THE INNER CHILD

If there’s only one designer who can claim to have shaken up menswear in recent times, it’s highly possible that he’ll be Alessandro Michele. Challenging traditional ideas of masculinity, the Gucci Autumn/Winter 2020 collection returns to childhood when gender code is a non-issue.

- 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 Autumn/Winter 2020 show is 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 Collings-James, South Korean singer Kai and Japanese rock star Miyavi filling up the front row, a giant Foucault pendulum swings back and forth at the centre of the show space at the Palazzo Delle Scintille, which at the same time, marks a distinct line in the sand beneath it. Once the models hit the runway, the pendulum seemingly starts moving in random angles, depicting French philosopher Léon Foucault’s outline of a non-linear of time much like Michele’s perception of fashion.

Instead of being nostalgia, Michele wants us to reminisce on an interesting period of time in everyone’s life as we reflect on the established norms of masculinity through a collection inspired by childhood, when there’s absolutely zero constraint on the dressing up front. “Childhood is a free 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.