What went down at Gucci’s SS17 show

Over a year and a half in and eleven collections down, Alessandro Michele is well and truly in his stride at Gucci. We now know what to expect from the designer: enough colour, print and texture to overload the senses; a pick ‘n’ mix of references to different time periods, cultures and subcultures; a youth, androgyny and eccentricity – all encapsulated by a gang of gamine and slightly gawky girls and boys. But Michele’s magic formula doesn’t just look pretty, it’s selling too – you only need to have a quick flick through fashion week street style galleries to see that. Anyway, today the designer presented his SS17 womenswear collection for Gucci at Milan Fashion Week and here’s what went down.

THE INVITE WAS INSANE

If you thought a fashion show invite was just a plain piece of card with the time and location on, think again. Gucci’s SS17 invite was a work of origami genius, resembling a theatre complete with the flora and fauna that so often appear in Michele’s designs. Oh yeah, and it was 3D – because why have a card in two dimensions when you can have it in three?

THE SET WAS LIKE A LOUNGE BAR

A move away from the all-green set of its SS17 menswear show, Gucci opted for another colour this season: pink. The whole room was doused in a Barbie pink light and decorated with (as you can see from the above Instagram photo) over a quarter of a million mirrored sequins. There must have been some smoke machines involved too because when the show began, models emerged from mist which was pink because of the light. Overall effect: ethereal.

FLORENCE WELCH SOUNDTRACKED THE SHOW

Obviously no fashion show is complete without music and this season Gucci invited Florence Welch to do the honours – but not in the way you might think. Instead of singing, Welch, who is an ambassador for the brand, read English poet William Blake’s “Songs of Innocence and Experience” to Steve Mackey’s music. Written in the 18th century, this collection of poems explores the two states of the human soul.

THERE WERE A LOT OF REFERENCES TO THE FAR EAST

We know that Michele is a fan of the Far East – earlier this year, for example, he chose to shoot the brand’s AW16 campaign (featuring photographer Petra Collins) in Tokyo. He also channelled his love for the region into this collection: for a start, models carried fans while others wore kimono-like coats and cheong sam-like gowns. And then there was the cherry blossom print, as well as the motifs of dragons, lions, tigers, and carp – the Chinese lucky cat even made an appearance.