Friendship, Complicity & Creativity: Harry Styles & Gucci “HA HA HA Collection”
Born out of friendship and the unification of distinct creativities, alongside the bridges that form to connect different perspectives, the Gucci HA HA HA collection represents its two-person journey and longstanding, blossoming friendship between Gucci’s Creative Director, Alessandro Michele, and British singer-songwriter and actor, Harry Styles.
Defining the fusion of creative expression and shared perceptions of two different consciences, the debut collection takes its name “HA HA HA” from the initials of both ‘Harry’ and ‘Alessandro’ whilst also capturing the onomatopoeic essence of the laughing face emoji. Fun fact – this is also a nod to the expression ‘hahaha’ of which the duo has ended their messages to each other with for years, discussing shared trips and experiences. After meeting many years ago when both creatives were just starting out their soloist careers, Michele following his debut announcement as Gucci’s Creative Director and Styles having just released his first album, the pair’s relationship immediately focused on the drive to explore.
Designed with new visions of beauty, liberating codes that eliminate the ritual complexities of fashion collections and sustainable spontaneity of ease, the playful collection is encompassed with jackets, coats, pants, shirts and accessories and their surprising take on clothing’s masculine elegance – declaring their love both to the materials which they are made of and the historical significance of their forms and the images they produce.
Gucci HA HA HA celebrates the imaginative connection between Michele and Styles by gathering numerous elements that characterise the creative paths and peculiarities of the two artists, ultimately bringing them together with the fashion powerhouse. Elements of English tailoring are noticed throughout the collection as they are transformed with romantic accents for a new meaning of masculinity. Using artistic imaginations to highlight the formal developments of the historical significance of menswear, we are treated to unexpected printed pajamas and bowling shirts, lined coats with hoods and frog fasteners, and pleated kilts with leather regulating straps – alongside sartorial suits, treated denim jackets and velvet suits in irregular hues of colour.
Speaking on his impressive observation of Styles’ fashion, Alessandro said: “Harry has an incredible sense of fashion. Observing his ability to combine items of clothing in a way that is out of the ordinary 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 is a generator of differences and of powers, as are his reactions to the designs I have created for him, which he has always made his own; these reactions restore me with a rush of freedom every time.”
After the idea of working together came to Michele whilst talking on the phone with Styles, the Creative Director added: “I proposed creating a “dream wardrobe” with him, starting from those small oddities that come together in childlike visions. We ended up with a mix of aesthetics from 1970s pop and bohemian to the revision of the image of the gentleman in an overturned memory of men’s tailoring.”
