Gucci's latest Fall/Winter 2020 season advertisement campaign discusses the concept of looking at something from a different perspective. Titled "The Routine," the photos show the Gucci models' everyday lives in the comfort of their own homes. The intimate photos and video clips, captured by the models themselves, represent a diverse cast of characters, offering a deeply personal, frank and authentic collection of self-portraits. 

Knitting, gardening, washing, jumping off a bed or skateboarding indoors are seen on the Gucci models. Such hyper-real photos show residents who are free to use their creativity to have fun and explore, being their own artists, storytellers, producers and scenographers. The playful campaign video, which evokes a powerful sense of freedom and joy, has been set to the song "Alright" by Supergrass. While the photos were recorded on a variety of devices ranging from disposable cameras to mobile phones, an emotional dreamlike quality was exuded during the visual experiment. 

"I wanted to let the clothes fly to the houses of cast models – the characters that have embodied my stories for years; I selected individuals specifically, over time, because of their individuality, which typically brings my campaigns to life," explained Creative Director Alessandro Michele. "I asked them to reflect their idea of themselves, to go public with it, to form the poetry that goes with them. I was encouraging them to play and improvise with their lives. 

"The unrealistic hyper-naturalism that I've always tried to convey comes out even more authentically and beautifully now," he says. "In fact, the overturning produces a paradoxical effect: the loosening of control created a narrative that seems to transcend my own capacity to construct fiction in strength. I am grateful for this creative experiment, because it has restored the power of my dream."

Take a closer look at the Fall/Winter 2020 campaign below.

In other news, Following his recent Spring/Summer 2021 showcase, Rick Owens unveiled a pair of white bondage-wrapped hi-tops. 

GUCCI'S FW20 CAMPAIGN: A DEEPLY PERSONAL SERIES OF SELF-PORTRAITS.

In the same way as its direct competitor LVMH, Kering has been affected by the current coronavirus pandemic, though both luxury conglomerates boast resilience in their financial half-year results. However, Kering was hit slightly harder than LVMH, with sales falling by an unadjusted 29.7 percent (compared to the 27 percent decline in LVMH). 

The consolidated revenue of €5.3 billion (around $6.3 billion USD) is approximately a third less than Kering's previous year's reported revenue but its operating margin remains "resilient" at 17.7 percent, Kering reports. Shop closings and stopped tourism played a major role in subverting Kering's fortunes, as they did with LVMH, and the resulting post-pandemic reopening worked in Kering's favor as well. 

While sales from directly operated stores shrank by almost 31 percent — Kering's total revenue decreased by an estimated 43.4 percent due to closure in particular in Q2 2020. Online sales rocketed 47.2 percent, however, boosting the figures of Kering during global quarantines. Asia, particularly China, has played a particularly important part in the gradual recovery of Kering. 

Gucci, arguably Kering's crown jewel, is a reflection of Kering's difficult year. It enjoyed a "robust" beginning in 2020, but saw sales fall over EUR 3 billion (around USD 3.6 billion) in the first six months of 2020, down 33.5 percent from 2019 (EUR 4.6 billion or about USD 5.4 billion). Kering records "favorable traction with local customers in its main markets" as Gucci stores continue to reopen, boosting the brand's online sales by a remarkable 51.8 percent, following a 36.1 percent drop in wholesale revenue. 

Ironically, only Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent (revenue down 30%) and Bottega Veneta (revenue down 8.4%) are being supplied by specific finances from Kering. As for Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga, Kering's only note is that the houses "held firm" and reduced declining revenue due to "the appeal of their innovative offering." Kering's "other houses" (i.e. those not Gucci, Saint Laurent or Bottega Veneta) brought in €919.1 million (about $1.07 billion) with revenue down by 25 percent. 

Kering's main brands continue to innovate in gendered fashion, even in the face of a global pandemic: Gucci has recently launched its first non-binary collection, and Bottega Veneta has launched a masculinity-questioning line.

In other news, Adidas and Yohji Yamamoto‘s long-running Y-3 label is expected to present its FW20 footwear collection in the coming weeks, and one of the main pieces is a new style called the Hicho. A platform take on adidas Originals‘ iconic Campus, the Hicho serves as Y-3's court shoe for the autumn season, elevating a classical style both figuratively and literally for a completely innovative look.

KERING'S REVENUE DROPPED NEARLY 30 PERCENT IN 2020'S FIRST HALF

Gucci launched the first-ever non-binary, gender-fluid division known as Gucci Mx. Beginning with fall/winter 2020 and the re-release of its Jackie 1961 bag, Alessandro Michele's Gucci Mx will offer pieces each season that do not adhere to a particular gender. 

