Gucci gave creative director Alessandro Michele free rein to do what he wanted for his AW16 men’s collection. From look one through to look 57, this proofed to be a wise move.
Recharging Italian fashion even further with a new-new romance creative director Alessandro Michele once again looked straight to the seventies, revelling in chintzy, over-saturated, dusty velvet motifs, reinstating the kind of imagery that brings to mind Marisa Berenson’s Vogue covers of yore, in a way only Michele can.
Sending it out all with a completely fresh take, from the capes to the head-to-toe florals collided with denim and velour and the multiple frays, fringes and mink trims, this was clothing that one, be you man, woman, child or François-Henri Pinault, can’t help but get overly excited about.
Parading on like a kaleidoscope of vaguely Kubrick-esque interiors, a sense that Michele is getting increasingly comfortable shone through, and not in the chinoiserie fur-lined silk pyjamas teamed with a salmon pink animal-head beanie and Snoopy-the-dog prints, as much as that made us chuckle.
Instead Michele is single-handedly mastering a kind of style which makes Gucci luxury feel more elusive but at the same time comprehensible for all, he’s in on it and we are too. There really is some kind of magic about all of it and no amount of pondering over historical references, from Gucci’s firm roots in the seventies jet-set and Michele’s interpretation of this, to the niggling parallels between his work and that of vanguard designers such as Schiaparelli, can make us any more excited than looking anywhere else but to the future of this fashion house.
by Liam Feltham
Images courtesy of Gucci