Gucci's Milan Fashion Week Show as Artistic Performance

At Milan Fashion Week, Gucci presented a Spring/Summer 2020 collection titled 'Nuove forme di soggettivazione' (New Forms of Subjectivation), conceived by creative director Alessandro Michele as a performative act blending fashion, philosophy, and social critique. The show opened with models in straitjackets and uniforms, walking mechanically under neon lights, evoking a lobotomized Greek chorus inspired by Alfred Jarry's 'Ubu Roi'. This was followed by a burst of color and reinvention, with accessories like cartoonish glasses and a cushion-shaped bag. Michele described the collection as a reconciliation with fashion after initially trying to destroy it, calling it 'useless but irresistible' and linked to sexuality—the show's slogan was 'Orgasmic'. The setting combined a garage-like urban space with a Renaissance perspective box, adorned with stars. The first model wore a transparent black silk tulle dress, a nod to Isadora Duncan. The press release questioned whether fashion can be a tool of resistance or risks becoming a neoliberal governance device. The article also draws a parallel to Madeleine Vionnet, who, while working in a London criminal asylum laundry, was inspired by straitjackets and Duncan's freedom to later invent the bias cut. Gucci's show aimed to appeal to young protesters, offering beauty as opposition to objectification.