Gucci x Balenciaga: First impression of the Aria Collection.

​If I'm totally honest, I'm not generally a Gucci fan as I've considered it kind of bland in recent years but I'll give respect where its due and I cant deny it, this collection left me feeling particularly giddy on a Thursday afternoon.

I liked it alot.

I'm loving how fashion houses are now firing up the creativity in how they're presenting their collections to us in the current post pandemic situation. It feels like they've been given more freedom to turn their shows into more of an experience - from the music to the filters and the storytelling - how else would we have ended up with a level of production this fun to look at? 

Before we get into these stunning pieces let’s talk about the vibe of the fashion movie itself. "100 years of Gucci" is the occasion.

Happy Birthday Gucci.

But then.. with a a special party guest appearance by none other than ...Balenciaga??

We’ll get into that in a minute.

First, lets talk about the production.

For music a killer mix of everything Gucci inspired over the last few years from Gucci Gang by Lil Pump to Die Antwoord and some Vitalic and everything in between.

What else did we love?

Not one influencer model in sight, keeping the focus firmly on the fashion, yes please and thank you.

Naturally there were Equestrian touches everywhere as they are firmly entrenched in Gucci’s history. Then there were references to the Savoy Hotel (where the founder Guccio Gucci worked as a lift boy in his youth watching the luxury crowd that would eventually end up celebrating him back).

The show was also jam packed with logomania, crystal encrusted, anatomical heart shaped bags worth selling non-vital organs for, sequined suits, chain necklaces, the Jackie bag reinvented, the hourglass bag from Balenciaga with floral Gucci prints.  It was everything we could have hoped for in a 100 year Gucci commemoration and more.

Now lets talk about the "collab" it's rare to see brands of this calibre in a single collaboration which is already a win for us but when its two kingpins like Gucci and Balenciaga then it’s really something special. But why this specific union? The most obvious connection would be that both brands share the same mother company Keyring but secondly as creative director Alessandro Michelle explained after the show, it wasn’t exactly a collaboration but more a product of his “hack lab” where he looked to influences from Gucci daddy, Tom Ford (naturally) to Demna Gvasalia. He said “Gucci becomes for me a hacking lab, made of inclusions and metamorphoses. I have plundered the non-conformist rigour of Demna Gvasalia and the sexual tension of Tom Ford..I have celebrated the equestrian world of Gucci transfiguring it into a fetish cosmogony".

And we am living for it.

*Update* The release date is to be confirmed for sometime in June although SA's are currently taking pre orders. 

Without any further ado, if you still havent seen this masterpiece, check out the fashion film below:

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