Hollywood Glamour For Mortals

Gucci Love Parade, presented last November in Los Angeles, heralded the return of gilded-age glamour and yet is no longer the sole purview of celebrities on the silver screen but rather, made for us mortals

- Jonathan Ho

FOR THE LOVE PARADE, Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele invited Hollywood onto the catwalk. While it's common to see movie stars taking VIP seats at fashion shows, it's less common to see them modelling the garments. Showcasing some 115 looks, Hollywood royalty like Jared Leto, who incidentally starred in Ridley Scott's House of Gucci, walked the runway, along with Jodie Turner-Smith, Jeremy Pope, Macaulay Culkin, and Phoebe Bridgers, together with over a hundred models.

I chose Hollywood as it reflects my uncurbed love for the classical world. Hollywood is, after all, a Greek temple populated by pagan divinities, said Michele in the show notes. Here, actors and actresses are mythic heroes: hybrid creatures both divine and mortal at the same time; they are the idols of a new contemporary cosmogony. Beyond reach, and yet, so human.

Indeed, the diversity of cast represented in age, race, gender, and even fluidity translated Michele's often-eclectic vision into an electric representation of modern-day iconoclasts dressed in obviously retro-inspired ensembles. Hollywood, once a fantasy for the masses, is immediately made real and now within our grasp: the mythical is no longer out of reach.

In Our Hands: The Attache

First seen in the Gucci Love Parade, the Attache makes an instant statement on the runway. Gone is the funereal, sombre, and oh-so-fuddy-duddy men's clutch for a soft canvas (or fine leather) accessory that is equal parts practical daily bag in hand but also a multifunctional sling bag when combined with a web strap.