Gucci’s MFW Invite Is A WhatsApp Voice Note From Alessandro Michele

Katie Abel
·2 min read

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Fashion insiders received a surprise WhatsApp voice note yesterday — from Gucci’s Alessandro Michele.

The designer used the platform to send out his fall ’20 Milan Fashion Week show invite, a clever and sustainable move. It was a marked contrast to the giant ancient Greek-themed plaster masks Gucci sent as invites last February.

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This season’s approach is getting strong reviews from some fashion week goers. “I love that personal touch and I won’t need to throw it away,” editor and fashion consultant Caroline Issa wrote on Twitter.

Gucci, always one of Milan’s most buzzed-about shows, will show its fall ’20 collection Wednesday afternoon.

While most fashion brands have maintained the tradition of paper fashion week invites — some simple, others more attention-grabbing — Gucci could be ushering in a new, more environmentally friendly era.

The label has been at the forefront of luxury’s new sustainability mission. Last September, it pledged to go carbon neutral. A few months later, CEO Marco Bizzarri wrote an open letter to his peers across industries urging corporate accountability and responsibility.

Michele, who has also worked to make the brand more sustainable, kicked off 2020 with a Milan men’s show in January that examined the creative director’s take on masculinity.

Silhouettes included cropped tops and shrunken pieces — essentially children’s clothing worn by grownups. The idea, as alluded to in the show notes, was a return to a more naive time before masculine gender identity was “molded by violently toxic stereotypes.” That invitation was a card written in a child’s handwriting.

Gucci and Michele also got in on the NBA All-Star weekend action in Chicago with a pop-up store featuring the label’s new GG Psychedelic collection.

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