When you look up “eclectic” in the dictionary, what you get is actually just a Wikipedia entry detailing Alessandro Michele’s tenure thus far at Gucci. In a relatively short period of time, Michele threw out the staid aesthetic of his predecessor and threw in everything from Medieval art to 80s video game nostalgia to Major League Baseball logos. It shouldn’t work, but it generally does, all because it’s done so exuberantly and with such rich detail. For Cruise 2019, Gucci sent models down a runway that was literally on fire, because why not?
It’s always hard to pick out a particular theme for a Gucci collection, usually because there are so many competing themes and ideas that the overall animating force is an overwhelming sense of, well, Gucci-ness. For this collection, in addition to the flaming catwalk set, Gucci added the Chateau Marmont logo to a series of bags, including the iconic Jackie Hobo. The celebration of the famed Los Angeles hotel was a clear tribute to a class of people who have already well embraced the new Gucci: LA’s grimy, hard-partying glitterati, epitomized by Gucci superfan Jared Leto.
Under that layer, you’ll find more of the Gucci so many have come to love over the past seasons: exotics, fun colors, lots of embellishments and layers of print and hardware. Michele is also keen on looking into Gucci’s archives and reviving icons of the past, and it looks like now is the Jackie Hobo’s potential time in the sun. Check out a selection of the runway bags below.
[Photos via Vogue Russia]
