It’s been two full years since Alessandro Michele put Gucci on the runway in Milan. His homecoming was never going to be business as usual, but then Rihanna glided in, pregnant and rocking a headdress and a bare belly underneath a fur chubby. Her appearance was electrifying, and the mirrored runway multiplied the camera flashes.

In his press notes, Michele made a connection between mirrors and fashion. “Clothes are capable of reflecting our image in an expanded and transfigured dimension… wearing them means to cross a transformative threshold where we become something else.” The liminal space is what turns him on, a point he made clear in his Gucci debut circa 2015.

“Women are really interested in men’s suits,” he said beforehand. Maybe it’s time to reconsider what we call them, but either way there were all manner of men’s suits here: a navy double-breasted beauty that opened the show, a velvet tuxedo with crystal detailing, corduroy, plaids, and sequins.

Full Review: Vogue | Nicole Phelps

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