Alessandro Michele may have had a bit more time to prepare
for this collection than he did for men’s but no matter. In a rare moment,
let’s discuss the venue which to me resembled a chic lavatory or a new chic
subway station. That’s all for the venue!
From the opening exits, one immediately knew something was
not quite right as the clothes were far more pointed to Spring rather than Fall
but then again it might be that wear it now thing but my guess is not. This is
gonna have to be a free flowing assessment as it is difficult to summarize it
or possibly, if summarized we get about 4 sentences.
Signor Michele has certainly changed who the ideal client is
for this legendary brand. Apparently the client needs to be a very nerdy 20
something who loves scouring thrift stores via an elite shopping environment such as a Gucci store. Then the lady or young woman needs to love wookie shoes (sic
Chloe or Phoebe) or the Gucci version of a hairy mammoth slip on slide complete
with horse bit. Oh yes and she definitely wears glasses, berets and has long straight
hair.
In all my decades of experience, whether retail or
wholesale, pleated skirts have never been a great idea as they show everything
and are extremely hard to wear especially those of
the sunburst knife pleated
variety. Then of course if the accordion pleating is not enough there is box
pleating reminiscent of old parochial school girl uniforms. Of course this
collection was brimming with pleats...did I mention that pleating doesn’t hold
during the dry cleaning process. So maybe these are the throwaways.
Okay moving right along we get the gender bending “chintz”
menopausal florals (been there, done that) which look like they came off of Granny’s old
sofa, unfortunately one could almost smell the mustiness. While on the subject
of fabrications, let’s chit chat about the gratuitous sheer tulle or netting
and then the pinky beige lace with no lining ...sounds fab doesn’t it?? One
lonely applique sweater and I’m guessing a few pieces that were meant to be
evening.
We could possibly talk about the silhouette if it wasn’t
that there was none other than clothes hanging
on a body, some snug, some loose and some looking like they were about
to fall off.. Most just looking like they were in need of a dressmaker. Then
there were the Thom Brownish shrunken sleeves which certainly gave new meaning
to bracelet length. Buried within the pile was a definite hippy 70s vibe which
surely came from the furs and the loving hands at home accessories. Nary a handbag in sight!
If one needs to sort out a high point it was in the tailoring
which appeared in the asexual or more classic suits or as coats. While the quality could be
seen, the sharpness could not. One has to question where the military influence
came into the collection but was evident in a few of the coats. How’d that
happen??
Okay with all this being said, the first thing that comes to
mind is “Good Luck With That!” it is clear that no one is guiding the ship one
more time and that this heritage brand is going to circle the drain if they are
not careful. Maybe Michele will improve
and clarify his vision in seasons to come and maybe not, but clearly this is
not the way one would have thought one’s
”coming out” would have been.
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