Gucci has hired Angelo Pennetta to shoot gender-neutral models wearing the aforementioned bag in honor of the gender-neutral design of the brand. The Jackie 1961 is an iconic classic of Gucci from the 60s and 70s, taking its name from Jackie Kennedy; it was one of her favorite designs - a big success for the luxury Italian label. 

The campaign also features models sporting a wide variety of new-season clothing such as an impressive pair of sparkling metallic green flared pants and an equally 70s-esque doilie-lace shirt. 

Check the new Gucci Mx campaign in the gallery above and discover the complete hand-picked collection of gender-fluid pieces.

Non-binary is a continuum of gender identities that are not predominantly male or female — those are identities outside the standard gender. Non-binary individuals may identify as having two or more genders, as having no gender, moving between genders or having a fluctuating gender identity being a third or other gender (a category that includes those who do not give their gender a name). 

Gender identity is distinct from sexual or romantic preference and, much as cisgender people do, non-binary individuals have a number of sexual orientations. Non-binary gender identities, like androgyny, are not synonymous with a common description of the sex. Non-binary humans as a group have a wide range of expressions of gender, and some may fully oppose "identities" of the sex. Many non-binary individuals are diagnosed with surgery or drugs for gender dysphoria, as are trans males and females.

In other news, Rick Owens isn't into doing anything halfway. The Paris-based California-born designer is known for some of the most controversial and envelope-pushing concepts in the fashion industry, with runway shows to suit. Yet Spring/Summer 2021 "PHLEGETHON" is another matter. The line, closely lensed by Owens himself, is a selection of repurposed pieces from the previous collections of Owens, accompanied by new designs and concepts.

GUCCI LAUNCHES ITS FIRST NON-BINARY SECTION

When Guccio Gucci introduced the Gucci brand in Florence in 1921, he certainly didn't think that one day his business would need to speak to a mass movement fighting for Black Americans' civil rights. The company was born out of the traditional leather manufacturing in Tuscany; it only spread outside of Italy some 30 years later and eventually delved into ready-to-wear over 20 years after. Just 15 days after the company opened its first store in New York City in 1953, Gucci himself passed away. The fact that his company is expected to adequately address a historic civil rights movement today, speaks not only to Black Lives Matter's global power but also to the evolving nature of consumer relationships with the brands they want to buy from. 

Various luxury fashion brands have always had to sell far more than well-made products; they trade in nebulous ideas of value and meaning just as much as in tangible materials such as leather, silk and chiffon. What has changed in the approximately 100 years that Gucci and its contemporaries, such as Prada (founded in Milan in 1913), Chanel (founded in Paris in 1909) and Burberry (founded in London in 1864, a few generations older), have existed are the values that their products are expected to connote, and the audiences they are focusing on. 

The recent month's renewed international attention to the Black Lives Matter movement has highlighted how far those companies have come to meet a global audience that needs their purchases to reflect inclusive values. It's a sharp turn from the exclusivity paradigm that the fashion world has so often pulled on with an iron fist — the one that says, not slim or white or rich enough to wear those clothing? Very bad indeed! 

"The whole point of the luxury brands is that you create attraction, and that's a sense of identity. That significance must include the internal as well as external image of the brand. Luxury brands both need to convey that their products are made with people of color in mind to be acceptable to the conscious consumer, and that their businesses have internal diversity policies to appeal to the increasingly critical millennial workforce. 

A failure to predict how a conscious customer may view those products has already had negative effects on those brands. Prada's "Pradamalia" figurines attracted fast condemnation in December 2018 for their resemblance to blackface; February 2019 saw widespread outrage against Gucci and Burberry for sweaters evoking blackface and a noose, respectively. These products were not even the most offensive ones released in recent memory by any fashion company (they weren't even the most racist thing produced that season by a fashion brand). Yet certain goods have, so to speak, been a flashpoint in pushing luxury brands to face greater scrutiny from the public. 

It follows then that internally recruiting practices are now attracting the same attention as an ad campaign. First came the news of Miuccia Prada and her staff undergoing sensitivity training in February 2019, followed by the announcement that the company would launch a Diversity and Inclusion Committee, headed by Ava DuVernay. Burberry announced a slew of internal diversity initiatives later that month. Gucci launched its multi-tiered initiative Gucci Changemakers to combat racial inequity in March, and later hired Renée Tirado as the global head of diversity, equity and inclusion. In July, Chanel appointed Fiona Pageter as its first ever global head of diversity and inclusion. 

