Luxury fashion juggernaut Gucci may be in more plots than it wants to be these days (see: House of Gucci, Lady Gaga), but the company remains unparalleled at delivering unforgettable images that somehow seem both timely and timeless. Maybe it’s that the company has heart — if an anatomically correct crystal-embellished heart counts.
Or maybe it’s just that by acknowledging the real shape of things — none of that Valentine’s Day heart-shaped stuff for Gucci — the brand again runs elegantly along the chasm between image and reality, making the most of both. As one commenter puts it, “Sublime Perfection.”
This gold lame gown, that crystal heart, and the two amazing models create an atmosphere that’s just too rich, bubbling over with ideas and challenges to whatever you think the status quo is. Sure, yes, a ton of the credit goes to the inimitable Alessandro Michele, Gucci’s creative director and resident maximalist, but since no element of this image is unthought or ill-considered, the whole Gucci team deserves applause. Go ahead and try to forget you’ve seen this image. Good luck.
Maybe the style comes from Alessandro’s tendency to have fun in fancy places, with fancy company, and he gets a little bit of extra radiance from Gatsby’s smile, you know? Mr. Leonardo DiCaprio (Gatsby himself) knows how to share the luster and so does Jared Leto, one should think — as seen below.
As F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote of Gatsby’s smile: “It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced — or seemed to face — the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor.” Sort of what Alessandro does with fashion, right?
