Episode five is a medley of life: a spirited collection of vignettes highlighting the enchanting multidimensionality of humanity. Returning to the apartment of Episode One, the home is once again a gateway into our most exposed, eccentric selves. As Billie Eilish sings ‘Therefore I am’, we are bathed both in the glorious possibilities of being and the elan that Gucci advocates for expression. 

For the first time, Silvia Calderoni is an outsider. Watching her flamboyant neighbours, dressed in a black chiffon, dress detailed with lace and flowers, she is both physically and symbolically ‘the other’. The transparency and delicacy of her look would usually conjure a softer image, however, the boldness of black and the bright red of her shoes contradict this. The merge of the harsh and the fragile, the barely-there yet statement making, forms a tension which seems to at once echo and contrast Alessandro Michele’s creative vision for Gucci. Silvia’s look is daring enough to fulfil Michele’s desire of diversifying fashion yet romantic and subtle enough to suggest a new, softer and relaxed side to these realms.           

As the film unfolds, Silvia Calderoni is contrasted by the eccentricity of ‘The Neighbours’ who busy themselves with various recreational modes of expression: reading aloud, painting, taking a bath and playing music. Despite their visual intensity, the looks of Episode 4 reflect their character’s personality rather than form it. This is similar to Day 3 of GucciFest, ‘At the Theatre’. Ariana Papademetropoulus is a vision of beauty, dressed in a silk floral printed dress with a Gucci Jackie 1961 bag, we watch her watering plants and painting. Her dress dreamily melts into the serenity of the balcony; the fashion and wearer melt into one. Simultaneously, Darius Khonsary pins up hair pieces on a washing line, wearing a floral printed sequined dress and new Gucci Eyewear. The 60s-esque strikingness of the print introduces a fiercer dimension to the floral prints of this collection, a deliberate playing with patterns and effects. On Billie Eilish, we see the return of the ‘1921’ and ‘25’ slogans emblazoned on a hoodie and paired with track pants and a patterned flat cap. This look, along with the other 1921 pieces in the collection, ooze an urban edginess – a fresh, contemporary strand for a fashion house so previously centred around bold, eclectic looks. 

Episode five, ‘The Neighbours’, speaks to the two dimensionalities of Gucci. On one hand, wearers of Gucci can be Silvia Calderoni, quietly expressive, wearing fashion which whispers of an inner self; on the other hand, wearers of Gucci can be ‘The Neighbours’, self-assured, loud, extravagant characters. Gucci has shown, more than ever, they are for everyone no matter your personal form of expression. 

Words by Hannah Emery, Graphics by Victoria Zhao

The post GucciFest Day Five: ‘The Neighbours’ appeared first on Voir Fashion.

Fashion and the Theatre interrelate in their orientation around communication. The theatre transfixes us with its simulation of life, its playing with the boundary between the real and the imaginary, blurring art with existence. Fashion communicates this through clothing: materials; textures; prints; colours; lines; cuts. Fashion presents us with a façade, a path into expressing ourselves, blurring the boundary between our personal concept of the real and the imaginary. The theatre and fashion, put simply, hold the power to unify; GucciFest couldn’t say this clearer.

Look 43 and look 44 images via GucciFest website

‘The Theatre’ is stripped back and raw. The narrative complexity and busyness have subtly faded, replaced by an intense stillness. In previous episodes Gucci’s garments stood parallel to the cinematographic energy, the clothes being an extension of the setting. In Episode 4, however, ‘The Theatre’ is simply a backdrop: an extension of the vulnerability and honesty which exudes from Gucci’s pieces.

Look 46 and look 48 images via GucciFest website

Opening with a focus on Sasha Waltz and her ballet dancers, looks 52 – 61 hold a sense of sensitivity and serenity, stemming from a delicacy in material and muteness of colour palette. Sheer lace and florals create a visual subtlety which is further enhanced by both the dancers’ movement and the loose, relaxed, billowy cuts and thrills. As dance is an extension of the soul, the daintiness of these looks feels an extension of the body, a pure reminder of the beauty in expression. In underplaying colours and patterns and stripping these pieces back, Gucci perhaps makes a statement about the purpose of fashion, for as we watch the dancers become one organism, embodying the ‘sensation of touch’, we see that beneath everything lays a universal connection. Fashion is a unique expression of your true self and, even when stripped back to its rawist, it is art.