The thing about diversity officers is that they have kind of a tough task, because they need help within the company to do their job. So it's all very well and good to employ a diversity officer to help you diverse your staff, and then your ethics or marketing strategies or whatever you've made a boo of. But getting that really having an effective hold in your business is another story. 

When announcing the hiring of their diversity and inclusion officers, these luxury brands couldn't have realized that only a year later corporations from around the world would be asked to make their efforts to fight racism in public. Making those diversity promises means setting yourself up to be publicly accountable for changing customer standards — but these companies often face a tightrope of difficulties in authentically transmitting company values to a large, heterogeneous market at a moment when millions of eyes are well-tuned to any misstep. 

Companies realize that being inclusive, embracing diversity, empowering everyone to feel a part of their business is actually good, strategic conduct. So that was inside and now I guess the same sort of mindset has shifted to the outer part. It doesn't just have to make sure our immediate target client is happy. Yet we ought to look at ourselves as the world's strong corporate citizens. And where the world is headed?

One is to reflect what cultural norms and values are today. Then the other is to focus, or refract, if you prefer. And to ask, Imagine this other world and do you not want to live in this world? The obligation held by these organizations is to change.This means ensuring that the boardroom consists of black and brown faces, queer faces, trans faces, ensuring that all the individuals depicted in ads are more reflective of the population. Make sure the people who work on projects come from different cultures, different backgrounds of the society, so there are different faces at every level of production and every level of the company.

In 2018, filmmaker Jade Jackman scouted Dolan-Sandrino for appearance in a short film made for Gucci, titled Future is Fluid. She joined the Gucci's Chime for Change advisory board the following year, which has worked for gender equality since 2013. "My dream is to have more Queer Black and Brown kids every time I enter the room," she said. Since then, Dolan-Sandrino has appeared on panels organized by Gucci and contributed to the company's Chime Zine, edited by the community activist Adam Eli; in her writing for the zine and other experiences with others affiliated with the company, Dolan-Sandrino states that she was first and foremost known as an artist for her work. 

"I have to really write about what it's like to be trans," she said. "Those things are most often phrased as, Why do you matter? Why are You Existing? And in the end, the Gucci thing is that it's never been a problem. The problem has never been why I need to show you just how important it is that I have rights.

But the fashion industry is still a small, insular market, even if there has been a significant diversification in the industry. "This little island that at one point was so elitist that none really thought about it," Bethann Hardison, the legendary model and activist, said. "This island has not been getting any larger. Yet the population has risen significantly," she said. Hardison has been championing greater fashion diversity for decades, dating back to her establishment of the Black Girls Alliance with Iman in 1988. She joined the Board of Advisors of Gucci Changemakers in 2019. She cites the brand's education commitment through diverse communities as vital work.

Last month, as part of the first Changemakers Scholars class, it announced the 20 students who will earn $1.5 million in support over the next four years. "No money came in. Gucci already had its money cut out. They have never taken away the initiative and they could have. It really surprised me," she said of their ability to pull off the plan in the face of the coronavirus crisis.

In October 2019, the company also introduced a design fellowship program to build job opportunities for students from underrepresented groups, which includes collaborations with schools such as the University of Lagos and Bunka Fashion School in Tokyo. 

Burberry has begun plans to support 50 students over the next five years. Both Burberry and Gucci have since introduced implicit bias training through corporate departments, warehouses, and retail stores over the past year. 

Prada sponsored a conference on corporate social responsibility, entitled "Shaping a Sustainable Future Culture." Gucci created a US$ 5 million fund to help 16 community-based organizations including Houston's Writers in the Schools and the Black AIDS Institute in Los Angeles, and Chanel pledged US$ 1 million to support grassroots, racial justice groups. It is not often possible to observe such internal machinations from the outside, but this June, when a new wave of Black Lives Matter demonstrations erupted across the United States, fashion companies were once again called upon to make their position from racism public. 

Gucci posted a poem from Cleo Wade on its Instagram, followed by another post announcing NAACP, Know Your Rights Center, and Campaign Zero donations and that it will close U.S. operations as a day of mourning on June 4th. In an Instagram message, Prada also committed to advocating for social justice, while Burberry pledged a donation to Black Lives Matter, and Chanel shared three black squares in a row.

