The New Power

The Industry’s best-selling philosopher Alessandro Michele is wondering if fashion can rally the people to rage against the machine. Here’s how Gucci’s ss’20 runway was his stage

- Andrea Sim

There are but a few designers who transact more than clothes. Hedi Slimane is a notorious one, and in harnessing the persuasion of rock ‘n’ roll moved stovepipes and high hemlines, accumulating die-hard fans (and die-hard critics) along the way. Virgil Abloh, our decade’s poster child for success has a general hype way of being and heightened sense of community, attributes that transpire those legendary lines as much as the next rainbow-hued product he’s actually dropping. Alessandro Michele dabbles in coveted bags, sneakers, tracksuits, actual suits — but also philosophy. Perhaps not all who lace up their Ultra Pace kicks or tote a 1955 Horsebit bag have been turned onto the man’s tendencies to contemplate the freedom of identity versus the powers that be, but most would’ve certainly felt it.

On the most visceral level, it’s made known via the celebrities that Gucci chooses to align itself with. Billie Eilish – the unlikely image of a pop star who sweeps the Grammys without having ever bared more than the sliver of skin between her bermudas and mid-calf socks. Lil Nas X – the gay rapper who came out despite batting in a genre of music where countless careers have been built upon lyrics that objectify women and glorify the notion of men tapping that. And not forgetting Jared Leto, the chameleonic force shifting cultural perception on prosthetic heads as accessories to men in dresses. Michele is interested in mavericks. The people who dare to whittle down boundaries — normies, take a backseat.