Gucci Spring Summer 2011 Collection

Wednesday September 22nd, 2010 – Piazza Oberdan – Milan

The Yves Saint Laurent Exhibition at Le Petit Palais closed its doors last August. In New York last week, Tom Ford, former Gucci artistic director, quietly launched his first womenswear collection with a strong YSL reminiscence. Yet at the Gucci Spring 2011 show, creative director Frida Giannini was cautious not to mention the iconic Laurent as a source of inspiration for her latest collection . Instead, she explained that she was drawn to the aesthetic pictures of Guy Bourdin and David Bailey, circa 1976-1978.

“When we shot the Fall 2010 campaign  in Marrakech, images of Talitha Getty came to mind …” said the designer. While Giannni doesn’t mention the french designer by name, nor the fact that Marrakech was very much Laurent’s 2nd home, the fringed dresses were enough to send us back to YSL Spring ’67, famous for its groundbreaking African-cum-Parisian collection. The silk satin oriental harem pants looked familiar, perhaps because  Yves’s muse Loulou de la Falaise wore a similar pair in the 70s.  Moving past the similarities, Frida created one of her best collections to date.

Laced leather jodhpurs, dresses made of strips of suede sand tones “to outline the body”,  juxtaposed blocked shades of emerald, turquoise or purple duchess satin (inevitable markers of YSL jurisprudence), python belts and gold trimmings of leather or silk were earmarks for this collection. Even the orange lipstick was an ode to the YSL’s Opium. The erotic tension of the Italian label is expressed more subtly, while the accessories, which are Giannini’s specialty, had this vintage feeling that we all loved.

Tom Ford ran both Gucci and YSL  before exiting PPR. It has also been reported that YSL is not turning a profit under Stefano Pilatti’s stewardship and that it was Gucci Group’s biggest loser in 2009 with sales down nearly 10 percent year over year. The multi-brand luxury goods company (a subsidiary of the PPR Group) reported this was due to a slowdown in traditional markets which make up 75% of YSL’s revenue, yet was encouraged by Asian/Pacific growth as well as gains in leather and shoes.

Is Frida making a power move and showing us she can do YSL? Her latest collection won’t abate those conspiracy theories but she certainly showed that Tom Ford isn’t alone is doing justice to Laurent’s legacy.

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Gucci Spring Summer 2011 Fashion Show Video

See the photos below: