The theme of the double and the power of duplicity have always been very fashionable inspirations for designers. After all, juxtapositions of dichotomies such as male/female or elegant/casual and tailored/streetwear have been the focus of many collections in the last few years.
The theme of the double immediately conjures up also the possibility of transforming, changing, mutating and morphing into somebody or someone else, a process that can happen internally when we change our mind or our behaviour, and externally.
Plastic surgery is a definite way to physically change, but the quickest way to mutate one's appearance is via fashion: a particular garment, its colour, shape and silhouette or a carefully assembled ensemble enriched by special accessories, can indeed radically change a person.
But there is another simple way to hide and reveal oneself, and that's through a mask, be it made of leather, plastic, wood, papier-mâché, representing a human being, an animal or an imaginary character.
Masks have a central role in fashion as a runway show can be a veritable masquerade, a spectacle in which models play at being different characters and lure us into their world and into the universe of the designer.
Gucci's masquerade started with its invitation: a box with a Greek message on top indicating to those who could read and translate Greek "The head of Hermaphroditus". Inside there was indeed a mask of Hermaphroditus, in Greek mythology son of Aphrodite and Hermes, the gods of male and female sexuality, and a symbol of androgyny.
The theme developed on the runway that took place yesterday at Gucci Hub during Milan Fashion Week. The show could have been interpreted as a fashionable study of the "persona", conceived as a social role or a character played by an actor, but also as a reference to its Latin etymology, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask.
Quite a few models walking in the mirrored venue bathed in 120,000 bliding LED lights donned masks, at times they evoked a sense of horror calling to mind Jason Voorhees, in other cases, especially when they were covered in long spikes, they pointed at fetish and punk, protection and aggression.
But there were also other types of masks, such as a brass helmet-like headpiece representing an eagle, its talons strategically bending around the jawline.
The characters on the runway were once again Michele's own interpretation of a hybrid future, populated by genderless beings with a penchant for retro references, wearing ruffled tops, pleated disco blouses, lace mini-dresses in garish colours matched with lace tights and branded knee pads, ill fitting pants cinched at the ankle, colourful faux fur stoles, librarian dresses covered under mismatched layers and clashing prints.
This time, though, between a Commedia dell'Arte reference via a Harlequin dress (well, it's Carnival season in Italy, so that was an apt reference), and a mullet à la David Bowie, there was an emphasis on tailoring and in particular a hint at the '40s in the jackets with sharp shoulders and nipped waists that in some cases were still covered in basting stitches for that frisson of "non finito".
There were also the usual antiquarian touches included, such as an antique silver brush carried by a model together with a pair of sneakers hanging by the shoestrings (inspired by girls who carry their trainers in their bags and change into their heels when they arrive somewhere).
There were also strong links with religion: Michele claims he has been liberated by the gods, but he keeps on referencing them. Models occasionally donned jewel-encrusted crucifixes around their necks, while a lace cape and blouse pointed at laces used to decorate altars and at liturgial vestments such as surplices.
The prosthetic teardrops trickling down the cheeks of some of the models, a symbol of emotional turmoil, called to mind crying statues of the Virgin of the Seven Sorrows (there are some splendid examples of such statues in Spain, especially the ones by artist Francisco Romero Zafra).
The gold ears coverings were supposed to be a reference to a picture taken by Richard Avedon for a 1968 issue of Vogue portraying Marisa Berenson wearing Argentinian artist Eduardo Costa's "Fashion Fiction I" sculpture.
Yet they may have also been references to Egyptian votive ears, relics you may find in museums such as The Met, or maybe of ex votos representing ears.
The power of concealing may have been an artifice to distract the audience and maybe hide some of the weaknesses in the clothes with their constant retro references (on Michele's runways for Gucci you always get the lingering feeling that some of these clothes are really vintage and that you may find some of them in the secret and forbidden closet of your own Auntie Mame-like aunt…).
Maybe the masks were also a way to divert the attention from a recent major faux pas that saw the brand releasing a Gucci balaclava jumper with a cut-out mouth and red lips that summoned up blackface imagery (and that was pulled immediately from stores).
Or maybe there was something else behind the mask: the shownotes mentioned German political philosopher Hannah Arendt who stated "We always appear in a world which is a stage and are recognized according to the roles which our professions assign us, as physicians or lawyers, as authors or publishers, as teachers or students, and so on (…) the advantage of adopting the notion of persona for my considerations lies in the fact that the masks or roles which the world assigns us, and which we must accept and even acquire if we wish to take part in the world's play at all, are exchangeable" (check out her Sonning Prize acceptance speech from 1975 to know more about Arendt's interpretation of the term "mask" Download Hannah Arendt_SonningPrizeAcceptanceSpeech ).
Who knows, maybe Alessandro Michele was quietly and unconsciously using the mask to criticise the current (racist and homophobic) Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini intent on wearing uniforms representing different Italian armed forces, constantly using them as masks to change roles.
So Gucci's masks and spikes may have been not just decorative items, but references to contemporary politics and to Italy in particular. The dilemma remains.
In the meantime since the masks with spikes will not go on sale as they are too dangerous, you can jump on the metal ear bandwagon in a cheaper way by repurposing an ex-voto: always in fashion they constantly keep on appearing at runway shows, so, if you're an impenitent fashionista, you'd better stock them up.
