Gucci Fall/ Winter Collection + Make-up & Hair

Gucci Fall/Winter Collection, by Frida Giannini, premiered in Milan, was comprised of the skinniest, second-skin, body-conscious silhouette you are ever likely to see on a Gucci catwalk and some might wonder if this had something to do with the designer's new form. Giannini carving back to Gucci’s roots of a tough power woman in spike metal heels, a determined thing, the sort of woman who can carry off a nipped-waist peplum jacket and pencil skirt in shiny ‘crackle’ black python - no problemo - has little use for a bag (unless it has an iconic Gucci bamboo handle) and never travels ‘commercial’. ‘The Gucci woman seduces with her dangerous femininity,’ said Giannini, ‘She is steely, yet sexy – defining her discipline with femme fatale vices. She wears sculpted dresses with pure graphics, all the while alluding to devious touches.’ The show notes also told us that she had been inspired by the artist Allen Jones, his fetish aesthetics, hence the super-constructed dresses everywhere, the ultra fitted jackets with ‘egg-shaped’ shoulders, the leather polonecks and skirts with very long slits at the back. There was also a small nod to menswear with over sized coats, their sleeves also cut in the round to produce a neat cocoon shape, worn over trousers that were so stringent they looked as if they had been laminated to the body. The general mood was dark – not least because of all the black, offset with deep wine shades, rust and moss green. When the lights dimmed and the spotlight came on to signal the start of the eveningwear, it was a different story. Naturally, the silhouette remained super-attenuated, but the colour flooded in. Picked out on the sheerest of net and the richest peacock blue, claret or gold satin, were embroidered feathers, studs and sequins in wing shaped arrangements – ‘intersecting punk with couture’ the notes read – that will look truly awesome, should the lucky woman who has the figure to wear such a creation be patient enough to be stitched into one. Once again, Frida Giannini displayed her intrinsic knowledge and feel for her core customer - the woman who’s middle name is Power.