The Inner Child

Challenging traditional ideas of masculinity, the Gucci Fall/Winter ’20 collection by creative director Alessandro Michele makes a return to childhood while neutering gender codes.

- John Ng

The innocent childlike scribble, “You are invited to my fifth birthday rave, Ale” on the French vintage postcard style invitation serves to refresh the memory of every guest that this year was Alessandro Michele’s fifth anniversary as the creative director of the Italian house, while ever so discreetly announcing that the Gucci Fall/ Winter ’20 show was going to be a celebration to remember.

With celebrity guests such as Anderson Paak, Tyler the Creator, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Jared Leto, Mark Ronson, Phoebe CollingsJames, South Korean singer Kai and Japanese rock star Miyavi filling up the front row, a giant Foucault pendulum (a 1851 invention devised to demonstrate the Earth’s roation) swung back and forth at the centre of the show space at the Palazzo Delle Scintille. At the same time, the pendulum also marked a distinct line in the sand beneath it. Once the models hit the runway, the pendulum seemingly started moving in random angles, depicting French physicist Léon Foucault’s outline of a non-linear time — much like Michele’s perception of fashion.

Instead of being nostalgic, Michele wanted his audience to reminisce on an interesting period of time in their lives and to reflect on the established norms of masculinity through a collection inspired by childhood — a period perceived to bear no constraint on the notion of dressing up. “Childhood is a freeing time, there are fewer labels [and] you can be yourself. When you grow up, you are told ‘you can’t do that [because] you’re a boy and you’re going to primary school’,” he was once quoted saying.