"One of the things I'm hoping this comes with is that fashion will be a lot more vocal and will want to make mistakes in order to know, rather than walking around on eggshells. This is what a lot of companies end up doing, they don't want to offend anybody, but they're doing nothing at all by not offending anybody." In true cultural revolutions to take place there needs to be a strong moral foundation, a concept that philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah discusses in his book The Honor Code: Why Moral Revolutions Happen. 

When major cultural transformations occur in society, it's important to have real morals through that. It's not because someone tells us to do it, or not because it's good for us, that the people have to feel like it. This is what we have to do because we know this is the right thing to do. That's not just black and white, that's a human moment.

With Black Lives Matter, what you could see was the knee of this guy on a man's face. It influenced a lot of people to see it. And black and white has nothing to do with it, this is a real moment. You can't see the impact of those scholarship programs, unconscious bias training or recruiting a diversity and inclusion officer in a year. 

After all, undoing century-old traditions takes more than mere months. But the public pressure has risen to such a degree that brands that do no more than surface-level ads will probably not last another 100 years.

More brands such as Rick Owens or Alexander Wang are getting involved in this movement every month.

Luxury fashion needs to reflect a world where Black lives matter.

WHAT DOES FASHION BEING ASPIRATIONAL IN 2020 MEAN?

Luxury e-tailer Mytheresa has launched an exclusive 46-piece menswear capsule line with Gucci, offering ready-to-wear, accessories and footwear alongside the Pre-Fall 2020 line of the brand. 

Typical of Alessandro Michele, the capsule serves us silks, references to the 1970s, and quintessential Gucci touches such as overtly bold "GG" motifs and references to the history of the brand with plenty of horsebit details. 

Mytheresa and Gucci have enlisted the Australian band Parcels to star in a lookbook and a music video, in which they are decked head-to-toe in the new Gucci capsule. Many of the highlights from the exclusive drop include a green Horsebit 1955 duffel bag with gold-tone horsebit buckles, the matching shoulder bag which is basically a smaller version of the previous bag, as well as the double-breasted linen and cotton blazer in "Limestone Yellow" featuring a red and gold vintage cuff tag with Gucci branding alongside a French motto that translates to "Gucci whatever the season." 

Continuing the spirit of retro luxury is a large variety of silks with pocket squares and ties, as well as a two-piece "GG" windowpane motif suit in brown. The accessories and more subtle items from the capsule could be beautifully matched with pretty much anything in the 46-piece collection, which is rounded out with ribbed boots, tailored leather moccasins, a range of cozy hats, turtleneck sweaters, sunglasses and more. 

You can watch Parcels on Mytherea's website in practice. The Mytheresa-exclusive capsule of Gucci Pre-Fall 2020 can now be bought on Mythesa.com.

In other news, Adidas and Yohji Yamamoto‘s long-running Y-3 label presenting their FW20 footwear collection, and one of the main pieces is a new style called the Hicho. A platform take on adidas Originals‘ iconic Campus, the Hicho serves as Y-3's court shoe for the autumn season, elevating a classical style both figuratively and literally for a completely innovative look.

Presenting a 46-piece capsule designed by Alessandro Michele.

GUCCI X MYTHERESA CAPSULE: 70S TAILORING, SILKS AND HOUSE TRADITIONS

In line with his commitment to artistic collaboration, creative director Alessandro Michele invited visual artists from all over the world to produce artwork depicting various G-Timeless automatic watch models of the brand. All were challenged to interpret the watches creatively in their own way, and to concentrate in particular on the feature that makes the G-Timeless so distinctive: the bee's motif, first introduced to Gucci in the 1970s, and now adorns each timepiece's face. 

The artists truly represent the global community. Although some have previously partnered with Gucci, for instance, China's Winnie Chi and UK's Kieron Livingstone, the majority are new discoveries for the House: including London-based Oh de Laval and Tishk Barzanji, California's Balfua, Spain's David Macho, and Russia's Andrey Kasay. Other artists include Margot Ferrick of the USA and Cambo of the UK, who used a proverb from poet William Blake to create a colorful propaganda piece. Although each artist has given the project a deeply personal eye, all the pieces share a dreamy, surreal atmosphere, perfectly in line with Gucci's eclecticism. 

The sense of unified eclecticism appears to be the hidden force of Alessandro Michele. He encourages his fellow artists to convey something special and personal with each new collaboration, and he still manages to make it work seamlessly into the brand's aesthetic language. With each new campaign, Gucci is growing both outward and inward, expanding into new artistic territory while increasingly becoming itself. It is no wonder they are producing so much buzz.

