Love it or hate it, Alessandro Michele’s Gucci had a very specific flavor, and now he is gone and the brand has to sort out what to do next. They’ve hired a successor — Sabato Di Sarno, who has worked at D&G, Prada, and most notably Valentino, where he’s credited with contemporizing their work — but this doesn’t reflect his vision; that collection will come out in September. In the meantime, the brand threw together a collection that allegedly drew inspiration from its Tom Ford era, and the result is a mishmash that felt part-homage, part-throwing everything at the wall to see what might stick. Bringing out a miniscule chain bra as the first look is a bold statement… but also one that rather misrepresents most of what comes out after it. There’s some bad tailoring, disco flourishes that harken back more to Michele, a truly inexplicable bra and panty situation late in the game… colorful to watch, but not exactly a dream. It’s a bridge collection, basically. They’re vamping while the new dude thinks.
