By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
Italian luxury label Gucci made a triumphant return to Milan Fashion Week on Friday, with a star-studded catwalk show that featured a new collaboration with sports brand Adidas.
Pregnant music star Rihanna and her partner, rapper A$AP Rocky, "House of Gucci" actor Jared Leto and tennis champion Serena Williams were among the famous names at the catwalk show, Gucci's first at Milan Fashion Week in two years.
Like other fashion houses, the label turned to digital showcases after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. In November, it held an off-calendar catwalk show in Los Angeles.
Walking a catwalk lined with mirrors, models wore an array of trousers suits: loose, fitted, patterned, studded or with pointy shoulders. Some blazers were one-shouldered. There were nods to 1980s disco looks with sparkling suits or a shiny jumpsuit. Lace tops were frilled, shiny skirts slit.
Creative director Alessandro Michele called the collection "Exquisite Gucci".
"I use the metaphor of the magical mirror to approach the phantasmagorical power of fashion. A sacred power that radiates from the surface of the fabrics. And there I work, on this tactile surface, through cross-references, alterations, loopholes and grafts," he said in show notes.
"Juxtaposing worlds and meanings. Altering the stability of perception. Manipulating and magnifying the existing. Through these interventions, I celebrate the clothes as real optical labs: magical machines that can give birth to fairy tales of metamorphosis and re-enchantment."
Michele also revealed a collaboration with Adidas, with the sports brand's logo and stripes appearing on blazers, long dresses with zipped corsets, trousers and headwear, including swim cap-like hats and baseball caps with front and back visors. Accessories included slim ties, berets and a wide range of bags.