Fall Trend 2011 by Gucci

Article Review by Emily Holt
(http://www.vogue.com/collections/fall-2011/gucci/review/)

Frida Giannini described her fall collection for Gucci as “hippie chic.” But even when the house is aiming for hippie chic, it can’t help but be the most opulent, gilded, accessorized hippie you’ll ever see. A flower child in a sexy, teal snakeskin blazer? It’s a little unlikely.

Welcome to hippie chic done Gucci-style. Of course, we’ve been here before—the seventies are nothing if not an evergreen theme for the house. But there is a remarkable staying power to the allure of a flared trouser or silk blouse with a deep, deep, deep V-neck. And there were plenty in this sensual collection: fluid trousers in white, green, and violet; bow blouses in teal, magenta, and blood orange. Almost always, everything was topped off with a brightly colored fur, or many brightly colored furs. There were fur jackets, fur boleros, fur collars, and fur vests, again in every shade imaginable. Ecstatic extravagance.

The embodiment of this woman, this sensual free thinker in the wide-brimmed fedora (yes, there were lots of those, too), is, according to Giannini, Florence Welch, the lead singer of Florence + the Machine, who has a strong stage presence and an even stronger set of pipes. When Welch is performing, she wears the kind of languid, glamorous clothing Giannini presented today (albeit presumably vintage). “She influenced me in this kind of lightness and the colors, her red hair and her energy,” Giannini said backstage after the show.

One would imagine that the designer might also have been thinking of Hollywood starlets, because several of her dresses looked destined for Sunday’s Academy Awards red carpet. They were colorful, sheer, and totally foxy, with a slit nearly up to the waist. But when we say sheer, we mean sheer. Which is fine for a model on a catwalk in front of seen-it-all editors. It’s a bit different for a 20-something movie star with the fashion police hot on her trail. Even lined, the look will be a bit tricky.