‘HA HA HA:’ Harry Styles’ Friendship Witty New Gucci Collection Is No Joke | Nikhilodien
Styles' partnership with Alessandro Michele, the designer of Gucci, has resulted in a collection that is inspired by their inventiveness, exploration, and going against the grain.
Harry Styles Friendship Witty New Gucci Collection
Nikhilodien- Ever since he grew
out his hair that one year and started wearing printed shirts unbuttoned all
the way down as a member of One Direction, Harry Styles has been a fashion
icon. However, in his more recent solo years, the singer has devolved into a
fashion hero, pushing the boundaries and reimagining sartorial cliches with his
on-stage and off-stage style.
Styles' evolution from teen darling to rakish leading man has been aided by Alessandro Michele, Gucci's Creative Director, who has dressed Styles on numerous occasions, including international tours, red carpet premieres, and that Vogue cover in a Gucci gown. Their friendship has now given rise to a new co-designed collection, which is inspired by their mutual love of innovation, exploration, and going against the grain.
Gucci's "HA HA HA"
collection includes jackets, coats, jeans, shirts, and accessories with
Seventies-style silhouettes and boho prints combined with British-inspired
patterns and classic men's tailoring. The collection's name is derived from a
combination of "Harry" and "Alessandro's" initials, but
it's also a play on the laughing face emoji, which Gucci claims Michele and
Styles have used to conclude their text conversations for years.
Those text messages (combined with numerous phone calls and in-person meetings) resulted in a plethora of ideas, which the two turned into a collection of sharply styled works that feel both irreverent and meaningful. Both Styles and Michele, according to Gucci, intended to push the boundaries of traditional menswear by playing with shapes, proportions, and prints.
In a statement, Gucci says that "Gucci HA HA HA is a playful
collection designed to act as a herald of new visions of beauty, crafted with
liberating codes that eliminate the ritual complexities of fashion
collections," and that both Styles and Michele were drawn to the ideas of
"continuous creative contamination, and the drive to explore."
Michele, for one, claims that the
entire collection came together pretty naturally. "One day, when we were
conversing on the phone, the thought of working together came to me," Michele
recounts. "I offered that we start with those minor anomalies that come
together in childlike dreams and create a 'dream wardrobe' together." We
ended up with a mash-up of aesthetics ranging from 1970s pop and bohemian to a
reimagining of the gentleman in a twisted memory of men's tailoring."
"Harry has a fantastic sense of style," Michele adds. "Observing his ability to combine items of clothing in unusual ways compared to the required standards of taste and common sense and the homogenization of appearance, I came to understand that the styling of a look, as well as his reactions to the designs I've created for him, which he has always made his own, is a generator of differences and powers; these reactions restore me with a rush of freedom every time."
Michele and Styles first met in 2015, when Styles' longtime
stylist, Harry Lambert, arranged for the boy bander to wear a Gucci flowery suit
to the American Music Awards. Styles' outfit let him stand out amid his
monochrome bandmates, establishing him as a true fashion icon (Michele had just
taken over at Gucci a few months earlier). Michele would later choose Styles to
front an official Gucci campaign a few seasons later. From there, their
relationship grew stronger.
Gucci describes the new collection as
"the landing site of a creative two-person adventure" and "the
synthesis of a friendship," and it is the result of years of friendship
and idea exchanges between the two. While Michele and Shapes have quite
different life experiences, attitudes, and yes, even fashion influences, their
signatures are very much visible in everything from the Italian fabrics and
romantic embellishments to the iconic Prince of Wales check re-worked in fresh
styles and silhouettes. Gucci claims the "HA HA HA" collection will
include anything from patterned pyjamas and velvet coats to pleated kilts
"with leather regulating straps."
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