Gucci -- Revealingly Brilliant
By Godfrey Deeny
Photos by Gruber-FWD
Milan, Oct 1, 2002/ FWD/ --- With scores of designers on each side of the pond, it
was refreshing to attend the Gucci catwalk show in Milan Saturday, which was dedicated
to the worthwhile proposition that one of the key reasons women buy clothes is to encourage
a healthy sex life.
Gucci for spring/summer 2003 is all about celebrating the beauty of the human body, with
plenty of shoulder, collar bone, thigh, bum cheek and even the odd nipple – plus ring –
on display in Gucci’s custom-built runway space in Piazza Oberdan.
The house’s designer, Tom Ford, did seem like a man inspired this season.
His mission?
Getting consumers back into Gucci stores following several laggard retailing quarters,
most especially in the house’s own boutiques.
His solution – revealing, high-energy fashion that was fun, risqué but just the right side
of feminine.
Powered by a charged-up selection of Beatles hits, the collection opened with a tiny
bit of restraint; a big blonde Barbie-haired Natalia Vodianova strutting out in a
sixties-style white coat dress showed acres of leg.
Next came Carmen Kass and Frankie Rayder, both poured into two explosively skimpy
printed flower dresses that rode way up the leg and hung off the shoulders.
We’re talking troublemaking here.
Even when he sent out a nylon bomber jacket or silk parka, the racy cut and pulled open
to the waist suggested that whoever wore these clothes was definitely not going to finish
the night alone.
Just as our favorite George Harrison song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," reached that
great Eric Clapton moment, Ford sent out the bread and butter of his business – handbags.
This season Tom likes them in an elongated Swiss shape or flat pyramid, always with
bag bearing the signature Gucci burnt cane handle.
His leather jackets were tight and finely finished as only the Italians can do,
especially a beige bomber whose sleeves ended in faux half-gloves.
For the wee hours, Tom headed to the rock star’s suite reprising an idea from the July men’s
show, with a series of collector’s item kimonos worn over mini briefs.
With Milan packed full of Chinese investors and aspiring boutique owners, the Asian
flower detailing seemed to make lots of sense.
His finale, a brilliant discourse on cutting cocktail dresses back to the minimum while
ramping them up with embroidered spring flowers and chiffon layers, was a piece de resistance.
Naughty, yet naïve, saucy yet feminine.
As the lights went up instead of reaching for their pens, critics would be forgiven for
checking their pulse.
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