SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017 GQ.COM.AU 237Leto’s bold and unique – that much can’t
be challenged. He’s engaged and intelligent
(if that Thirty Seconds To Mars doco is used
as a test) and while a curious fit for Gucci, he
further cements where Michele wants to play.
“Yves, Karl, Gianni, Giorgio, Christian,
Coco. It’s rare that a new name can be added
to such an illustrious list,” Leto wrote for
Time of his friend, who secured a spot on the
magazine’s 2017 global list of ‘The 100 Most
Influential People’. “But Lallo, as he is known
to his closest friends, has more than earned
his place. I have witnessed firsthand the
amount of thought, care and passion he puts
into everything he creates. It’s inspiring to
behold. People don’t just like Gucci. They
desire it...”
The actor’s not quite so verbose today –
on opting for a quick step from tinted car to
frow, a simple “I’m excited to see the show”
his response to being hastily asked about the
afternoon Italian adventure.
Leto’s right, of course, about the desire,
about what Michele’s been able to achieve
since being thrown the keys to the castle
in January 2015.
Because people are again hungry for their
Gucci fix. In fact, for many among the new
legion of fans, or even the returned devotees
- it’s more than a desire, it’s again a need.
On landing in Milan a day earlier, Gucci
shopping bags dominated those being
paraded on and around Via Monte Napoleone
by grungy, angular fashion kids. It was a
simple, observational understanding of the
incredible injection of allure Michele’s
bought to the storied house since replacing
Frida Giannini. It was about the element
of cool that’s been again captured by the
facing ‘double G’.
Still, expectation is a devious mistress –
as enchanting and desirable as she can be
deceptive and destructive. And as much as
desire and devotion walks among those
gathered at Gucci Hub ahead of today’s
AW proceedings, questions are entwined
within the anticipation – a thought about
whether the man who had, since 2002,
worked in the background could again
create a collection that not only inspires,
but which drives a narrative for others
to tailgate on the seasonal roads ahead?
We head inside the cavernous, blackened
space to a front row that delivers as only the
front row does. Shuffle shuffle. ‘Sorry I think
that’s me? No, oh, OK.’ Shuffle shuffle.
“I HAVE WITNESSED FIRSTHAND THE AMOUNT OF THOUGHT,
CARE AND PASSION HE PUTS INTO EVERYTHING... IT’S INSPIRING.”
‘Great to see you.’ Mwah. ‘I can’t believe she’s
wearing slides.’
It also provides a strong position to witness
other celebrity arrivals – the ethereal
Florence Welsh floating as she does in
floor-length print, Anna Wintour wearing
a two-piece that’s not black, the man who
picked up Kate Moss by commenting that she
smelt like wee, Jefferson Hack, and Bobby
Gillespie, again, still squinting despite the
darkness. It would appear he’s just squinty.
We stare at the heavy curtain that shields
the catwalk and what’s to come – excited,
really, to collect firsthand such an experience
and engage with a performance that,
according to show notes, is built on
foundations of an ‘Alchemist’s Garden’,
which is an ‘anti-modern laboratory’. The
notes also present the Egyptian symbol
Ouroboros – that of a snake eating its own
tail. It’s perhaps suggestive of the cyclical
nature of fashion; that all is old is again new.
Though is such a symbol not also about the
process of self-renewal, of bettering where
things have come from and walking towards
an improved future?
We’re about to find out.
Lights up and models stomp along a raised,
enclosed plexiglas catwalk – think a human
take on the pending Hyperloop. Those
walking are far removed from classical
etchings of beauty, and instead are angular
and mulleted, as unique and striking as the
pieces in which they pose, a cast of characters
as much as walkers.
It’s quickly obvious that Michele has
picked up and gently progressed on where
things had been left – whimsy and vintage
attached to what’s presented, bold pops of
colour, lavish touches of embroidery,
text-driven logo T-shirts (‘Common Sense
Is Not That Common’), as scrawled by the
street artist Coco Capitán.
It’s wild and elaborate and fun – flowing
’70s suiting in tan meets ’80s punk in ripped
denim and a continued affinity for AC/DC
T-shirts as high fashion. The accessories,
meanwhile, are a heady slate of designs that
run from rock ’n’ roll bull rings to Royal
Tenenbaums-esque headbands to a incredible
wealth of bags – a line that will alone power the
buying passion of fanboys for another season.
The 119 looks, each styled by Michele, is
a co-ed combination (territory in which he’s
familiar) allowing insight to the man’s full
heart – the two sides beating as one – as wellOF THE 119 LOOKS ON
SHOW, MICHELE’S LOVE
OF ACCESSORIES
FEATURED HEAVILY IN
AN ECLECTIC MIX OF
PATTERN AND PRINT.