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"Sometimes you think: I will leave everything and devote myself to something else." The one who speaks like this is Alessandro Michele, the designer who has made Gucci one of the most imitated and profitable firms; and himself in one of the most influential creators of the luxury industry. He does it at the press conference after his parade for the Italian brand in Milan, held on Wednesday. After his statement, silence is imposed in the room for a few seconds that look like five years. “I thought that with 45 years I would be doing something else, but I'm 48 and I'm still here, because I'm passionate, because the fashion world is very powerful, almost a religion. And, therefore, he wanted to pay tribute to his most important rite: the parade ”, concludes the creator. Once again, Michele manages to capture the conversation of the Italian fashion week with a kind of deconstructed show , in which he invites attendees to participate in the entire process prior to a parade.
Before reaching their seats, the 800 summoned had to go through the backstage, where the models were made up and combed, a place generally with limited access. Although the space was a little more comfortable and organized than usual, it was not a performance . Or not alone. The stylists tweaked the lips and decorated the mane of the girls and boys wrapped in white bathrobes, while the designer walked among them giving directions on the eye shadows or conversing with the team.
Then, when the curtain fell, the catwalk emerged. “I wanted it to have a circular shape to symbolize the endless cycle of fashion. Also to represent that we are all part of the same circus. It is a kind of communion between those on the catwalk and in front of it, because even if you don't share everything, you belong to that universe, ”Michele continues. The wheel turns and the spectator can see how the models are putting on the clothes with the help of the dressing rooms. Gradually the styles are completed and some of the archetypes in which Michele has insisted throughout his five years in Gucci are represented: the monastic tunic; the puritanian dress; the lingerie piece with leather harnesses; the children's coat; The school uniform. The textures of velvet, silk and corduroy are synchronized in a collection that seems to want to condense and sublimate the legacy of its five years at the head of Gucci.
Among the many talents Michele has there is one that not even his most bitter detractors can deny. The Italian is able to articulate his collections around complex reflections - sometimes directly metaphysical - about the construction of gender, the society of capitalism or the limits of sex, which, seeing their parades, make full sense. And, at the same time, he manages that, aside from these almost philosophical theses, his designs are desirable and understandable for an audience that is not interested in Jung's collective unconscious but in wearing the Gucci logo on the belt buckle as one He wears a decoration.
Michele's designs have several levels of reading. And the firm has been smart enough not to despise the commercial in favor of the intellectual. Or vice versa. Generate ideas and sell bags. And sports, sweatshirts, coats. Up to lipsticks: specifically, more than one million in the first month in which this cosmetic line was launched, according to data from the specialized publication of Fashion Business of Fashion (BOF). A strategy always seasoned with a good dose of sense of humor, irony, provocation, call it X. Like when the firm decided to summon the guests to this last parade through a WhatsApp voice note from Michele himself: simple, effective and sustainable. Minimum investment, maximum return. So much so that in the marketing and communication departments of the competition they must be pulling the extensions.
They have been doing it for five years. Gucci's success has revolutionized the luxury industry by demonstrating that it was possible to grow at a rate that most assumed as unfeasible in today's economic scenario. For example, the brand's revenues in the Asian market increased by 47% in 2018. Last year they did it - only - 23%. While in North America they fell even 2% in the second quarter of 2019, according to BOF data. Maintaining Match 5 indefinitely - the maximum speed reached by combat fighters - seems impossible.
But this change of pace also inevitably marks a new stage. After his male parade last January, Michele told The New York Times that he was prepared to leave the fashion world. "Maybe one day I will no longer be relevant," he reflected. That day has not yet arrived. Nor that of Alessandro Dell'Acqua, who celebrated 10 years at the head of No. 21 with a proposal articulated around the work of the skin, the rhinestones and the point, his three hallmarks, and where the straight silhouettes and pattern of Classic tailoring gave the garments a versatility that made them fit from the office to the cocktail.