We need to talk about the Gucci show
From New York to London and now we are heading to Milan, because the Gucci show cannot be missed. Against a wall of 120,000 LED lights, Alessandro Michele sent his models down the runway, but something was missing here and there. And face. Something that the invite might have hinted at, as it came in the form of the mask of Hermaphroditus. Right, the god who was female with male private parts in Greek mythology.
Just when the tensions were somewhat calmed around the racist sweater, for which official apologies have been made, the brand is now taking away the identity of models. Not everyone is charmed by this. Gucci is a leader in gender neutrality, the individual, which makes this move striking. In the show notes, the mask was explained as: “The Mask as a Cut Between Visible and Invisible.” And they were invisible. Apparently, big names walked, but little was heard about that. Gucci itself calls it ‘playing with the magical ambiguity of masks that create an opportunity to rediscover the creative roots of our lives.’
One bursts into applause because an identity does not influence the collection, while another finds it absurd that you are asked to give up your face, because then an exhibition with hangers would have sufficed. ‘Carnival started early this year’ and ‘Gucci was a masked ball’ were headlines in the media. Micha Emmering from Boutique Talent Management Micha Models, where you also know Maartje Verhoef and Jessie Bloemendaal from, did not hold back on Instagram. She empathizes with the models who work so intensely hard to be allowed to walk and ultimately end up unrecognizable on the catwalk. And if you ask me, that is quite sad for the models who hid behind the masks.
Furthermore, there was lace, we saw knee pads, voluminous pants that sometimes end tight around the ankles and sometimes do not, suits, and long coats. But the show ultimately felt a bit uncomfortable, with the light, the mirrors, the spikes, and the roar that filled the pauses of the music. Whatever you thought of it, Alessandro Michele's Gucci is once again the talk of the town.
