Gucci's Autumn 2020 Collection Took Notes From Queen Victoria's Famous Mourning Dress

Gucci is certainly the buzziest show at Milan Fashion Week [1]. For the brand's Fall/Winter 2020 collection "An Unpredictable Ritual," Creative Director Alessandro Michele went in a more sombre direction. Rather than the geek-chic aesthetic we've come to love from the Italian house, this year mixed Pilgrim-era looks and Victorian-inspired designs with subversive undertones of bondage and religion.

It was a delightfully unusual set for Gucci Autumn 2020. The centrepiece of the show simulated a behind-the-scenes set-up, with models and hair and makeup teams sitting in a glass-walled circular room. As usual with Michele, there was an expansive number of runway looks which mixed womenswear, menswear, and gender-neutral dressing for an exceptional collection. It's only a matter of time before Harry Styles [2] rocks one of these colourful, ruffled new season looks that are synonymous with his androgynous personal style.

There was a lot of religious subversion in the collection, and the fact that Italy's Vatican City is the mecca of Catholicism — plus the fact that the show itself took place Milan — you could say it was quite political too. Models were accessorised in necklaces with chunky grey cross pendants, while at the same time rocking black vinyl bondage-inspired harnesses and chokers. The collection explored the complex relationships between and rituals of bondage, religion, magic, and historical dress.

"I have always considered the fashion show as a magic event bursting with enchantment," Michele said in a statement from the brand. "A liturgical action that suspends the ordinary, loading it with an excess of intensity. A procession of epiphanies and expanded thoughts that settle into a different partition of the sensible."

Michele seems to romanticize the Pilgrim and Victorian eras of fashion, while adding modern touches of '70s-inspired floral suits and gothic styling. We could definitely see many of these looks being worn on The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina [3] or by the actual witches from the Salem trials of the 1600s.

Ahead, get a closer look at Gucci's Autumn/Winter 2020 collection.