GUCCI CHANNELS RENAISSANCE ROCK N ROLL
Gucci is the latest major fashion house to host a lavish mid-season event to showcase their Cruise 2018 collection. Creative director Alessandro Michele described the latest Cruise collection as “Renaissance rock ’n’ roll”. The show oozed elaborate romanticism, combining rich embroideries and decorations with a dazzling edge. Essences of Michele’s classic fauna and flora themes were present throughout the collection with musician Francesco Bianconi walking the runway in an elaborate suit crafted out of red rose tapestry.
The collection boasted equally extravagant surroundings, with the show unfolding inside the Palatine Gallery of Palazzo Pitti, which exhibits 500 paintings from the Renaissance period. The room is lined with rainbow coloured pews printed with “A song to Bacchus”, a poem written by the patriarch of the Renaissance, Lorenzo de’ Medici.
The fashion show has a altruistic edge as it is part of the grande cultural project “Primavera di Boboli”, which is committed to restoring and maintaining the Pitti Palace that overlooks the Boboli Gardens. Gucci has donated over 2 million euros to the project and will continue their financial commitment over the next few years.
Despite Gucci being based in Florence, collections have not been previewed in the city since 1995. Alessandro Michele articulates his commitment to Florence as one of the most fascinating metropolises of the past, describing a deep connection with the classical pieces that are rooted in European culture.
The audience was comprised of select industry insiders including the ultimate super pal of Michele, Jared Leto, who suitably arrived in a floor length pink velvet jacket. Elton John sat front row sporting a dark jacket laden with a sequinned lizard crawling across one side, whilst singer Beth Ditto wore a crystal encrusted jacquard silk suit accessorised with a oriental bamboo fan. Gucci even averted the mundanity of paper invitations by sending the refined selection of attendees a personalised embroidered cap!
Images courtesy of Gucci, and Jared Leto.