Gucci parades 68 pairs of cufflinks to question the identity of an Italy in crisis

What if the best spring-summer 2023 accessory was to walk around with your exact copy? We could thus summarize the latest Gucci show that used only identical cufflinks, dressed in the same way from head to toe, in order to fully play the twinning card.

Questioning identity with 68 pairs of cufflinks at the Gucci show

One could guess that questioning the notion of originality and copying would be at the center of this collection, entitled ” Twinsburg (which we could try to translate into “city of twins”, but also from the photocall. The audience of the invited celebrities had to position themselves in front of a mosaic of screens, retransmitting their faces by the hundreds, while the photographers took pictures. Then, when the fashion show began in as such, it could first be believeda photographic wall served as a background for the entire length of the podium. But she actually split it in two, before retreating, revealing that each of the passages were actually duplicated on the other side of the wall, with a twin on each side.

Once the deception was revealed, the twin models marched again for the finale, this time hand in hand, on a soundtrack by Marianne Faithfull that reads the lyrics of a song by Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, “Identical Twins”. In total, 68 pairs of twins were launched around the world to be as identical as possible.

For this collection-reflection on what constitutes otherness and identity (in the sense of individuality, but also in the sense of similarities, being identical to someone else), the artistic director of the house, Alessandro Michele, began by questioning himself as the son of a twin. Her mother had in fact an identical twin, with whom she shared an unspeakable bond, which only twins can live and describe. They lived together and raised him as two mothers, until the death of Alessandro Michele’s aunt, who was 7 years old.

Alessandro Michele is inspired by the 80s and the Gremlins for Gucci

Ever since he was inspired by his youth, the designer was born in 1972 dresses imagined using 80s codesincluding loads of broad-shouldered jackets, oversized joggers, and a few nods to Gremlins (an HBO-produced series is in the works around these little monsters for 2023).

If the procession took place two days before the victory of Giorgia Meloni’s far-right party, which thus obtained a clear majority in the Italian Parliament, Alessandro Michele’s concern for the rights of LGBTI + people can be detected through the word “OUT !!! ” that dotted some clothes. What could be translated as “out” is also the name of the country’s first queer association in 1971, and it appears on the Gucci runway today as a cry of pride against contemporary fascism.

Front page photo credit: Instagram screenshot.