Viva the Gucci Noughties and Aught-ies.
After the lackluster fall 2023 men’s collection, Gucci’s first without Alessandro Michele at the helm, the design team looked back to the Tom Ford-era glory days for inspiration for women’s, only playing it safer than the famous hedonist. Bah.
Cue the first look, a teenie tiny chain mesh GG bra top, worn with a black duchesse satin skirt and opera gloves. It wasn’t difficult to imagine Victoria De Angelis, sitting front row with the rest of her band, rocking that on a red carpet, which is a win.
Indeed, if Gucci has been struggling with revenues as of late, its celebrity capital is still intact (minus Michele twin Jared Leto). At the show on Friday, there were no less than two dozen stars (Dakota Johnson, A$AP Rocky, Beth Ditto, Julia Garner…) sitting on the sustainable leather banquettes in the show space, which was kitted out like a lounge with plush chartreuse carpeting and two sunken conversation pits full of influencers.
Models emerged from a bank of elevators as if they’d just finished being assembled downstairs in the Gucci lab (or archives).
It’s true there wasn’t anything particularly new or directional here, but it was a smart placeholder until the brand’s new creative director Sabato de Sarno begins.
Gucci from the ‘90s and early 2000s has been hot on the vintage market, with Bella Hadid, Rihanna and Miley Cyrus among the celebrities who have worn the cutout gowns, feathered jeans and burnout velvet minidresses that helped Ford define a fashion era.
This collection didn’t revisit all that but it did bring up memories of Drew Barrymore and Gwyneth Paltrow when they were bad girls with over-plucked eyebrows, in velvet hip-huggers and satin shirts unbuttoned down to there, skimpy sheer tops and column skirts that should be commercial hits once again. They looked good.
There was some of the lingerie and fetish wear from back when, too, only more carefully presented. (That was pre-cancel culture, after all.) A GG thong peeking out from under a fuchsia duchesse satin Empire gown slit up the side, and a sheer blush sequined slip with blue tights showing through were more romantic than raunchy.
More importantly, for the bottom line at least, were all the horse bit-adorned skinny belts, worn low slung, and of-the-moment crescent bags. (It’s the 70th anniversary of the Gucci horsebit this year.) Those should get cash registers humming, too.
Accessories were a noticeable focus, with a bounty of kitten heels with Dionysius hardware, fur-lined thong sandals, horse bit chukka boots, and Gucci-branded Moon Boots inspired by the ’60s (and Lady Gaga stomping around wearing similar ones in St. Moritz in “House of Gucci,” perhaps).
The team also clocked the more-is-more spirit of the Michele years, peppering in crystal mesh skirts, leggings, acid bright faux furs, costume-y feather hats, and rhinestone fringe earrings for the look-at-me set. And judging from the clients peacocking before the show in headpieces, kooky glasses and dresses with trains, maximalism should have some part in the future of Gucci.
On the classic side was some solid tailoring, particularly a pale gray calfskin pantsuit with a boxy double-breasted blazer and trousers ending over red pumps, that honored the house’s leather legacy, and a slouchy brown blazer and baggy jeans with lug boots look that could have come from the Julia Roberts ’90s style file. The house also brought back Ford-era model Amy Wasson, who epitomized the nonchalance of that time period in a trench coat with a new supersized Jackie bag slung over her arm. That kind of dressing has also been in the air this season.
How all these impulses coalesce into a way forward for Gucci remains to be seen.
The whole design team came out for the final bow, including some who have been with the house through the generations. While they weren’t able to match the heady luxury, raw emotion or storytelling of the house’s creative directors, it was enough for now to keep Maneskin moving to the Gucci music in their front seats.
