Gucci. Fall 2020. Men's - Milan Fashion Week

Images from the designer and the public domain. Credited to the photographer/company where applicable: Gorunway.com)

Gucci is undoubtedly becoming one of the most interesting brands at the moment, it is relatively newish within the time line of the prestige fashion houses of yesteryear.  Founded in 1921 under the original founder Guccio Gucci (d1953) – its imprint on fashion particularly the symbolism of its namesake branding holds a defined exclusivity.  Owned by the multinational French conglomerate Kering, the rise of Gucci in the last five years is owed soley to the current creative director Alessandro Michele's focused determination in reworking aspects of the brand name, whilst paying homage to the past. In 2015 Kering's share price was at 164 Euros, after five years it is now at 595 with over 240% growth, the multi branded powerhouse has shown an incredible rise in profits over the tenure of Michele's brilliance with Gucci, in tandem he has ridden its wave of share price accession.  We are all living under the bubble of stock market expectations, as global trade and (as discussed in my Louis Vuitton Pre Fall review) is completely reliant  on China for consumption, particularly in respect to Kering, for the luxury market to be as poignant.  Beyond any cynicism, this is a reality and it poses an interesting dilemma to the classification and distinction of fashion, more so for the established designer fashion brands when it needs the continued credit expansion of Chinese buyers.  Michele is, in my opinion, aware of this paradox in maintaining an originality without selling out to mega buyer expectations.  Which, in a contradictorily aspect, can be solved by newer markets developing in the West, hungry for the backdated designer styles and in turn this desire has created, although not a widespread phenomenon, 'Thrift' and recycled clothing sellers under the auspiciousness of slow fashion; have eagerly filled the gap in consumption, but with lessor of a price tag. 

Michele's Fall 2020 collection in light of the Pre Fall styles, has the designer experimenting with the theme of time and the perspectives of time-times, in similarity to Neil Barrett's Fall showing, utilizing time as an imprint on reality.   Which could turn out to be one of the intellectual runway trends for 2020.  These idealisms of utilizing past to present concepts, maybe designers looking back over their accolades as time does without a consciousness, erodes all.  Michele added to his latest runway show a Pendulum, which as it swung back and forth drawing very gentle liner patterns in the sand below, referring to different points in time.  The symbolism fell under his “revise and reconsider” concept of fashion and this is what makes Michele's focus as a master designer significant, he doesn't , in quoting his show remarks: “...cling to the past”, he uses it “...as an interesting space…” within its timeline. 

The “revise and reconsider” of Michele's Gucci is not a deconstruction of masculinity.  One of the chief fallacies of post graduates and the like, was a focused attempt at breaking down the iconic of the masculine, when in actuality, without surprise, were unable to hold any coherency in this embarking on formulating the postmodern as a newer trend to sell onto male styles.  Chasing markets with an idealism that originated from a post University template in a bubble economic world, ended up becoming empty handed, rather Michele has, thankfully, intellectualized masculinity as a complex array, rather than a cheapened pop culture fixture of novelizations.  To which he offered in dialog for his Fall 2020 collection: “That this is not a narrative that excludes or rules out mainstream masculinity, on the contrary, I want to talk about how complex it is to be a man.” More importantly he expressed “...because the world of men is very diverse and full of different elements."   

The Fall collection plays out open minded yet is decisive in its expectations, the appeal of recycled and second thrift styles are clearly evident throughout, with a homage to the grudge looks of the early 90s before the sports and street wear styles replaced them in earnest.  Mostly fine wools and plaid styles, blazer and coats with some Women's spring styles intermixed throughout the men's collection.  Michele's creativity and mastery in developing styles of past decade and updating them into a current manifestation is astounding.