With Milan Fashion Week behind us, I must admit: the Gucci influencer pit still haunts me.
As noted by New York Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman, the haunting Gucci show featured a sunken pit for the influencers in attendance. It was separated from the normal front row of buyers, dealers, journos and critics, yet remained central to the overall runway design.
\u201cThe influencers had their own pit at #Gucci #MFW\u201d— Vanessa Friedman (@Vanessa Friedman) 1677248055
In the spirit of Balenciaga’s staid corporate brutalism, large skylights dwarfed the corporate lobby of a runway, complete with retro yellow carpets and concrete surfaces. Fashion critic mainstay Cathy Horyn also noted the pit in her review for The Cut: “A kind of conversation pit in the middle of the room (filled with influencers), and rows of elevator doors from which a steady stream of models came and went.”
In their own write-up of the collection, WWD introduced the idea that there was not one but two whole conversation pits “full of influencers.”
Nicole Phelps at Vogue said the show notes described the pits as representative of “the collaborative circularity at the heart of Gucci’s creative community.” Interestingly, while influencers sat sunken in the bowels of the brand’s corporate hell, the outer ring of the show was filled with A-Listers: Dakota Johnson, A$AP Rocky, Florence Welch and Julia Garner.
Haunting stuff.
Elsewhere, Gucci made headlines last week when they announced Elliot Page would join Rocky and Garner as the faces of their latest fragrance campaign. The ad spot was shot by Glen Luchford and will feature Page, Garner and Rocky “personify an ode to self-acceptance, friendship and love in all its forms through a story of tenderness, imagination, and curiosity."
Photo courtesy of Victor VIRGILE/Getty