EXCLUSIVE: Gucci to Show Next Collection in Los Angeles
MILAN — Six years after Alessandro Michele’s first cruise runway show for Gucci in New York City at the Dia-Art Foundation, the designer is planning to return to the U.S.
Michele will present his next collection for Gucci with an in-person fashion show in Los Angeles on Nov. 3.
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The show will coincide with the occasion of the 10th LACMA Art+Film Gala, taking place on Nov. 6, for which Gucci is the founding and presenting sponsor.
In May 2020, Gucci was expected to hold its cruise show in San Francisco, but the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the brand from carrying out that plan. Over the previous five years Michele had taken the brand’s cruise collections to different locations, all historically and culturally charged. In addition to the Dia Art Foundation the venues included the Cloisters of Westminster Abbey in London; the Palatine Gallery in Palazzo Pitti in Florence; the Promenade Des Alyscamps in Arles, and the Capitoline Museums in Rome.
Michele, however, has now changed the pace of Gucci’s collections. In 2020, five years after his debut at the fashion house, in the midst of the global pandemic, the designer decided to abandon what he has called “the worn-out ritual of seasonalities and shows to regain a new cadence, closer to my expressive call. We will meet just twice a year, to share the chapters of a new story.” He conceived new names for the collections, inspired by the music world.
After Epilogue, the conclusive chapter of Michele’s previous narrative, presented in July last year during Milan Digital Fashion Week, Michele directed with Gus Van Sant a series of seven episodes for his collection “Ouverture of Something That Never Ended” shown in November 2020, tapping the likes of Billie Eilish, Harry Styles and Florence Welch, among others.
Last month, in a first step in the year marking Gucci’s centenary, Michele presented his “Aria” collection through a film he once again directed, this time with Floria Sigismondi, revisiting a number of the brand’s signature designs, from the Bamboo bag to the Flora motif, and introducing an innovative tie-up with Balenciaga.
On the occasion, the designer told WWD that he felt “free,” giving “a natural rhythm” to the collections. “Of course, there is more responsibility in this self-pacing, and I want to be attentive to the company and position the brand in a respectful way. I see there is a very democratic movement, designers are positioning their brands in ways that will avoid getting in the way of the others.” Michele revealed during the interview that the Aria collection will be shown in Shanghai later this spring.
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