Gucci Resort 2018

Guccy, Guccification, Guccify Yourself! In addition to his latest iteration of the fur slipper, Alessandro Michele‘s playful Gucci slogans will be the next items to fly off the shelves, especially the unisex pink teddy bear sweater that proclaims, “Guccy.” Michele has proven himself to be the rarest of fashion gems—a true mad hatter creative with a midas touch that includes a sixth sense about pushing the envelope of consumer desires. A man in a golden wreathed crown, a shrunken plaid shirt, tiny leather hot pants, and dad socks or a ghostly looking gamine in a Renaissance-era gown turned mini dress might seem altogether bizarre to a wizened fashion consumer, but the beauty of Michele’s madness lies in his staunch individuality and his madcap styling. Consider these eccentric beauties hanging piece by piece on a rack, and it all starts to make sense.

Michele and his team must have had a quite a ball pouring through vintage inspirations that span eras as far back as the renaissance to the swinging ’60s. He stayed true to his usual tropes—the fur slipper, the fuchsia dress, pearl accents, the bedazzled ensemble, disco pants, bows, and florals—but the best pieces played to Gucci’s heritage pattern from the archives. That pattern has recently been revived on the streets by girls whose mothers passed on their Gucci bags from the ’70s and ’80s, and Michele was smart to reinstate it so boldly. The pattern found its way onto fur capes and jackets, the best of which was a mink bomber with enormous voluminous sleeves emblazoned.

Under the gilded ceilings of the Palantine gallery of the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, Michele showed 115 looks, and yet each managed to feel like some kind of sacred treasure—the breed of rare find you might stumble upon in a far-flung flea. Who doesn’t need a little escapism? Currently, romanticizing the past certainly seems more pleasant than elaborating on the future.