Gucci's SS12 collection marked the 90th anniversary of the storied Italian house, and was curious in that, for this month, it was not the biggest event for the brand. A few days after the showing, in Florence,
Gucci opened its museum, an impeccably presented shrine to the brand's 90 year history. The collection itself however, proved a very fitting tribute to both the brand's heritage, and the unashamedly sexy sophisticate the label has come to represent today.
Christened Hard Deco, the showing emphasised a mixture of structure and fluidity, with almost sporty dropped waists and loose draped silks rubbing up against tightly controlled, cropped cubist jackets that created a strong-shouldered, slender-armed, lean silhouette. The brand's equestrian heritage was explored through horsehead prints on slash-sided silk pants and a yenta-esque structureless jacket, so stylised and swirling it appeared almost like peacock feathers.
The palette was simple yet decadent, blacks and whites enlivened by jolts of intense emerald and citrene (carried through to the finest detail in from-the-archive jewelled jacket fastenings, buttons and accessories), and an intense abundance of metallics. It was in these gleaming golds and silvers that the 'hard' of the collection came through, shot into intense, angular lines, they recalled the most famous examples of deco architecture to puncture the skyline of New York City.
These lines carried on right into eveningwear, on beaded dresses of astonishing weight that, on close inspection had their own architectural elements in the form of embellishments so thick they protruded in tiers before dissolving into swishy skirts, all pleating and fringing, that sparkled in the light as they danced around mid-thigh, to a flapper-meets-nineties-club-minx effect. There were generous showings of flesh in backless pieces, and plunging necklines that offered a more extreme take on the 1920's V.
With a collection so graphically bold, it is easy to zoom out, which is a shame because, while strong from a distance, the real delight of this range was in the details. Fringed leather so fine it was feathery, the astonishing texture of metallic python pieces and all that heavy beading looked vivacious from a distance, but up close where the labour involved in its creation was clearer, it was straight-out beautiful.