Gucci stargate

In the finale of the Gucci show at Castel del monte, the universe seemed to be sucked into the manor's octagonal courtyard. «This space really evokes a funnel between two universes,» creative director Alessandro Michele explained, bringing to mind Roland Emmerich's Stargate. As if he were a pied piper, Michele seemed to summon the stars from the sky all at once and channel their power into one spot, then blast them out and disseminate wonder. This is the effect created by the videos projected on the castle facades and the irrepressible light coming from the entrance. It all started about an hour earlier, when the lights of the sunset gave way to the full moon, with the octagonal silhouette of the stone fortress as its set. The big Gucci «Cosmogonie» fashion show (a co-ed and seasonless collection that will go on sale this winter) kicked off amid the rolling hills of Apulia, moved by a robust breeze through the pine trees. On the seats, a special bag contained an optical pashmina for the guests. From inside the building, the models emerged as if from a cosmic womb to walk the catwalk that circled all around Federico II’s manor house, called stupor mundi in his lifetime.

In this case, it turns to stupor Gucci. «This is a magical place. The measurements of these walls are as magical as the measurements of the jackets or the necklines. Stones and stitches," the designer continued.» In these Federico II’s buildings, I see a kind of Silicon valley of his time. I imagine a cool, cosmopolitan court of his». The name "Cosmogonie" is more a reference to constellations of meanings than to stars. An interweaving of signs that, according to the creative, recalls Hannah Arendt's reflections on the thought of historian and philosopher Walter Benjamin, who committed suicide in 1940 because Nazis hunted him.

The idea of running a show at Castel del monte was born with an image: a tiny handbag designed in the postwar period by the Gucci family for Greta Garbo. Since then, the sedimentations of thought and image, the designer's hallmark, were born. «The show is meant to be a party, a rave of clothes and people". Gorges and baroque quotes. Clothes that resemble the body they enclose, exaggerated shapes. Bondage boots. Defined and studied shoulders. References to the 1930s and 1940s. Past and present. 101 highly sophisticated pieces. "Fashion and humanity need knowledge, fashion needs shapes, color, attitude and stories. It has to do with something cosmic,» Alessandro Michele continued.

The Creative Director was applauded at the end of the show by the parterre of celebrities ranging from Dakota Johnson to Lana Del Rey, from Alessandro Borghi to Elle Fanning to Måneskin. «I said many times that I am a failed costume designer. Working with them is a beautiful exchange. As is often the case with artists, they know how to set clothes on fire". After the show, everyone moved to a nearby masseria for the after party, that could be accessed with a connected bracelet, where the Roman band performed a concert aimed at celebrating beauty and life. “Confronting the present for me is like a carpenter who keeps cutting table legs,» Michele concluded, referring to the war in Ukraine. «Our work goes against death; it is life. We do things that glorify life».

Judgment. Stellar and colossal. A triumph of outfits that are statements. From clutches tied to the left triceps to nose jewelry. From optical to Swarovski cascades encrusted like constellations. To the double G monogram carved on shaved heads, hairstyles we can see on rappers and trappers. Evening gowns recalling the divas of the 1940s, with a so very Michele twist. His desire to think and make people think continues to seduce. Immanuel Kant's epitaph comes to mind: "The starry heavens above me and the moral law within me". (All rights reserved)