Gucci has redefined the rules of gender fashion in their fall/winter catalogue 2015. The recently appointed Creative Director Alessendro Michele has taken an electric new direction for the label. Michele flouts the conventions of gender style with a provocative collection of ready to wear androgynous ensembles. The catalogue is an aesthetic omelette of multi-dimensional fashion.
Was it a man or a woman wearing a tailored olive green leather suit with a black ribbon tie and a beige hang bag? Or the model wearing a pink ruffled blouse and tailored red trousers? Each piece exhibited in the catalogue complements and antagonises one another, pushing the gender blur further into new territory. The ready to wear collection ranged far and wide at Gucci’s runway show in Milan with many of the models genders a mystery. Gucci dressed their models in eccentric military coats, fur lined loafers and botanic patterned suits. A major shift in gendered fashion is afoot, with Gucci’s 2015 fall/winter catalogue embracing the unisex cultural movement. The term ‘unisex’ represents a new notion of evolution and fashion offers a powerful aperture for this movement to express itself.
“People are ready to change the way they look,” Alessandro Michele, the creative director of Gucci, said backstage of the Milan show. “Fashion is not just a story about a dress or azure blue is the color of the season. It can translate a lot of things.” – Alessandro Michele
The gender felxible collection has caused a fashion snafu as the showcase wanders from Gucci’s signature ‘glam’ style. Michele’s designs redefine the rigid traditions of male and female fashion by evoking a unisex ambiance. Gucci has resisted the recent ‘minimalist’ fashion trend, instead brings bizarre back to the runway. Michele’s eccentric vision offers a change in mood in contrast to the more quiet fashion style’s that have flooded runways over the last 12 months. “It is not very easy to try to do something different,” – Alessandro Michele
Michele’s decision to transform the labels image was not only limited to the garments. He rearranged the seating layout of the fashion show and constructed a square runway to give a metro-station atmosphere. The designer also featured mostly unknown models.
“Sensuality is something that is inside of you,” explained Michele when asked about his androgynous inspired designs. “Because there are a lot of really beautiful girls that can look like a man and also men look like a woman. It’s the story of the world. It is the life.” – Alessandro Michele