Are we going to see Gucci x Rick Owens' collaboration one day? Rick Owens doesn't shy away from subversion, so it makes complete sense in several respects that the designer could have teamed up with Gucci, the Italian number one company best known for being extremely fashionable and trendy. We will keep you posted, stay tuned!

A new collaborative campaign from Gucci is as sweet as honey.

G-TIMELESS WATCH: GUCCI COLLABORATES WITH ILLUSTRATORS

Gucci have released a gunmetal gray version of their Grip watch. 

The name, "Grip," refers both to the snug fit of the watch against the wrist, and to skateboarding culture. It also draws direct influence from skateboards, since this gray Grip watch's logo-engraved face is designed to mimic the adhesive tape found on boards. 

Gucci's signature GG logo is engraved into the face, which sits next to three windows reading the hour, minute and date. The "GG" etching goes on all around the band, and can even be found at the back of the case of the watch. 

Rounding out the new Gucci Grip is its packaging, which is designed exclusively for this limited-edition gunmetal gray iteration. The box features a front-facing embroidered floral panel that opens to present the '70s-inspired timepiece on an emerald green velour cushion. You can buy a piece for yourself for $1,729 USD.

Gucci is a luxury Italian fashion and leather goods brand. Gucci has been founded in 1921, in Florence, Tuscany, by Guccio Gucci. According to BusinessWeek, Gucci generated about € 4.2 billion in revenue worldwide in 2008 and climbed to 41st place in the 2009 "Top Global 100 Brands" magazine chart created by Interbrand; it retained that rank in the 2014 index of Interbrand. Gucci has the highest sales among Italian brands.

As of September 2009, Gucci runs approximately 278 directly-operated stores worldwide, wholesaling its products through franchisors and upscale department stores. The company was valued at US$ 12.1 billion in 2013, with sales of US$ 4.7 billion. Gucci is ranked 38th most valuable brand in the Forbes World's Most Valuable Brands ranking, with a brand value of $12.4 bn as of May 2015. Alessandro Michele is Gucci's artistic director since 2015.

The rumors say that the new Rick Owens watch will be released in 2021. We will keep you posted! Stay tuned!

Alessandro Michele's first-ever timepiece for the house.

GUCCI RELEASES GRIP WATCH IN STEALTHY GUNMETAL GRAY

Milan's governing institution for fashion, the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, has confirmed the schedule of designers to display their new collections as part of a digital fashion week in July, as a substitute for conventional fashion shows canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Some of the biggest Italian labels are included in the schedule: Prada, Gucci, Ermenegildo Zegna, Missoni, and Salvatore Ferragamo are among the labels which are confirmed to be present. Some brands will showcase collections of Spring/Summer 2021, while others will focus on Cruise and Pre-Collections. 

Many of the most revered names in Milan, though, are also notably absent. Marni, Fendi, and Giorgio Armani are missing, while labels like Bottega Veneta usually opt out of the Summer men's shows in favor of presenting in September. 

Since lockdowns were introduced as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, all the major fashion capitals were forced to find new ways to allow designers to present themselves. London Fashion Week was replaced by a digital portal that received a timid response from the press and buyers, although some designers found ways to create excitement. 

The Paris menswear shows, which were scheduled to take place last week, will be replaced by a virtual event named Whispers of Paris, set to be held from 9-13 July. The list of participating designers has still not been confirmed. 

The shows in Milan run from July 14-17, with the Prada show taking place on July 14 at 14:00 CEST, and the Gucci presentation on July 17 at 14:00 CEST. The full program can be viewed on the website of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana.

We are waiting for the list of Paris Fashion Week's participating designers to be confirmed ASAP! Stay tuned, we will keep you updated! Are we going to see Rick Owens, Mugler and Courreges defiles this season?!

As part of Milan’s digital fashion week in July.

GUCCI AND PRADA'S NEW COLLECTIONS AS VIRTUAL SHOWS

Bruce Gilden is renowned for being close-and-personal with an eclectic array of subjects, capturing people's candid shots as they go about their lives. Therefore it makes sense that the American Magnum photographer immediately hit it off with Alessandro Michele, given the runways and editorials of the Gucci designer are about as eclectic as they come in. 

The two are now joining forces on a new project with Michele first enlisting Gilden to shoot the front row of Gucci's AW20 menswear show back in January, with the likes of Tyler, The Creator, Anderson. Paak, Richard Hell and Earl Cave among those caught. This time around, it takes the form of a limited edition coffee table tome full of bold black-and-white images and larger-than-life characters (all dressed up in Gucci's Pre-Fall 2020, obvs). 

