You think Alessandro Michele was fishing for this job his whole life? The entire revival at Gucci is made possible by Elton John’s iconic wardrobe from his early career. Elton John maybe didn’t invent the concept of what he was wearing, but he certainly made the styling choices and the flair his own. Then Alessandro Michele came in and boldly woke up the boring Gucci giant and added about a million sequins and turned up the volume on the concept of kitsch and tackiness. It was incredible to watch — exciting even — to have someone so young step in and essentially fuck with the foundation of a pretty iconic fashion house. But that was literal ages ago. What’s next?
Now that Michele got to do the farewell tour, will Gucci continue to be an Elton John derivative forever? Profits are profits, I know that. But look at Pheobe Philo or Alber Elbaz. Or Marc Jacobs back in his heyday. They literally reinvented their fashion houses and their aesthetics by bravely going into the unknown and trying whatever they felt like with confidence because they too were confident. They were making choices, risky ones too, and then moving on to something new.
My thinking is that the kind of validation that comes with incredible profit margins, positive press and a literal tidal wave of regrams becomes addictive. Walking away and trying something new in uncharted waters begins to feel exhausting and incredibly risky.
