Hooray for Hollywood

DUBBED Gucci Love Parade, this collection was presented last November in spectacular style in Los Angeles: The Italian fashion powerhouse had Hollywood Boulevard closed off for the occasion — hundreds of guests took their seats in director’s chairs on the sidewalk, with tourist landmarks such as the Grauman’s Chinese Theater as a backdrop, and the Walk of Fame, as a red carpet. Hollywood was the inspiration, as well as the setting, for this blockbuster.

Never one to shy away from being literal, Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele had Hollywood on the catwalk, inviting movie stars to take VIP seats at the 115 looks, in-person show. Michele’s doppelganger Jared Leto, who also appears in Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci, walked the runway, along with Jodie Turner-Smith, Jeremy Pope, Macaulay Culkin, Phoebe Bridgers and Miranda July, among more than 100 models.

The cast embraced every shape and size, age, race and, strikingly, gender so fluid and varied that it would tick every Woke box there is – and then some. They were cheered on by the likes of Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus, Lizzo, Salma Hayek (wife of François-Henri Pinault, president of Kering, which owns Gucci), and Gwyneth Paltrow, who appeared in the front row dressed in a refreshed version of the iconic Tom Ford-designed red Gucci suit she wore in 1996.

“I chose Hollywood as it reflects my uncurbed love for the classical world. Hollywood is, after all, a Greek temple populated by pagan divinities,” said Michele in the show notes. “Here, actors and actresses are mythic heroes: hybrid creatures both divine and mortal at the same time; They are the idols of a new contemporary cosmogony. Beyond reach, and yet, so human.”

This statement translates into the familiar parade of Michele’s vision, eccentric modern demigods, all dressed in retro-inflected separates that disrupt old ideas about what is appropriate for day and night, fancy and casual, or male and female – a pastiche of references to Hollywood fashion of the pre-CGI era.

There were fur stoles (faux, of course) stolen from Jean Harlow, and Mae West evening gowns with plunging necklines dripping with bugle beads; There were gilded Cleopatra caftans and beaded headdresses fit for Elizabeth Taylor, and opera-length gloves of the Rita Hayworth years, in satin, latex or lace; the razor-sharp tailoring of Cary Grant, Gary Cooper and Clark Gable was transformed with newly curvy proportions, and in duchess satin in jazzy colours. Gigantic Myrna Loy corsages bloomed on expansive lapels. It was a burlesque dressing room explosion of sequins, feathers and ruffles that just managed to keep their cool by deftly modern styling.

That meant an utterly correct 3-piece suit in a monochrome check worn with electric green hair, or an Orson Welles bowtie enlarged into a butterfly bow, or with velvet ends streaming gaily. Checked blazers of the sort that might have made you look like Humphrey Bogart, were enlivened with zippered lurex leggings (with stirrups!) and technical trainers. Bra tops from Madonna’s Blonde Ambition years, underscored diaphanous Marilyn Monroe dresses – add bondage details, and an unlikely androgynous model. When all else failed, the look was given a kick with a hefty Stetson hat straight out of Dallas.

It was bracing that reference was made to the work of Tom Ford, whose acrimonious departure from Gucci in 2004, after 15 years at the brand’s helm as creative director, had made him persona non grata - until now. This season’s flashes of genius were most apparent in Ford-era dinner suits worn with bike shorts, or 3-piece satin suits that Marlene Dietrich might have worn - but with a corset top.

The collection is also a tribute to Michele’s mother, who worked in the film industry as an assistant in a production company. “I remember all the stories she told me about that dream factory. Everything felt like a fairy tale that pierced the greyness of my childhood. Those stories were my escape, my desertion. HOLLYWOOD seemed like a bright and shiny star. I thought about the worship of beauty my mum fed me with… the bright, manufactured side of glamour and the tacky, all-too-real flip side,” wrote Michele, in a personal note.

BELOVED BAGS

Along with the Hollywood-inspired, ready-to-wear collection, Gucci launched a selection of its iconic handbags, updated in shiny silver leather.

Echoing the Hollywood glamour presented at the show, they referenced the house’s past, but are contemporary updates by Alessandro Michele of Gucci’s iconic pieces.

The new bags include:

Jackie 1961

A Gucci icon, this hobo bag with its curved half-moon shape and its defining piston hardware, is brought back into the limelight in silver; the detachable shoulder strap adds a contemporary feel to the accessory beloved of Jackie Onassis.

Gucci Diana

Reflective of its era, this bamboo handled tote was first presented by the House in 1991. In the 90s, Diana, Princess of Wales, was often photographed carrying the bag. Although it instantly became associated with her, it was not officially renamed Gucci Diana until 2021.

Gucci Bamboo 1947

In the scarcity of the postwar years, Guccio Gucci, founder of Gucci, created this iconic bag in response to rationing during World War II. When materials were in short supply, Gucci imported bamboo from Japan, using it to fashion the distinctive handles. The unexpected material made this bag immediately recognisable and popular with stars such as Ingrid Bergman and Elizabeth Taylor.