Alessandro Michele has been really meta about the role of fashion lately – upending and reversing traditional fashion conventions and shaping new perspectives along the way. It all began with his Fall/Winter 2020 show in February which saw him bringing the ritual of backstage dressing as the main show for the runway. Then in May, he “abdicate my role of obsessive director” and gave a blank cheque to a posse of models to create their own campaign during lockdown.
Now Michele’s three-part act has culminated in his most ambitious project thus far – taking place earlier this evening during the last day of the inaugural Milan Digital Fashion Week. To end that chapter, Michele has aptly named his co-ed collection ‘Epilogue’ which stars members of Gucci’s design studio playing models. Epilogue marks the brand’s first foray into a seasonless fashion collection and will drop in stores in Dec.
The designers with whom, every day, I share the daze of creation, will become the performers of a new story. They will seize the poetry they contributed to mould. They will stage what we passionately imagined. It’s a process of role reversal, once more. – Alessandro Michele
Accompanying the launch of the print-heavy collection is a 12-hour live telecast of the making of the Epilogue collection’s advertising campaign which is taking place in Rome’s historic Palazzo Sacchetti. The event is currently being streamed live on the brand’s website, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Weibo and the Gucci.
It is a surreal experience watching the crew in surgical masks and face shields putting together a fashion campaign in real-time but it further reinforces Michele’s fascination with peeling the curtains that have shrouded the inner workings and fantasy surrounding the fashion industry.
In a statement, he said: “It’s a process of role reversal, once more. The distances shorten. The creative act becomes exhibition praxis. The inside projects itself outside. The invisible takes its shape, radiating through self-combustion.”
While the streaming will not end until 8 am tomorrow, you can swipe the gallery above to see the 76 looks from the Epilogue collection worn by the diverse cast of Gucci personnel whose truly idiosyncratic personalities shine through.
