Gucci revealed its FW/23 Women’s collection at the Gucci Hub, with a collection that references the house’s recent history. It was evident that the collection was a modern take on some of the brand’s most glamourous design language from the 1990s and early 2000s, rendered here in the present through a colour palette from the 2010s.
Heritage takes shape
Gucci is a heritage house that was founded 102 years ago. Throughout its history, Gucci has continued to appoint designers and artisans who share an understanding of the house’s ethos that has been passed down from one creative to the next over the last century. When the imaginations of these creatives collide across time, the house is left with a sense of history. Gucci’s Fall Winter 2023 Women’s Collection is a connection of those creative cultures that cross-pollinate the history of the house in an evocative and contemporary approach.
The show
The Milan show took place at the inner sanctum of the Gucci Hub, where elevators transported the collection through the building to the runway. These elevators and the moving collection were an illustration of the creative process, where archives give birth to new concepts. These concepts pass through the ateliers, where the ideas become clothing that is then sent onto the runway where the new expressions are manifest. The setting was filled with spherical podiums that represent Gucci’s creative community and the collaborative circularity that sits at its heart.
The collection
Gucci’s erotic and glamourous language of the 1990s and 2000s has come to life through an electric colour pallet from the 2010s. The collection plays with the idea of returning to the dimension you once experienced, only here, it is either bigger or smaller. Tailoring comes in the form of wool and leather suiting that is volumized and cut with oversized frame dropped necklines and low-riding trousers. Shirting and two-piece tops and skirts appear to be minimized, while skirts are rendered in longline or knee length, crafted with sheer fabrics and embellished lace that brings back the memory of lingerie.
Knits are oversized and tactile, amplifying the sensory approach in its brushed mohair and looped yarn. Coats featured lapels crafted from vibrantly coloured faux fur. It wouldn’t be Gucci without eveningwear, and in keeping with the theme of heritage, these dresses conjured the shapes of hearts in the drop waist skirt of the double bustier dress, and the bust line of an Empire gown.
New takes on classic accessories
Visor sunglasses were coloured and allude to classic Gucci flacons, giving its wearer a Rush-tinted view of the world. The rounded trapezoid chain bag is re-rendered and decorated with a horse bit and interpreted in padded, shearling, crystal, and contrast leather manifestations, while Gucci’s iconic Jackie appears in its original shape, only here, it is softer and crafted from two-tone GG embossed leather.
Gucci FW 23 Womenswear is a modern take on pieces that stand out in the house’s archive. The collection itself is a conversation between past and present that reflects Gucci as a cultural constant, while reinvigorating classic pieces from its archive, allowing for a new path to a new dimension of the brand’s heritage.
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