It says a lot about the current state of fashion and the post feminine zeitgeist that Gucci, a label invented to mimic the elite taste of European nobility, found its inspiration for the house’s latest women’s ready-to-wear collection in a somewhat more rough and ready caste, groupies...
Almost famous party animals packed the catwalk in Gucci’s fall 2008 show, posh hippie chicks with Russian inspired peasant shirts, Celia Birtwell style prints, endless encrusted Rajasthan belts and knee boots finished with tassels and gold studs.
“I was thinking of Patti Hanson, groupies and all the designers, like Ossie Clark, who had been inspired by them. Of when Twenties design met hippie in a new mode,” explained Frida Giannini backstage post show.
Russian beauty Natasha Poly opened the action with a hussar’s mistress look with riding britches, thigh boots and peasant lass shirt, followed by gals in Potemkin paisley mini dresses, showing lots of thigh and plenty of neck.
Though the program notes talked of Gucci Boho, the collection was far nearer to Hoboho, that’s Haute Bourgeois Bohemian, a class to which this author has always been attached.
When the night fell, and temperatures dropped, Gucci groupies warmed up with astrakhan, and coyote bomber jackets and wrap coats, shimmying down a catwalk done like an Eastern European tapestry.
Adding the louche moment, the swirling soundtrack featured a great cut from The Kills, featuring rock and roll gun for hire Lou Reed, on a cut called “Tranquillize.”
No one can quibble that Giannini does not have lots of ideas, and a firm grasp of where she wants to take Gucci. However, there’s a sense that her rein is all about producing huge quantities of colorful, instantly sexy clobber to feed a giant Gucci boutique chain for the nouveaux riche of China and Russia. Out with the glamour, in with the gold rush.
photos courtesy of Fashion Wire Daily
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