In Italian, ‘Ricostru’ means ‘reconstruction,’ but designer Rico Manchit Au was constructing an entirely new notion of designer Chinese fashion when she launched her label in 2011.
Gucci F/W2017 Collection Explores Strange New Worlds
August 14, 2017 12:00 PM
Boldly going where no fashion house has gone before, Gucci launches its latest Fall/Winter 2017 collection with a full-on homage to Star Trek. The movie serves as the touch-off point for the brand’s cohesive aesthetic presentation, which the house calls #gucciandbeyond, and as an idea, it works. There’s definitely something about space– something which we all understand on a cultural level, but can’t quite put into words– that invokes a certain feeling about the final frontier. It’s Swamp Monster camp. It’s a mish-mash of mod chic, theatricality, and Turkish-Arabian flair, à la Aladdin Sane or Ziggy Stardust. It’s groovy daywear pulled from a cabinet of curiosities and, this fall, it will be all the rage.
It’s natural for thematic pieces to function like accents, and you’re definitely going to be seeing a lot of accessories from this latest line. Some feel like standard Gucci– hand-patterned socks that beautifully complement dress shoes or loafers– but others offer a space-age take on the house’s regular stock. This year’s overlarge sunglasses resemble hyperdrive visors with the net effect of adding a so-haughty-you-can-get-away-with-it boost to any outfit.
Some of the collection is brought beyond self-parody. The bags, especially the black waist pack and brown leather satchels with earthen-tone accents, fall into the middle ground between “too flashy for the afternoon” and “too subdued for power clashing,” But when they do work, the handbags deliver on some of the absolute highlights of the season. The bejeweled insect clutch from that flannel-fishnet, Sector 3 ensemble is worth fighting an army of Klingons.
Another real strength of Gucci’s intergalactic campaign is the syncretism, and the injection of traditional, aquiline beauty with designs inspired by cultures way outside of the norms. A sweater with a stylized fox head is coupled with an overlong plaid shirt, giving an impression of the crests and kilts of McCoy’s Scotland, all the while standing next to a monitor bot. And oh my god, that outtake. The Damascene brocade. The Mongolian scarf. The hippie-style, pastel sun shirt. It’s vaporous… as we’re trying to breathe it in, it’s already wafting away… through some opium den that exists only in our collective imagination.
TWELV invites you to explore the beauty in the Fall/Winter 2017 campaign, and let your imagination roam free in the fantastical world of Star Trek, as seen through the vivid lens of Gucci’s Alessandro Michele.
WRITTEN BY CHRISTOPHER SIEMER
EDITED BY HOLLIS DE LANEY
PHOTO CREDIT: GUCCI
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