Marco Bizzarri’s new Gucci

Gucci always leaves you breathless, this time not because of a pure question of style. Entering the night hall of the double G a little breath was held, there was solemnity, something was happening, one spoke almost in a whisper for fear of breaking the silence. It was surely the bet of the season, the first fashion show of the Tuscan maison without Alessandro Michele, breaking that 10-billion-euro dream team created with Marco Bizzarri. A farewell that obviously ignited 1,000 questions, starting from the creative side to the managerial side. Who will arrive? Who will leave? A betting pool of stylists raging since the announcement, designer sightings as new Ufos over Rome and Milan, the financial market demanding a decision on management especially after two other giants have just had their say.

From Andrea Guerra landing at the Prada group to securing the new course with Lorenzo Bertelli, son of Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada, to the new attack line-up sported by Bernard Arnault and his Lvmh group, with shifts and handovers between Michael Burke, Pietro Beccari, and Delphine Arnault at brands of the caliber of Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior. In this clash of titans, Gucci’s parent company Kering could not fail to have its say, and it did so suddenly, nonchalantly on what is the real battleground: the runway, where a few words from its patron ripped through the darkness. «Certainly, Marco Bizzarri is the ceo for the new chapter of Gucci, I need him to build it with me and I am sure we will be successful,» François-Henri Pinault himself, the number one of Kering, said, in the front row at the double-G show and thus shedding some light on the future of the maison.

The next Gucci has one certainty, Marco Bizzarri will stay, breaking, almost surprisingly, that sort of strategic tradition of designer-ceo leaving together, after Tom Ford and Domenico De Sole and Frida Giannini and Patrizio di Marco. However, in this case, they had come to understand the aesthetic future as the first collection without Alessandro Michele, entrusted to the style department, was on the runway. «I like it,» Pinault himself told MFF, referring to the 48 looks that told a new aesthetic. Meanwhile, the return to a dedicated men’s shows without co-ed that ignited around the circular park in the center of the black arena with a live performance by Marc Ribot’s ceramic dog, with noise rock that also mixes jazz and punk. A collision that also talks about the collection in which eras and periods of the fashion house itself are mixed.

And of its designers as well, as we find Tom Ford’s skin-tight sensuality, Frida Giannini’s continuous play of accessories, Alessandro Michele’s lesson in fluidity but made more two-dimensional, without embroidery or precious additions. Fluidity and softness are the key words for pants and outerwear that skims the ground and is worn over a camisole. Sailoring, one might say, with that mix that combines tailoring with a naval world of sailors. Wool hats, must-have bags in virtually every outing, oversize reinterpretations of icons like the Jackie, the monogrammed spread that becomes Crystal GG or travel bags for moving around town. The bling-bling of rock stars. The 80s in a dance key with leg warmers and wool, the new millennium and biker imagery with those big air suits or leather suits sprinkled with engraved Gs. Guccissima.

Judgment. Despite the circular walkway, the circle is still not closing. Not an easy task to break with what we have just seen, but necessary. The paradox is that the most interesting part is precisely the part that has been cleaner, because it is newer and fresher to the eyes. How to move on after Alessandro Michele? «We move on,» Marco Bizzarri told MFF, in a quiet tone. «Men pass, brands remain». (All rights reserved)