From Elton to Deirdre, Gucci is pure Seventies
SEVENTIES Britain was the era of the three-day week and Jimmy Savile. In Italy the decade represents a beacon of free-thinking: a period when Sophia Loren and communism co-existed more or less comfortably.
Alessandro Michele, Gucci’s new creative director, was born in the Seventies, which gives him another perspective – that of his mother leaving the house in the mornings to go to Cinecittà, the centre of the Italian film industry, where she worked. “It was a time when women were starting to have interesting careers,” he says.
And the clothes. History always looks better second or third time around – and the version of Seventies fashion that Michele served up on Gucci’s catwalk yesterday was, in every sense, fantastic. The flared trousers, the crazy Elton John glitter glasses (alternating with Deirdre Barlow frames), the Lurex ruffles on sleeves and hems, the rickrack trims on block coloured skirts and raised-waist dresses – pure Seventies. The expression was entirely contemporary, however: beautiful, feminine, romantic clothes, riddled with luxurious craft elements that were dying out, if not dead, in the Seventies, but which, thanks to the patronage of today’s super-wealthy, are in rude health.
Take the re-interpreted Gucci loafer, this time with a block heel, double G logo and painted hearts. In the softest leather, these could be worn in the conventional manner of which your mother would approve, or as a backless mule – as if you couldn’t be bothered to put them on properly. As Michele explains: “I love the idea of nonchalance.”