Gucci's new collection channels sixties Northern Soul
The fits are on point but are the brands motives are sus?
Gucci’s new pre-fall collection is an interesting and cool and fun-looking set, entitled “Soul Scene” and shot by Glen Lunchford in a cool and fun-looking way; a way that big houses – with interest in lines automatically keyed into the fashion media’s consciousness – are so rarely arsed about.
Taking inspiration from photographer Malick Sidibe and curator Philippe Boutté’s 2016 exhibition “Made You Look” on Black Dandyism and parties in 1960s Mali, Gucci’s collection is anachronistic – the patent leather trackies seem way more attuned to eighties Brooklyn than a bunch of kids shaping to Northern Soul at a dancehall in Preston – but bold, with an all-black cast at a time when fashion is increasingly criticised for its lack of diversity.
Details on the items are thin thus far, but blazers, penny loafers, socks, backpacks emblazoned with a hodgepodge of patches and slogans, plus the aforementioned cobalt blue leather tracksuit are all in there.
However, Gucci’s attempt to “branch out” might have started from Future’s 2015 single ‘I Thought There Was A Drought’ from the album DS2 and the huge uptick in searches for Gucci flip-flops thereafter, so its new collection can’t help but feel transparent and a forced attempt to appeal to a new demographic.
With this note in mind, the rest of the random reference points start to feel more callous and pronounced: the tokenism of the “1960s British Northern Soul” setting starts to feel a little bit suspect…
