The sprawling showroom where Gucci presented its new Pre-Fall collection was entirely covered in a pop-inspired pink wallpaper printed with flying herons. It was the perfect frame for a lineup in which Alessandro Michele’s magpie touch was on full display. From the walls the feathery creatures migrated to bombers, dresses, and bags, morphing into lavish appliqués, intricate embroideries, and shining patchworks. They were joined by a riot of decorations including butterflies, ants, snakes, tigers, swallows, kittens, trees of life, tropical foliage, strawberries, moons, and stars.
The collection read as a cohesive continuum with previous seasons, a testament to the fluid creative flair that Michele seems to possess, one that’s fueled by an intuitive, emotional interpretation of historic and intellectual references. That much was apparent in Michele’s collaboration with the artist Ari Marcopoulos, who shot the lookbook you see here in a setting inspired by a Pompeian villa, shrouded in a nocturnal atmosphere reminiscent of Flemish painting that was rendered decadent, yet sleek with his ultrasharp use of lightning.
If the past is the backdrop upon which Michele paints his vision, it’s imbued with a very modern attitude of individual interpretation. Indeed every item looked like it could be mixed and matched in endless combinations, regardless of season or occasion. (That clever mix is one reason why Gucci’s Milan store is packed day to night.)
Glamorous intarsia fur coats in bright colors were paired with demure, pleated midi skirts printed with a carriage motif evocative of an 18th-century pattern. Fairy evening dresses in tiered tulle were sprinkled with a dusting of glitter and embroidered with whimsical patchworks, and oversize pearls were scattered on the heels of punkish spiky gladiator sandals. A slim shearling coat came bonded in a romantic floral jacquard, complete with an astrakhan collar, thick mink cuffs, and bejeweled frogging. Denim was given a pop ’70s twist with crocheted embroideries; while leather bombers and matching pleated skirts shimmered with metallic accents. The lineup exuded an optimistic eccentricity, it was a true feast for the eyes. Judging by the number of buyers crowding the showroom space, it should be a feast for Gucci’s bottom line as well.
