“To turn things upside down”. “To bring out the entrails of fashion”. This is Alessandro Michele’s intent. And perhaps it always has been. Five years ago he reinvented Gucci’s style, and they said it was “disruptive”.
Friday, July 17, 2020, in the post-pandemic era that need to be redefined, as well as at the end of Milan Digital Fashion Week, the designer launched himself at full speed in a new revolutionary experiment: Gucci Epilogue. Lasted continuously for 12 hours. Live. Streaming.
We bring out the entrails of fashion
“We turned the gut upside down and brought out the innards of fashion – said Michele during the presentation film, aired on the online platform of Milan Digital Fashion Week -. This is an experiment: I don’t assure anyone, I don’t know what will happen”.
The experimentation took shape from the morning with a 12-hour streaming marathon that showed the backstage of a fashion show in the rooms of Palazzo Sacchetti in Rome. The brand’s collaborators act as models: from kidswear designer Olivia, to handbag designer Beatrice, to ready-to-wear designer Donna Shane.
Freedom of expression
“Not only I was being courageous, I understood that I had to do what I felt – explained Gucci’s creative director in the presentation video -. My work is so beautiful that I told myself that I had to investigate passion even more. That passion produced the idea that I could really do what I wanted from an expressive point of view”.
Gucci Epilogue
A long live streaming (starting at 8.00AM on Friday morning) which for 12 hours showed live the preparation for the fashion show. A backstage shown in its details, like a Big Brother shot behind the scenes of the fashion show. From makeup to setting up spaces. From fitting lights to fitting models. Insiders who move with visors and masks, sanitise their hands and carry out their work in complete normalcy, regardless of the cameras.
Gucci Epilogue was the final chapter of Michele’s narration, “the final cut of a fairy tale” (as defined in the video. A project dedicated to the multi-level ritual of designing, creating, staging and displaying a fashion show”.
“Reverse fashion”
At 2PM the streaming aired (also) on the platform of Camera Nazionale della Moda. Audio and image contributions have appeared on the screen, as on the desktop of an old computer. First of all, those by designer Alessandro Michele. Then the lookbook of the collection. Then brothers Fabio and Damiano D’Innocenzo, Roman directors who inspired Michele. Finally, photographer Alec Soth.
The interventions, revealed as pop ups, were messages of reflection on the change in aesthetics. Concepts, new points of view and ways of experiencing beauty and, specifically, fashion. The choral expression of a philosophy of change.
The collection
Presentation did not take away space from the products, which appeared in the form of an animated digital lookbook. A mix of retro-style styles, a kaleidoscope of colours and patterns, where the many floral prints of the 70s met paintings, velvets, chamois and optical or starry patterns. About footwear: python boots with white or burgundy leather heels, wedge sandals as well as moccasins worn with socks.
About accessories: shoulder bags with a classic shape, in a multicolour version, raffia and leather buckets, exotic leathers, cases and suitcases with the classic Gucci Monogramm with floral designs. Sneakers become casual-runner models.
Read also:
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