The density of creative detail in Alessandro Michele’s GUCCI Resort 2017 collection, presented in June, is astounding.
The audacious giddy complexity of it evokes Brittania, skinhead bovver boy, late 80s acid-house rave-wear and all the chic’s, from geek and nana to shabby. In fact, it’s a collection that references a seemingly never-ending palette, like one of those kaleidoscopic Mandelbrot patterns projected onto a wall at a party that keeps drawing you in hypnotically to a central point, only to repeatedly reveal fresh delights anew.
Don’t worry if you’re thinking, ‘But where’s the Gucci in it all?’ Floral prints designed exclusively for the house in the 60s are mixed up with oversized GG logo belts, the eponymous bamboo handle for accessories and details like serpent clasps and bumble bees can be found throughout.
I have a friend who told me she lets her 8-year-old select whatever she wishes to wear and that she’s often pleasantly surprised at their outfit selections. She supposes it’s an insight into the creative wonder of an open, unbiased, unaffected outlook. One that perhaps a mature mind would struggle to conceive because, she suggests, it’s bogged-down with orthodox styling combinations.
Michele’s GUCCI collection seems anything but bogged down; it’s everything at once, suggesting there’s always the potential for stylish distinctiveness in the choices we make in front of the wardrobe mirror each morning; that it’s okay to throw caution to the wind. Asked why he chose London and the Abbey, the enthusiastic Michele threw his arms to the vaulted roof: “The punk, the Victorian, the eccentric—with this inspiration, I can work all my life!”
It expresses an intense joyfulness at being a serious fashion collection but ingeniously, at the same time is one without the droll hang-ups of being so superbly and uniquely on-trend. It’s a look for our age, and one that I’ll definitely be going back to time and again for personal inspiration – I love it.
