ITALIAN fashion house Gucci has announced that from 2017, their men’s and women’s collections will be unified into one genderless show each season. President and CEO of Gucci, Marco Bizzarri, broke the news during his keynote speech at the New York Times International Luxury Conference in Versailles.
Current Creative Director Alessandro Michele seems to be a driving force behind the change, stating “It seems only natural to me to present my men’s and women’s collections together. It’s the way I see the world today. It will not necessarily be an easy path and will certainly present some challenges, but I believe it will give me the chance to move towards a different kind of approach to my story telling.”
Finale at Gucci’s AW16 show in Milan
Bizzarri cited Michele as a key reason for the change, “Alessandro Michele has in fact always presented his men’s and women’s collections together, so this is a very natural progression. Moving to one show each season will significantly help to simplify many aspects of our business. Maintaining two separate, disconnected calendars has been a result of tradition rather than practicality.”
Gucci’s move to unifying their collections comes after Burberry announced they were also doing away with separate shows, shaking up the antiquated fashion system.
Unlike the British brand however, Gucci will not be making their collections immediately available to consumers, with Bizzarri explaining that the lead times were “essential” for the full exploitation of Gucci’s creative and production capabilities. The new system will go into effect in 2017 at Gucci’s new Milan headquarters at Via Mecenate.
by Thomas Marrington