A new way forward.
Gucci has announced it will go seasonless, now only showing twice per year outside of the traditional fashion calendar.
Creative Director Alessandro Michele hosted a virtual press conference overnight announcing that Gucci would be slicing the usual five shows a year down to two and breaking the traditional molds of the previous fashion calendar. Michele also took to Instagram, releasing a series of statements titled Notes from the Silence on his feelings towards the seasons and the pre-coronavirus fashion world.
“Therefore, I will abandon the worn-out ritual of seasonalities and shows to regain a new cadence, closer to my expressive call. We will meet just twice a year, to share the chapters of a new story. Irregular, joyful and absolutely free chapters, which will be written blending rules and genres, feeding on new spaces, linguistic codes and communication platforms.
And beyond. I would like to leave behind the paraphernalia of leitmotifs that colonised our prior world: cruise, pre-fall, spring-summer, fall-winter. I think these are stale and underfed words. Labels of an impersonal discourse that lost its meaning. Containers that progressively detached themselves from the life that generated them, losing touch with reality.”
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Months into the coronavirus pandemic, the fashion industry has been shaken and forced to re-evaluate previous systems and intense turnover. Gucci is the next luxury Maison to follow on from Saint Laurent, who announced earlier this month that it would be pulling out of Paris Fashion Week and the subsequent 2020 fashion calendar.
Further to his posts, Michele also noted that he himself and Gucci “…went way too far.” This, probably in relation to the over the top productions and irresponsible abandon to sustainability. “Our reckless actions have burned the house we live in.”
It’s clear to note that the fashion industry is forever changed by this pandemic. Back to back shows and collection releases, international travel and events were excessive and not sustainable for our future. We are interested to see what labels, luxury or not will follow in the footsteps of these powerhouses.
