Fashion is an art that is interdisciplinary. To isolate fashion – from art music, cinema, theatre – is to dangerously underestimate the designer. As Episode 3 unfolds, we are absorbed into a movement so ordinarily mundane yet so overwhelmingly collective. As each character waits in line, a steady catwalk of Gucci’s collection, there is an overpowering sense of community, a co-existence defined by Achille Bonito Oliva as ‘the age of intermingling’.
Look 29 and look 30 images via GucciFest website
The episode’s focus on the caged bird stands strikingly for Gucci’s recurrent message throughout GucciFest: if we stay within binaries and refuse the ‘other’ in life, we too are a caged bird starved of freedom. In this light, Gucci’s new collection is the freedom of flying. Unlike the previous two days, there is a mellowness within the Post Office, an energy both mirrored and emphasised by the clothing exhibited. We have Silvia Calderoni and Harry Styles, a relaxed orientation around the cropped denim short, white tall socks and loathers. On top, both model an expression of love: Harry’s shirt saying, ‘Gucci Loves Pink Eschatology 1921’ and Silvia’s checked shirt saying, ‘mon petit chou’, translating to my little cabbage. Fundamentally, both shirts emblaze a message of comfort and endearment, a shared life. Yet beyond this, they seem to speak of the importance of collectiveness, the movement towards the same goal and intention – the ‘Post Office’ of life.
Look 32 and look 34 images via GucciFest website
As each character waits in line, there is a beautiful focus on shoes. The trainer and loafer remain central to the collection but are joined by the introduction of a faux-fur lined mule and roman-esque black sandal. Beyond the sublimity of these shoes, Gucci perhaps emphasises the message of love and community: despite each person having an individual reason for their being in the Post Office, they stand and move together towards the same goal. Like those in this episode, Gucci reminds us of our co-existence, our eschatology and, consequently, our joyful freedom.
Look 35 and look 39 images via GucciFest website
Yet despite the message of universality, the looks of Episode 3 are delightfully soaked in a uniqueness perfectly tailored to their model. We see a statement Gucci tailored coat, a clashing monochrome two piece, a floral midi dress and an ensemble reminiscent of Silvia Calderoni’s first look in Episode 1. In isolation, much like humanity, these clothes appear to lack a commonality beyond their beauty; in combination, they exude a passion for expression, a thrill for working with colours and materials and patterns; a ‘co-existence of joyful differences’.
Look 41 and look 42 images via GucciFest
As Harry Styles muses, creativity is an ode to oneself, an explorative love affair with the inner-self, the vehicle to express what truly sparks joy. In response to Silvia Calderoni request for a ‘cute’ floral stamp, she receives a stamp version of the campaigns reoccurring motto: ‘I just want to say that I could never forget the way you told me everything saying nothing’. Gucci is re-inventing fashion. They are saying nothing yet are eluding to everything. Gucci loves Eschatology: non-binary accepting love.
Words by Hannah Emery
Graphics by Millie Pollok
