What it was like to attend the Gucci resort 2020 show

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30th May 2019

Gucci shows are so laden with intricate references, decoding one is like unfurling a lavish rug, or examining a complex painting up close. The brushstrokes are there, but so numerous, and so visually overwhelming that it requires several approaches to shake out. At Gucci’s resort 2020 collection held at the Museo Capitolini in Rome, there was the pure aesthetic punch, tick, next the subtle clues—signs and symbols that slip you a wink and invite a closer look—then the third, perhaps the most potent layer on this outing: the experiential window into Alessandro Michele’s world. 


It went like this: guests arrived from all over the world to be treated to an insider’s look at Rome, Michele’s home town and creative base. To retrieve the show’s invite a visit to one of the Gucci creative director’s favourite bookstores was required—Antica Libreria Cascianelli, in the historic centre—where invitees ventured into the back of the store to choose from a lucky-dip pile of different books wrapped in orange paper. Seeing the store, which houses curios that would not seem out of place as props in one of the house’s campaigns—a Victorian hat pin here, old pocket bibles and taxidermy there—felt like Michele sharing one of his hotspots of inspiration, a private and personal location with real meaning to the designer. 


Next were tours of both the Gucci sponsored exhibition at Rome’s Maxxi Museum of Italian photographer Paolo di Paolo, and Biblioteca Angelica, one of the oldest libraries in Europe founded by an Augustinian Bishop in the 16th century. Housing maps, literature, books on medicine, botany and astrology, the latter is a well of inspiration for Michele, as similarly di Paolo’s work is; working throughout the golden age of Italian cinema capturing Cinecitta stalwarts, artists and reportage of Italy in a time of flux as modern post-war progress swept across the country. 
Film, music (more on that), art, photography and Rome then, all converged at the museum in the Michelangelo-designed Piazza del Campidoglio. All surmounted to a real opening of Michele’s world and echoed the sentiment behind both the museum and Biblioteca Angelica: beauty and knowledge for everyone, the designer seemed to reason through these forums, there should be no velvet rope behind which lies the riches of the past or future. 


So then the clothes, which transmuted most loudly: freedom. It came in flowing toga-like fabric swathes, guitar cases, 70s-inflected tailoring, roomy jumpsuits, and the off bare-footed model. Then extravagant headpieces like the opening look that featured a Bob Mackie-inspired headress in jet black. The loudest message was also the boldest – ‘My body my choice’ on the back of a jacket – (consider the proximity to the Vatican) and underscored Michele’s willingness to put his money where his mouth is when it comes to supporting individualism, especially as abortion rights are being picked over and threatened in the United States at the moment. 

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The final layer came in the post-show celebrations. Taking to the stage in an elaborate room under a filigreed ceiling, inside a Roman palazzo, Michele welcomed guests and introduced Stevie Nicks, who then introduced Harry Styles, the pair performing an emotionally charged ‘Landslide’. Styles made an appearance at the show to cheer on his friend, though he tried to fly under the radar, taking a backseat to Nicks as she performed, no doubt borne of his respect for her as an artist. Earlier fans camped outside the show screaming ‘Harry!, Harry!’, which at one point turned to ‘Al-e-ssan-dro! Al-e-ssan-dro!’ who came out to wave hello. Everyone got their glimpse. You got the feeling he would have all of them along for the Gucci experience, if he could.