Show Notes: Cosmic Wonder On The Gucci Cosmogonie Runway
Alessandro Michele deftly plays the role of Archduke of Fashion with an ethereal and wicked collection for Resort 2023.
Could it be purely coincidental that Alessandro Michele chose to stage his latest Gucci show on May 16, during a lunar eclipse? It's highly tangential considering the often esoteric-slash-occult motivations behind his work. If it helps build the case, this latest outing (slated to hit shelves this coming Nov) has been dubbed Gucci Cosmogonie – the latter a term pertaining to the theory of the origin of the universe.
Bearing that cosmic influence in mind, the setting of the show, or more specifically the man who built it, holds another significant symbolism for Michele. Held at the 13th century Castel del Monte in the southern Italian commune of Andria, models circled the exterior of the building which rises more than 500 metres above the flat fields of the region.
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The imposing structure was built by Frederick II who is largely regarded by some historians as the first modern ruler and statesman for establishing an efficient bureaucracy to rule his kingdom. Given the architectural perfection (it's a perfect octagon) and harmonious blending of various elements mined from Northern Europe, the Islamic world and classical antiquity, the castle represents a crossroads of different peoples, cultures, civilisations, and faiths that intrigue Michele.
Besides staging the Gucci Cosmogonie show at Castel del Monte, Gucci will support an enhancement project of the World Heritage Site.
Like Michele, Frederick II was a Renaissance man obsessed with cultures and the arts and matters related to the realms of the metaphysical, cosmos and magic. The latter packed his court with astronomers and astrologers who included storied figures such as Italian astrologer Guido Bonatti.
That fact is something that would surely have resonated with the Michele, an intellectual whose knack for the astrology, superstition, philosophy and arts is well-documented. In fact, for Gucci Cosmogonie, Michele had cited Theses on the Philosophy of History by German-Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin and Benjamin's abstract concept of constellations of signs and symbols as a guiding force behind the collection.
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And for a short moment on cool spring evening at Castel del Monte, the two were connected through a unique constellation of 101 looks, glitter and stars who appeared in every sense of the word.
Ahead, some notes from the occasion.