MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 19: A model walks the runway at the Gucci Fall/Winter 2020/21 fashion show during Milan Fashion Week on February 19, 2020 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images for Gucci)

MILAN, Italy – A WhatsApp alert a few days prior to Gucci’s Milan Fashion Week show from none other than designer Alessandro Michele himself was Gucci’s way of sending out invitations this season. “I was thinking, if you are not too busy next Wednesday, you could come to my show,” the Italian designer said, in part, in the message, before signing off with a kiss. 

A few hours before the show, guests got a small reminder that today was Gucci day, another text – this time, a photo showing Michele’s stack of Gucci rings and lime green nail polish: Right from the get-go, it was clear this would be no normal fashion week event.

Upon walking into the Gucci Hub in Milan on Wednesday afternoon, guests were handed two pieces of A4 piece of paper featuring Michele’s handwritten notes – including mistakes scribbled out in pen – describing his fall 2020 collection and explaining to guests what they were about to see unfold.

Moving inside the Gucci Hub, it felt as though we’d taken a wrong turn, ending up in the backstage area as robed models sat at stations having their hair and makeup done. The only assurance that we were meant to be seeing the inner workings of the show? Michele slowly moving through to greet attendees as they filmed close-ups of the gothic-inspired make-up looks: 


Filing through into a dark, smoky room, guests including Florence Welch, Sinead Burke and Yara Shahidi found their seats around a circular, pink curtain crowned by a neon-lit metronome marking time, before models filed through into the middle
still wearing their white robes.

A few minutes later, the music intensified, the lights dimmed and the curtain dropped to show stylists in grey suits carefully putting together Gucci’s new season looks in front of the crowd: An unveiling of what’s behind the curtains, in both the figurative and literal sense.

 

As was a heavy feature at New York Fashion Week, colour-reigned supreme in the collection with hot pink blouses – which wouldn’t be amiss on Gucci favourite Harry Styles – matched with bright yellow pants and blue mini dresses worn with red tights. 


Addressing his stage, Michele wrote in the notes, “May the miracle of skillful hands and holding breath come out of the shadows. May the collective intelligence that takes care of gestation be visable, as shivers rage on. May that wild and crazy hive that I made my home have a throne.”

As the show came to a close, the ateliers moved into the light where they were applauded as much, if not more than the model’s finale. Bravo, Gucci.

And just like that, Milan Fashion Week has begun.