"Bruce is a lovely person with a poetic gaze on humanity," says his collaborator Michele. "We share the same love for faces and a fascination with voices, gestures and appearances. Operating with a photographer means looking through the eyes of another and seeing through Bruce's was great. I felt like I was in a research laboratory looking at stuff under a microscope. 

Beaten & Blown By The Wind, shot in Rome's pre-pandemic streets, sees shoppers running errands star alongside Italian model Bernadetta Barzini and fashion editor and activist Bethann Hardison as well. A woman carrying a tiny dog under her arm stares into Gilden's lens in a particularly striking, flash-lit photo, slightly dazzled and seemingly not quite sure what to do with what's going on. 

"It was the end of two long days I spent shooting for Gucci on the street and I was tired, going back to the hotel," explains the photographer. "The light of December faded, the street was full of shoppers and I saw this beautiful young woman carrying her dog. I took a shot very quickly and her husband was very curious about why I photographed her. Before I left, we had a fun chat and felt very festive – it was just a few weeks before Christmas."

*Designer Rick Owens has published several photography books in collaboration with various artists. Check them out!

Gilden gets up-close and personal with Rome’s residents for Beaten & Blown By The Wind.

GUCCI X AMERICAN MAGNUM PHOTOGRAPHER BRUCE GILDEN COLLABORATION

King Princess, Jane Fonda, Lil Nas X, Miyavi and David de Rothschild star in Gucci's First Off The Grid Circular Lines campaign.

The collection and its campaign is the first part of Gucci Circular Lines, a series of campaigns working towards a purely circular production vision – creating no waste and remaining carbon neutral. Designed and developed by creative director Alessandro Michele, the Off the Grid range uses recycled, renewable, bio-based and sustainably sourced fabrics, including regenerated nylon, Econyl. This yarn comes from pre- and post-consumer waste nylon, including trashed fishing nets and carpets — reworking plastics that harm marine life and old materials that are likely to end up in a new high-quality thread in landfill. Beginning in 2016, Gucci became the first luxury brand to use Econyl regenerated nylon thread for its products. The company has also pledged as much as possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its supply chains, and to offset the remaining emissions to be carbon neutral. 

Their commitment to sustainability is reflected in a Harmony Korine advertisement which has collaborated closely with Michele on previous initiatives. With an impressive cast consisting of Jane Fonda, Lil Nas X, King Princess, Miyavi, and David de Rothschild, the campaign follows a group of city-dwelling friends who built a treehouse to be their new home in the heart of a busy metropolitan area. These people seem content and beautiful as they come into contact with nature and rediscover their own connection. Throughout film and photography, both done by Korine, the pictures derive strength from a beautiful contrast between the natural elements such as wood and leaves and the steel, glass, and concrete constructions of humanity. Clad in Gucci upcycled, the stars and the optimistic energy they bring to the harmonious compositions of Korine fit colorfully. 

The campaign is already a tremendous success and a hugely significant message in itself, and provides an important moment in the wider brand sense. All of Gucci's imagery draws heavily on a sense of imagination, tap into a dream world that represents inner concepts of beauty rather than external reality. While this campaign suggests some of its elements of fantasy, with its whimsical contrast between organic and urban, it is also urgently real. Respect for nature and a commitment to sustainability is not just an eco-fantasy, a distant ideal, but is a real necessity if we want to live on this earth for a long time to come. It's time for companies – in our business and everywhere else – to use their power and energy to create a manufacturing process that is fully sustainable and emission-free. Gucci has started taking significant first steps and we hope the seeds they have planted will continue to grow. Looking forward to seeing big houses such as Rick Owens, Saint Laurent and Alexander Wang join this "trend" and start working along with Gucci on improving our planet.

Gucci is setting an example of how beautiful sustainability can be with their Off the Grid collection launching.

GUCCI'S NEW OFF THE GRID COLLECTION: JANE FONDA, KING PRINCESS AND DAVID DE ROTHSCHILD

How do you pick a decade's most important collections? The ones which have had a lasting impact? As far as runways are concerned, the 2010s started with New York's Spring 2010 shows in September 2009; they ended when haute couture shows wrapped up in Paris in the Fall of 2019. 

As for outcomes? Rei Kawakubo's minimalist manifesto of Comme des Garcons first collection on our list and the sharp match with a sustainability backstory that Sarah Burton has created at Alexander McQueen for 2019. That paints a picture of a ten-year shift from chic utilitarianism influenced by the Great Recession to resourceful elegance informed by climate change terrors. It was the years that produced the most news in the middle of the decade. 

