Fashion As Mask

In Bangkok’s stunning Nai Lert Park Heritage Home, Ng Yi Lian gets up close with Gucci’s provocative Fall/Winter 2019 collection.

Alessandro Michele’s Gucci Fall/Winter 2019 collection claims inspiration from the theory of late philosopher Hannah Arendt’s book, The Human Condition. It is not unusual for high fashion to link itself to high theory, as it provides a conceptual cover for fashion designers who, as most artists do, walk a fine line between expression and explanation, art and politics.

Gucci’s task turns to redefining masks as more than “a concealment tool”, according to its show notes. “Playing with the magic ambiguity of masks represents an occasion to recover the creative roots of our being alive.”

The collection offers a provocative gender-fluid eclecticism in showing how diversity is valued. Interestingly, its discourse on masks seems to reveal, in a way, who we are or what we desire to be.