MILAN — Gucci abandoned the catwalk for the launch of its new “Epilogue” collection on Friday, opting instead for portraits of its designers modelling their creations and a 12-hour livestream video from its campaign shoot in a resplendent palazzo in Rome.

With social distancing measures and travel restrictions preventing foreign models as well as guests from flying in, the coronavirus pandemic has forced high-end labels to throw out the traditional fashion show format.

Creative director Alessandro Michele, who took the helm at Gucci in 2015, said Friday’s event was the last in a three-part series focusing on the making of clothes and the behind-the-curtains work that goes into a fashion collection.

The livestream video of the photoshoot at the stuccoed 16th century Palazzo began at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT), and showed staff at work styling the brand’s designers as models, many wearing face masks and visors.

In a 20-minute segment to showcase the new collection, Gucci presented portrait pictures of its designers wearing the clothes they created for Epilogue, meant to be both seasonless and genderless and due to enter stores in the autumn.

Michele’s flamboyant, flowery dresses, the use of bold colors and a nod to the 1970s have helped turn Gucci, part of French group Kering, into one of the fastest-growing brands in recent years.

Friday’s show was part of a journey that “wants to generate a questioning about the rules, the roles and the functions that keep the world of fashion going,” Michele said in a statement.

Back in February, just days before the coronavirus pandemic emerged in Europe after first hitting China, Gucci’s women fashion show in Milan had featured guests entering the brand’s headquarters through the backstage area, walking past desks where stylists worked on models’ hair and makeup.

Michele has said the pandemic should trigger a rethink of the fashion calendar and how collections are presented, and announced in May that he would cut the number of yearly shows to two from five.

Months of lockdown have forced high-end fashion houses to shut shops across the globe and idle manufacturing sites, leaving them with piles of unsold stock.

Gucci’s collection was presented on the last day of Milan’s menswear fashion week, which like post-lockdown shows in Paris and London was held in mostly digital-only format, without the usual contingent of foreign buyers, media and influencers.

MASKS AND SOCIAL DISTANCING AT DOLCE & GABBANA
No air kissing and no hugs, a safely distanced front row and face masks were de rigueur as Dolce & Gabbana had to rewrite the rules of high-end fashion engagement with one of the first physical shows of the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) era on Wednesday.

Part of Milan’s otherwise digital menswear fashion week, the open-air show was attended by guests wearing face masks as models strode down the catwalk and then stood in a garden a meter apart.

It was held on the university campus of the Humanitas medical research foundation, which is trying to develop a vaccine against the novel coronavirus — a project Dolce & Gabbana are helping to fund.

Together with another Italian brand, Etro, which also held a physical show with guests earlier on Wednesday, Dolce & Gabbana’s was the first real-world fashion event by a major luxury label since the easing of lockdown restrictions in much of Europe.

Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana had said in the run-up that it took them a long time to figure out whether organizing such a show would be possible at all, but that they wanted to send a message of optimism and that Italy — one of countries hardest hit by the pandemic — is back in business.

As the health crisis forced luxury houses to shut shops and idle manufacturing sites, brands canceled events or opted for audience-free, digital-only formats, such as the Paris Haute Couture showcase earlier this month.

Fashion weeks are a crucial moment for designers to showcase their creations with media and buyers, and both industry leaders Italy and France hope to hold back-to-normal events in September.

Inspired by the colors of the Amalfi Coast and its sea, Wednesday’s Dolce & Gabbana spring/summer 2021 menswear show in Rozzano, south of Milan, featured 102 pieces of clothing in various shades of blue, some with prints of neoclassical statues.

It was attended by around 200, mostly Italian guests — compared with 500 or more in normal times. The usual front row of A-list foreign celebrities and large Chinese contingent of buyers, media and influencers was kept away by coronavirus restrictions on travel.

Models did not wear masks on the catwalk — the brand recently launched a collection of pajamas with matching face masks — but the two designers did for their traditional end-of-show appearance.

The show, which had suppliers working for free and was aimed at supporting Humanitas’ COVID-19 research, triggered a debate on Twitter about having a public gathering with many countries still under lockdown and lingering fears of a second wave of infections.

London-based veteran fashion journalist Luke Leitch, who made the trip to Milan, had no qualms.

“Milan feels secure, with masks and temperature checks prevalent. Great to see fashion and friends again,” he said on Instagram. — Reuters

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