No surprise, the list contains lots of new beginnings — the industry loves nothing more than a fresh start. But an era-defining, influencing swan song also made the cut. In our mix you will find career highs together with the collections that have changed the course of fashion — the silhouette of the clothes and the look of the models who wore them. If the 2010s were a decade of change, this list was nevertheless shaped and molded by the dominant forces of the era. Iconic labels edged out fierce independents, and male designers outnumbered females. But who knows for how long: Maria Grazia Chiuri at Dior, Clare Waight Keller at Givenchy, Virginie Viard at Chanel - this is the story of the recent haute couture shows. 

Freedom of expression was always a thing for Rick Owens, but here he opened the door to a new chapter, liberating himself from the ancient rules of fashion for good and jumping into a new era of runway diversity in the process.

Here, our top 10 collections of the 2010s, in chronological order.

After much debate, the enthusiastic, idiosyncratic lists were whittled down to an essential, agreed-upon 10.

10 OF THE MOST IMPORTANT COLLECTIONS OF THE 2010S

Alessandro Michele is always interested in shifting our point of view – to challenge, provoke and play. His F/W 2020 Gucci show put the backstage center stage – the make-up was front-of-house, while in Michele's words a transparent scrim revealed the process of dressing up the models, "making the heartbeats visible". It also unexpectedly made their entrance to the catwalk become not the beginning of a dream for the viewer, but its culmination, upward fashion norms, attitudes and aspirations. Turning the tables. It also played out to the words of another great Italian showman, Federico Fellini. 

Michele decided to continue doing so for his latest Gucci campaign in the fall / winter of 2020. Instead of the obsessive authorship of a figure like Fellini – in which Michele freely admits he usually reveals – he surrendered control to a group of characters from his show, encouraging them to develop a series of intimate self-portraits that decontextualize Gucci in everyday life, Michele's ideas have always been fascinating. There were no hair stylists or MUA, not even photographers. Michele decided on this "experiment" (his word) back when the process of shooting conventional fashion imagery was impossible in the planning of that spectacular February show-and before the Covid-19 pandemic. He called the "Routines" movement - and it honors daily rituals-dressing, living. Rituals that were interrupted, somehow. 

"It's so weird, because it's just that this weird time has given me the chance to experiment, to do something I really wanted to do. It never was the right moment. Before the lockdown forced everyone into this kind of situation, there was some sort of a strange creation at the last show in Milan. I thought [for the campaign] maybe we've got to work the same way, changing the perspective the way I did for the show."

"Now, when I see the campaign's images, it is like this is the only way I could work. But the reality is that during that work in Milan, on the show, I began the campaign. Since I was likewise thought, working from a different viewpoint to uncover the secret aspect of the work, I tried to imagine what would happen if we, as I really wanted to do for a long time, changed the perspective of the campaign to work in a different way?"

"I wanted to stop being the obsessive image director. In my imagination, the models were actors: I work it as a director. I thought, What if I do what Andy Warhol did? I want to see what happens if, before the experiment, my imagination is just the job I can plan? I was trying to change the point of view and then I was trying to get inside my guys' lives. I didn't just use them as models but also as characters. I wanted them to be their own Manager."

Designers such as Hedi Slimane, Boris Bidjan Saberi, Rick Owens, Alexander Wang or Yohji Yamamoto have crucially changed their approach toward seasoning and fashion business, in general, this year. Let's see how the fashion of 2021 will look like, stay tuned!

Alessandro Michele speaks about the concepts and process behind Gucci’s Autumn/Winter 2020 campaign, his ideas of creativity and his thoughts on the moment.

ALESSANDRO MICHELE: GUCCI’S LAST CAMPAIGN AND CREATIVITY

The Covid-19 crisis has been a call-to-action for the fashion industry, and has changed the way many designers think about how they produce clothes, how they perform fashion week, and even the long-established tradition of seasonality. And now Gucci, the major luxury fashion label, has announced it will go "seasonless." 

This means that the brand will be only showing its lines twice a year. "I'm going to leave the worn-out routine of seasonalities and displays in order to restore a fresh cadence, closer to my expressive call," Gucci creative director and designer Alessandro Michele wrote in a diary entry shared by the Instagram account. 

"We're only going to meet twice a year to share the chapters of a new novel. Irregular, joyful and completely free chapters that will be written mixing rules and styles, relying on new spaces, linguistic codes and communication channels," continues the entry. "I 'd like to leave behind the paraphernalia of the leitmotifs that colonized our previous world: cruise, pre-fall, spring-summer, fall-winter. I think these words are stale and underfed. 

With more info, Gucci will hold a multimedia press conference on Monday. 

Apart from Gucci, French fashion house Saint Laurent also revealed in April — after missing Paris Fashion Week — that they would not conform, at least for the rest of the year, to a set fashion calendar. The fashion company, along with a group of fashion executives and designers, also suggested "Rewire the fashion system" in May. 

The global pandemic definitely left its mark on business, and the economy as a whole. Climate change and global warming also alert many to more sustainable manufacturing practices. If other major houses, such as Rick Owens, Alexander Wang, Courreges or Mugler decide to follow suit it won't be too big a surprise.

Gucci: How the fashion industry will change after the pandemic.

GUCCI AND SAINT LAURENT ARE GOING SEASONLESS

For the Carpenters Workshop Gallery, American designer Rick Owens created a compact sofa environment, consisting of large plywood units upholstered with woolen French army blankets.

For more than a decade the Paris-based artist, best known for his grungy, gothic-inspired clothing and accessories, has been making furniture influenced by various historical subjects, including brutalist architecture. 

The Glade seating system consists of modular units with a C-shaped profile, which can be combined to create any size of a lounge area. You may connect the corner modules to create a greater sense of privacy and intimacy. 

The furniture is made of plywood and coated in army blankets - fabrics previously used in Owens's collections of apparel and furniture. 

Every device can stand alone and has built-in lighting, an internet gateway and a telephone charge point. The bench units can be fitted with large, upholstered cushions to create comfortable resting spots. 

The geometrical forms of the furniture units echo with those of a bed he shares with his wife Michele Lamy, who is also a collaborator to all his furniture projects originally designed for the Paris live-work space. 

"The furniture is a playtime exercise for Michele and me," sais the designer in a video interview with the director of the Carpenters Workshop Gallery, Loic Le Gaillard. "It is a private conversation, we don't even think about other people. "

"I'm holding the pen," he added, "but the execution of Michele is what makes it happen, and it really is a conversation between her and myself." 

Owens launched his fashion company in 1994, showcasing his first line of catwalks in 2002. 

He moved from California to Paris in 2003 and is now focusing on his furniture designs as well as a company with many boutiques, an e-commerce platform and several diffusion lines.

BRUTALIST ARCHITECTURE: RICK OWENS'S MONOLITHIC SOFA SYSTEM

Few people have the assurance — or the means — to juxtapose Picasso and Goya's paintings with Jean-Michel Frank's furniture, and then top it all off with bronzes from the Renaissance. Yet this is exactly what fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his life and business partner Pierre Bergé, created at their nine-room duplex on Left Bank in Paris, one of the 20th century's superlative interiors. 

"It was just a picture of Saint Laurent's eyes," says Muriel Brandolini, Manhattan-based interior decorator. "There's such a disparity in how the gathering is being done today, just speculation. He was a real knower. Everyone he has gained has their own dignity, power and elegance. 

The couturier, who died at the age of 71 in 2008, was fascinated with Art Deco, and the property at 55 rue de Babylone, with its provenance from the 1920s, appealed to the tastes of both him and Bergé. They were also delighted that former resident Marie Cuttoli, popular in the '30s for reviving the French tapestry industry, had covered up the walls of the duplex with weavings crafted by contemporary artists. The fashion couple, bringing the tradition forward, fitted the spaces — including the salon, seen, captured in 2008—with formidable paintings, sculpture, and furnishings. 

Interior designer Jacques Grange helped polish the decoration as the rooms of the apartment were abundantly enriched — by Old Master paintings, a rare Eileen Gray dragon chair, and the prolific Lalannes designed surreal fancies. The bronzes of the Renaissance represented the affection of Saint Laurent for the art-loving Rothschild dynasty, and his loyalty to Frank expressed his fondness for the irascible arts patron Marie-Laure de Noailles, Frank's seminal clientele. 

His and Bergé's headquarters were sold after Saint Laurent's death, auctioned at Christie's in 2009 for $484 million — the Gray chair alone brought in just over $28 million. Notwithstanding, or maybe because of, the dispersal of the apartment's legend will certainly keep through. As Marcel Proust, Saint Laurent's favorite novelist, once noted, "The only paradise is paradise lost."

Next time we will invite you inside Rick Owens and Michele Lamy's mindblowing Parisian house. Stay tuned!

As Marcel Proust, Saint Laurent's favorite novelist, once noted, "The only paradise is paradise lost."

INSIDE YVES SAINT LAURENT'S PARIS APARTMENT

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