The themes displayed at Gucci’s Fall/Winter 2020 Men’s show beg the big “what if?” of my childhood. What if I’d grown up less afraid of a rigid gender binary? Would I dress more fearlessly? Society is beginning to embrace fluidity, but make no mistake, there is still a long way to go.
The pendulum swinging through the center of the runway reminded us that time isn’t linear. Allesandro Michele, creative director for the coveted brand, questioned what it means to be a man with looks including a sweater with an image of a hatching chick.
A bunny-rabbit brooch felt like a nod to the stuffed animals on my childhood bed. The knit “mon petit chou (my little darling)” was like a call from mom that dinner is ready. Green-stained fabrics and ripped jeans resemble the distressing earned by playing in the backyard with your best friend for hours on end.
On the other hand, Mary janes and knee-high socks resembled my little sister’s Sunday best. Male models donned gingham shirt dresses, similar to those that I stole from my sister’s closet to prance down the stairs in.
This Gucci show felt like a true push to expand our ideas of what certain genders are “supposed to” and/or “not supposed to” wear. In order to change the fundamental ways in which we see the world, a lot of the time we have to go back to the root of where those ideas sprouted—childhood.
This show goes all the way back, walks us up to our present day and then onward towards the future in a reevaluation of what it means to be a man.
This advance has authentic depth. It’s more than a man wearing one tulle blouse on a red carpet and all of Twitter exclaiming that “Toxic masculinity is over!” We get so excited about a progressive world where gender isn’t important that seeing Harry Styles in a pink pussy-bow makes us jump at the idea that everything’s suddenly solved. So, while fashion is not a complete solution to our society’s gender concerns, it has the power to start a conversation, to make us rethink.
This show reminded me of the power that Allesandro Michele holds as an artist and a major influencer of our generation’s fashion culture. All of us, myself included, can get hung up on that same damn white graphic “Gucci” t-shirt, or the bronze and silver marmont G’s that scream “wealth!” on belt buckles across the world. However, the magic that Michele creates on the runways at Gucci feels like the most spot-on encapsulation of our generation’s deep dive into finding new meaning in gender.
So, what does it mean to be a man? I’m not quite sure about that yet, but I have a feeling that it’s whatever you want to make of it.
Words by: Nicholson Baird @nicholsonbaird
Graphic by: Titi Motta