Hannah Goldberg
About Aria
Recently the global fashion powerhouse, Gucci, turned 100 and their celebration for this milestone was nothing short of spectacular. The brand has been working on many exciting collaborations this year, including the recent North Face collab and the new Beloved Campaign featuring celebrities like Harry Styles, James Corden, and more. More recently Gucci released their Fall/Winter 2021 line. The collection was named “Aria” which, directly translated from the Italian language, means ‘something that has a tune or melody". With the entire collection obviously released on screen rather than in person, due to COVID, the brand really walked to the beat of their own drum. The world was greeted by this collection with a 15-minute short film called “Gucci Aria”. It was a masterfully crafted video with beautiful clothes, and even better character by none other than the creative director Alessandro Michele in collaboration with the creative director of Balenciaga, Demna Gvasalia.
Gucci Northface Campaign, January 2021
New Gucci Beloved Talkshow Campaign, April 2021
Fashion Show Hacking
What made this show especially interesting is the fact that Mr. Michelle insisted the collection that featured Balenciaga wasn’t necessarily a collaboration, but rather “hacking”. Mr. Michele wrote the following for Vogue on his “hacking” endeavors with this collection:
“Gucci becomes for me a hacking lab, made of incursions and metamorphoses. I have plundered the nonconformist rigour of Demna Gvasalia (creative director of Balenciaga) and the sexual tension of Tom Ford; I have lingered over the anthropological implications of what shines, working on the brightness of fabrics; I have celebrated the equestrian world of Gucci transfiguring it into a fetish cosmogony; I have sublimated Marilyn Monroe’s silhouette and old Hollywood’s glamour; I sabotaged the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie and the codes of men’s tailoring.”
Taking inspiration from so many brands, amazing creatives in the field and pop culture created these new and reimagined looks that seem fresh, young, colorful, and exciting.
100 Years in the Making
The show is set in a club called “Savoy club”, loosely based off of the Savoy Hotel in London where Guccio Gucci worked prior to creating the brand. The ambiance of this fictional club was also met with modern rap music that pays homage to the brand. Included are Lil Pump’s “Gucci Gang”, “Gucci Flip Flops” by Bhad Bhabie, and “Green Gucci Suit” by Rick Ross, to name a few, further proving how much the brand has immersed itself into popular culture and influence. The collection is unlike any other we have seen from this fashion powerhouse so far. The diamond-encrusted anatomical heart-shaped handbags, double monogram suits, and bedazzled accessories are some of the many looks to get excited about. Coupled with these is the standard 80s futuristic style that Balenciaga always brings to the table made the collection stand out amongst Gucci’s collections in years past. Some of the most notable are the reworked equestrian equipment including harnesses, riding hats branded by the name of the fictional club, riding boots, and whips, all of which have been described by New York Times Fashion as “Horse bits gone fetishistic”. The velvet suits featured are a nod toward the Tom Ford Archives and add a bit of 70s flair to the overall 80s feel that Balenciaga made for this collection, creating the perfect juxtaposition between bright colors and more classic and staple Gucci styles. By the end of the catwalk, the models have reached the doors of the club and swung them open. Upon opening, they reveal a beautiful cottage core gardenscape home to exotic animals. The song “Waiting for the Stars” by Vitalic plays in the background as the models frolic in the field and interact with the animals, presenting us with the fact that fashion can interact with nature and not at the expense of one or the other.
Double the Monogram Double the Genius
The ecstatic energy behind this collection and the debut of Alessandro Michelle’s newly imagined “hacking” methods allowed for the most exciting Gucci show to date. The provocative idea of pulling creative jargon from so many people and areas of expertise ended up producing this beautiful birthday celebration for the brand. While the show had double the monograms it usually would have, it also ended up being double the creative genius and double the fun.
Featured Settings and Looks:
The fictional savoy club that held the show.
Models interacting with animals in the garden outside of the club.
Comments