Gucci’s Alessandro Michele puts abortion rights centre stage, while Elton John and Naomi Campbell take front row seats
- Creative director uses slogan ‘My Body, My Choice’ on runway model’s jacket and embroidered uterus on dress in luxury Italian brand’s Rome 2020 collection
Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele has made a clear abortion rights message in his latest Cruise collection, as the debate over abortion heats up once again in the United States.
The collection, shown to a VIP crowd on Tuesday evening in Rome’s Capitoline Museums, in Italy, featured a purple jacket with the slogan “My Body, My Choice” on the back, and a jumper emblazoned with the date “May 22, 1978,” marking the day that abortion became legal in Italy.
A belted dress worn during the show was also embroidered with a flowering uterus.
Michele said new restrictions on abortion in the US “made me consider how much women should be highly respected”.
He told reporters after the show: “Sometimes in life choices are difficult, but I believe that it is the most difficult decision for a woman.
“I respect that decision. I respect that decision as I respect the idea that the uterus is a garden.
“I wanted to portray the idea that to interrupt a pregnancy does not wipe out the garden, the flower, that is the uterus of every woman.”
The designer chose the Capitoline Museums overlooking the Roman Forum in his native Rome as the backdrop for the 2020 Gucci Cruise collection, which continued his dialogue with Old World sites.