Look 49 and look 52 images via GucciFest website

Alongside this is Silvia Calderoni. Wearing all-over sequins, her look juxtaposes this natural serenity, presenting an authenticity of expression so true to both her character and the fashion of Gucci. The bold clashing of green, red and purple falls in-step with the other models’ looks within this episode – an array of bright colours and overstated patterns. Trainers are paired with a relaxed kaftan, mustard is worn with fuchsia and tall socks are layered underneath baggy knee-length shorts. Yet despite the striking tension between the ballet dancers and the models, they join to become one. The amalgamation of cuts and colours and material seems to echo the heart of Gucci’s campaign: fashion is an unrestricted expression, a universal uniting language.

Look 56 and look 58 images via GucciFest website

As Maurice Ravel’s Boléro plays, (a piece notably famous for Ravel’s preoccupation with re-inventing movement) we are reminded of GucciFest’s emphasis on expression. At its heart, fashion is the externalisation of the self and, when loosened from all rules and limitations, it is irreplaceable.

Look 60 and look 61 images via GucciFest website

Words by Hannah Emery

Graphics by Millie Pollok

The post GucciFest – Day 4: ‘The Theatre’ appeared first on Voir Fashion.

Fashion is an art that is interdisciplinary. To isolate fashion – from art music, cinema, theatre – is to dangerously underestimate the designer. As Episode 3 unfolds, we are absorbed into a movement so ordinarily mundane yet so overwhelmingly collective. As each character waits in line, a steady catwalk of Gucci’s collection, there is an overpowering sense of community, a co-existence defined by Achille Bonito Oliva as ‘the age of intermingling’.

Look 29 and look 30 images via GucciFest website

The episode’s focus on the caged bird stands strikingly for Gucci’s recurrent message throughout GucciFest: if we stay within binaries and refuse the ‘other’ in life, we too are a caged bird starved of freedom. In this light, Gucci’s new collection is the freedom of flying. Unlike the previous two days, there is a mellowness within the Post Office, an energy both mirrored and emphasised by the clothing exhibited. We have Silvia Calderoni and Harry Styles, a relaxed orientation around the cropped denim short, white tall socks and loathers. On top, both model an expression of love: Harry’s shirt saying, ‘Gucci Loves Pink Eschatology 1921’ and Silvia’s checked shirt saying, ‘mon petit chou’, translating to my little cabbage. Fundamentally, both shirts emblaze a message of comfort and endearment, a shared life. Yet beyond this, they seem to speak of the importance of collectiveness, the movement towards the same goal and intention – the ‘Post Office’ of life.

Look 32 and look 34 images via GucciFest website

As each character waits in line, there is a beautiful focus on shoes. The trainer and loafer remain central to the collection but are joined by the introduction of a faux-fur lined mule and roman-esque black sandal. Beyond the sublimity of these shoes, Gucci perhaps emphasises the message of love and community: despite each person having an individual reason for their being in the Post Office, they stand and move together towards the same goal. Like those in this episode, Gucci reminds us of our co-existence, our eschatology and, consequently, our joyful freedom.

Look 35 and look 39 images via GucciFest website

Yet despite the message of universality, the looks of Episode 3 are delightfully soaked in a uniqueness perfectly tailored to their model. We see a statement Gucci tailored coat, a clashing monochrome two piece, a floral midi dress and an ensemble reminiscent of Silvia Calderoni’s first look in Episode 1. In isolation, much like humanity, these clothes appear to lack a commonality beyond their beauty; in combination, they exude a passion for expression, a thrill for working with colours and materials and patterns; a ‘co-existence of joyful differences’.

Look 41 and look 42 images via GucciFest

As Harry Styles muses, creativity is an ode to oneself, an explorative love affair with the inner-self, the vehicle to express what truly sparks joy. In response to Silvia Calderoni request for a ‘cute’ floral stamp, she receives a stamp version of the campaigns reoccurring motto: ‘I just want to say that I could never forget the way you told me everything saying nothing’. Gucci is re-inventing fashion. They are saying nothing yet are eluding to everything. Gucci loves Eschatology: non-binary accepting love.

Words by Hannah Emery

Graphics by Millie Pollok

The post GucciFest – Day Three: ‘At The Post Office’ appeared first on Voir Fashion.

