Gucci’s Alessandro Michele has struck again: collaborating with musician and brand favourite Harry Styles on a new collection that takes the brand ambassador role a step further.
A “hack” with Balenciaga, a high-low collab with Adidas. Now, Gucci has unveiled Harry Styles as the latest creative collaborator it hopes will help the Kering-owned megabrand achieve new, hefty sales ambitions with newness and celebrity power.
The Gucci and Harry Styles collab: Why it’s all about menswear
Styles, 28, and Gucci artistic director Alessandro Michele have co-created a 25-look collection that will go on sale in the Kering group flagship brand’s global network of stores in October. The move announced at a press conference in Milan, follows the powerhouse’s strategic update where it announced a medium-term sales target of €15 billion a year, versus last year’s €9.7 billion performance.
The collection, rooted in tailoring and aimed squarely at Styles’ legion of millennial fans, was unveiled this afternoon at the Milan Fashion Week menswear edition at a special event. Gucci sees menswear as a growth opportunity for the brand with the collection unveiled today — entitled “HA HA HA ” as a play on “Harry” and “Alessandro” — dominated by tailoring pieces cut in an updated 1970s Mr. Fish aesthetic. Expect heritage English and Italian fabrics mixed with whimsically printed pajama sets, camp collar shirts, and T-shirts printed with the “grumpy bear” motif that both Styles and Michele selected as the cipher of their collaboration.
Styles was not present in Milan today (he is currently on tour in London) but Michele was present to explain how a friendship that began when they first met in 2015 has developed into this collaboration. “We were together around a year ago when I said ‘why don’t we do something.” He added that much of the design process has centered around exchanges on WhatsApp, because: “every time we saw each other maybe we prefer to chat about private life, you know with a glass of wine. But fashion is always around.”
Styles is blessed with a highly engaged fanbase and an Instagram following north of 45 million. Michele said “I think he loves, so much, the audience of crazy, young people that follow him. And, I like them too… They have started to be connected more with fashion things — and it is interesting how they are open to learning about the things that he is doing and the things that he is wearing.”
Written by: Luke Leitch | All Rights Reserved
#The Gucci and Harry Styles collab: Why it’s all about menswear
#The Gucci and Harry Styles collab: Why it’s all about menswear
#The Gucci and Harry Styles collab: Why it’s all about menswear
#The Gucci and Harry Styles collab: Why it’s all about menswear
#The Gucci and Harry Styles collab: Why it’s all about menswear
