”, “reflection”, which were important to Michell when designing the collection. At the same time, this entire show during Milan Fashion Week shows both the brand’s consumers and the entire industry that Gucci, which is in fact a huge clothing concern, has not lost the fashion spirit it has conveyed over the years.