Twinsburg

Meet Alessandro Michele’s army of Gucci twins
By Bailey Slater | Fashion | 25 September 2022

Rub your eyes, adjust your contacts, whack on those specs. Can you see what we see? No, you’re eyes aren’t deceiving you. It seems that for SS23, Gucci is bringing us double the trouble.

The Italian label’s latest show, Twinsburg, is a rumination on the tensions between originals and their copies, between identity and otherness. Of course, this isn’t the first time Michele has toyed with duplicates, sending the models of his FW18 show down the runway with copies of their own severed heads. But this time, each of the collection’s 68 looks accompanied their mirror-image in a performance of asymmetry, or as Michele put it, a “deception of similitude”. 

The show was a classic Michele-mix of retro excess: glitzy prom dresses with ruffle-skirts, striped-bear purses, leggings in bold animal prints. Full-shouldered blazers with elastic waists and floral, sequined embroidery. Pussy bow blouses with nut and bold prints, coloured in primary hues. The childlike wonder continued with beaded headressess and the definitive 80s power-suit (shell, not office) slashed into a gilet and baggy trackpant combo. Michele even delved into workwear with swooping boxy jackets, adorned with monogram pockets. Then, a return to the lavish in gold pleated kimono tops, embroidered silk chinoiserie gowns and paisley flares wide enough to accrue their own postcodes. The formal was subverted with slender trousers and their chap-like, suspender fastenings, baring thighs and garter underwear. And just when you think you have the story pegged, a Gizmo-printed skirt (as in Gremlins) knocks you back five thoughts, and you accept Michele is well and truly un-sussable.

GALLERYCatwalk images from Gucci





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