“I am a son of two mothers: mum Eralda and mum Giuliana. Two extraordinary women who made their twinship the ultimate seal of their existence. They lived in the same body. They dressed and combed their hair in the same way. They were magically mirrored. One multiplied the other. That was my world, perfectly double and doubled,” Alessandro Michele, Creative Director of Gucci, shares his peculiar upbringing in the press notes of his Spring/Summer 2023 collection.

Though weird (in his words), there was a silver lining. “The grace of their [mum Eralda and Giuliana’s] duplicated  and expanded love gave rise to my eternal fascination for the double, for the things  that seem to reflect equal to themselves. Every single time, I catch an aura of beauty in such specular multiplication. It’s so familiar, and powerful. A trembling miracle challenging the impossible.”

Double Trouble

As an homage to his mums and fascination for doubles, Michele sought to explore the “asymmetrical reciprocity” found in the deepest sense of twinship for  the Gucci Spring/Summer 2023 collection. Titled Twinsburg, which directly references the city in Ohio that holds a yearly festival for twins, the collection was cleverly and aptly presented with twin models in duplicate designs – 68 pairs of twins, to be specific

The mesmerising show, lived last September, also played “Identical Twins” – a song by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen – narrated as spoken word poetry before the stage introduced the first look: a sleek double-breasted blazer paired with leg garters and what seems like a cropped tie.

For those who have yet to watch the show, Michele revealed his collection across two runways, with a portrait wall separating the twins. It wasn’t until the closing of the show that the twins reunited. While the duo sport the same outfit, the overall look differs slightly. “It’s exactly the impossibility of the perfectly identical that nourishes the magic of twins.” The fascination for the double, for the things that seem to reflect equal to themselves.

Every single time, I catch an aura of beauty in such specular multiplication. It’s so familiar, and powerful. A trembling miracle challenging the impossible.” As an homage to his mums and fascination for doubles, Michele sought to explore the “asymmetrical reciprocity” found in the deepest sense of twinship for the Gucci SS23 collection.

Titled Twinsburgm, which directly references the city in Ohio that holds a yearly festival for twins, the collection was cleverly and aptly presented with twin models in duplicate designs– 68 pairs of twins, to be specific. The Creative Director elaborates, “As if by magic, clothes duplicate. They seem to lose their status of singularity.

The effect is alienating and ambiguous. Almost a rift in the idea of identity, and then, the revelation: the same clothes emanate different qualities on seemingly identical bodies. Fashion, after all, lives on serial multiplications that don’t hamper the most genuine expression of every possible individuality.”

Twinsburg plays a game of illusion of a cracked symmetry, producing a tension in the relationship between the original and copy. It stands by the notion that what you see may not always be the truth; the twin nature implores us to understand nuances.

(Images: Gucci)