Distortedly contemplative yet thrillingly philosophical, Episode 2 of GucciFest absorbs the viewer into a nonsensical scene of ordinary life. A dialect between fashion, expression and interpretation, Alessandro Michele plays with the limits of sense and normality. Less sequential than Day One, there is a duality to the cinematographic: a visual feast of fashion, vibrancy, life and a deductive subtitle dialect. Despite the simultaneity, we are invited into two separate worlds, of appearance and perception.

As Arlo Parks asks ‘I wonder what “clear” means’, Gucci questions the sense of reality. By definition, clear defines something easily understood, transparency, something comprehendible. To be ‘clear’ in society means to follow the norm, oppose little contradictions to expectation and, most importantly, to fit in and never cross what our culture has pre-defined as acceptable. As GucciFest unfolds, it is evident they too are questioning these definitions.

Look 16 and look 18 images via GucciFest website

The Café Silvia walks into is a microcosm of life: it is vibrant, it is bustling, it is diverse, it is universal, it is socially engaged. This richness of setting allows for a spectrum of looks which debut Gucci’s collection not as material items but as living art. The undistinguishable concoction of life we are absorbed into is an energy materialised in the cocktail of loud prints, opulent fabrics and bold colours. Each garment feels a blend between past and present, the house’s origin and tradition being woven into a contemporary vision, a celebration of roots and growth inferred by subtle notes of Gucci’s trademark brown and eclectic print. Silvia’s top – with the slogan 1921 – speaks to the House’s creation date, her skirt whispers similarities with the infamous Gucci print, and her bag is a recreation of the Bamboo bag. As she catwalks past the identically dressed women (all wearing the Alessandro Michele’s printed silk plissé red dress, thrown off the balcony in Episode 1) we infer a transition, a symbolic movement from the old to the new, the simple and ‘clear’ to the messy and lively.

Look 19 and look 20 images via GucciFest

The character with the dog, dressed in a gorgeous brown suit and patterned jumper, embodies the warmth and suave established by Gucci’s famous colour palette. This is beautifully contrasted by the character in the purple suit who screams extravagance, the luxe velvety texture offset perfectly by the hint of pattern through his silk scarf and flat cap. The character in the faux-fur coat emphasises her wearing of Gucci Beauty lipstick in Rouge à Lèvres Satin shade 25. The variety of influence and fashion we witness through the episode’s development creates a mirage of looks reminiscent of the possibilities of expression. ‘Geometry is magical because it is about building things, it’s about emotions we feel when faced with possibilities’ says Arlo Parks. Our brand is open-ended, screams Gucci.

Look 24 and look 26 image via GucciFest website

Alessandro Michele’s playfulness within the brand is oozing through GucciFest. Remaining still as a pre-disposed observer, the viewer is travelling through an exploration of expression. On day one this was the expression of the self; on Day two it is the expression of meaning and sense. The surrealism embedded in the subtitles challenges our interpretation, as we are forced to rely only on the words themselves rather than our understanding. Since everybody in the Café understands their conversations, this disconnect between us and them re-distributes the power. Our interpretation is now rooted not in our pre-conceived knowledge but our present emotions. The power is placed in the individual, not in the mass.

Words by Hannah Emery

Graphics by Victoria Zhao

The post GucciFest – Day Two: ‘At The Café’ appeared first on Voir Fashion.

The home: the materialisation of our buried self-intimacy; the exposure of our life’s hidden depths; the playground for our most honest expression. Part one of Gucci Fest dances in the conforms of identity: a protest against the binary, the restricted, the societal limitations. Day one flaunts the fluency of existence.

The ‘Home’ symbolises the safe space, the walls which protects us from the outside gaze and critique. This setting establishes day one as an extremely private (yet extremely relatable) liberation of self. Waking up with Silvia Calderoni in a sheer lace jumpsuit, a GG tulle lingerie set and gold mules, we are shown the unprecedented fragility of the self. The beautiful delicacy of lace speaks almost of a vulnerability, yet this is later contrasted by dramatized slipping on of gold mules, presenting a crossover between our quietest moments and the power of expression we hold. This first scene is the epitome of being, the moments before the world seeps in. In other words, this opening scene is the beginning of the journey of self.

Look 7 and look 8 images via GucciFest website

‘This revolution is going to be about love, about changing desires. It’s going to be about changing desires, of transforming desires, Silvia. And you know that’. Alessandro Michele’s direction of Gucci Fest responds to the concept of classification, the contours of identity which are anciently rooted in the theory of gender, the belief that in existing we must conform to outdated rules, providing unnecessary explanations of self. As Silvia watches gender theorist Paul B. Preciado, her physical morning awakening almost symbolises the awakening of society’s concept of identity – travelling from the spoken subject of conformity to the rebellion against conformity. Silvia is not overtly gendered nor is she the ‘modern patriarchal and colonial logic’ we hear about. She is Gucci. And now, Gucci is interdisciplinary: a merge between fashion and existence, the difference between simply living and being, wearing and dressing.

Look 9 and look 11 images via GucciFest website

Responding to Preciado, Silvia wears a gorgeously pastel silk georgette gown with sequined embroidery, a scene of sheer thrills and ruffles, an air of unapologetic femininity. But this is gown is a personal response, a fight against the society we have been thrown into, an embodiment of ‘the reversal of that logic of oppression’. Silvia has woken up. Like the ‘monsters’ of society – the ‘other’, the non-conforming, the cast aside, the dangerous and the not quite simple enough to be accepted and understood – Silvia dresses for herself. As she drops a floral dress off her balcony, (a replica of Allesandro’s design debuted in A/W 2015), Billie Eilish soundtracks a catwalk of Gucci’s latest collection. In dropping this piece, Gucci symbolically forges the path to new expression, be it physical or theoretical. Gucci, like Silvia, is responding to the damaging process of identification: a sport slogan top paired with a midi tweed skirt, a red leather skirt worn with a sheer top, a floral blouse with denim shorts, a bold shirt with clashing blue bottoms and trainers. ‘I think therefore I am’ sings Eilish… I am worthy of my own existence, I am enough in my own identity, identification no longer exists.

Look 12 and look 13 images via GucciFest website

We are living in a new period, Gucci seems to say. It is time to re-write our identity, to take hold of our lives. Gucci stands alone from society; they present a new expression, their clothes represent a new life. We are invited to buy not just fashion but philosophy, an experience, an alternative perspective of being. As we watch Austine Osayi Osawe Turay cycle round and round, it is evident now this a beginning with no end. It is an unending process, a new form of living. Gucci is inviting a new gaze; they are leading the way.

Words by Hannah Emery

Graphics by Victoria Zhao

The post GucciFest – Day One: ‘At Home’ appeared first on Voir Fashion.

The two musicians are some of the biggest and most fashionable stars on the planet right now so it’s no surprise that they have been selected to take part in the fashion house’s first-ever digital fashion and film festival.

Harry Styles and Billie Eilish images via Getty Images and Inside website

Specifically, they are set to feature in Overture of Something That Never Happened, a seven-part film series directed by critically acclaimed, cult filmmaker Gus Van Sant and Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele.

Gucci hinted at the Van Sant collaboration on Oct. 28 when it posted a drawing by the director on its Instagram with a caption reading, “Impressions of Rome” along with the hashtag . Gucci also posted a Polaroid of Van Sant and Michele sitting on a sofa together.

Gucci is keeping details of the series under wraps, although has revealed that it will feature actor and artist Silvia Calderonu walking around Rome, bumping into various musicians including Eilish and Styles. Other guests will include Jeremy O. Harris, Arlo Parks and Florence Welch.

Billie and Harry aren’t complete newcomers to the film industry with Harry Styles already starring in major blockbusters like Dunkirk as well as starring in Olivia Wilde’s new film, psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling, which recently started shooting.

Although Billie has no prior acting experience she did write the theme song for the forthcoming James Bond film ‘No Time To Die’ earlier this year which has gained over 200 million streams on Spotify since its release.

Billie Eilish – No Time To Die

GucciFest, which will broadcast on YouTube Fashion, Weibo, Gucci’s YouTube channel and GucciFest.com, will also include fashion films featuring the work of 15 independent designers: Ahluwalia, Shanel Campbell, Stefan Cooke, Cormio, Charles De Vilmorin, Jordan Luca, Mowalola, Yueqi Qi, Rave Review, Gui Rosa, Rui, Bianca Saunders, Collina Strada, Boramy Viguier and Gareth Wrighton.

GucciFest kicks off on November 16th and will run until November 22nd.

Words by Chris Saunders

The post Hold Up, Billie Eilish and Harry Styles Will Appear in the New Gucci Fashion Film Series appeared first on Voir Fashion.