Going Outside Has Never Looked Better, Thanks to Gucci’s Collaboration With the North Face
Back in September, all it took was a couple seconds of mountain peaks, blaring alpine horns, and a flag whipping in the wind to put the fashion world on notice. Of course, it helped that the flag bore the logos of Gucci and the North Face. Such is the power of Alessandro Michele’s Gucci collaborating with another brand for the first time in the designer’s tenure. Since Michele took the reins in 2015, his Gucci has worked with artists and designers like GucciGhost and Dapper Dan, but never directly with another brand. The teasing TikToks were merely a preview to a collection that lives up to the hype.
The designer’s maximalist style makes for a happy marriage with a brand made for the outdoors, as the collab's new campaign (photographed and directed by Daniel Shea) shows. The resulting clothes, shoes, and bags steal patterns from the very environment they’re made for: Whole meadows of flowers inspired by North Face patterns from the ’70s explode on puffer jackets, backpacks, and dresses.
There’s plenty of range here—an upcoming camping trip would require hardly anything more than what’s packed in here. There are leather hiking boots with soles chunky enough to survive the elements (should you be able to stomach tracking your new Gucci shoes through mud and rivers). The collaboration even includes sleeping bags and a tent covered in a smashed-together logo that’s drunk on retro funk. Pity the glamper without it.
The collaboration is another welcome sign that luxury fashion houses like to go outside. Moncler continues to pump out its Genius line with big-name designers—most recently with Alyx and Givenchy’s Matthew Williams—while Loewe maintains its Nature collection. Gorpcore ruled fashion mood boards this year, as Instagram accounts like OrganicLab.Zip positioned vintage, colorful camping scenes and vintage Salomon ads as the pinnacle of good style. But what Gucci and the North Face do really well together is advance outdoor gear’s position in fashion. Rather than amplifying and relying on the tech, the brands turned up the volume on fashion. Michele uses greens and blues that would never occur in nature and plasters the Gucci logo all over nearly every piece of the collection. The North Face x Gucci collection seems to argue that it’s the natural surroundings that are there to see you rather than the other way around.
And while the partnership has been in the works since long before the pandemic, it could not be launching at a better time. After almost an entire year trapped inside our homes, what’s more intoxicating than the idea of going outside, deep into the wilderness? The answer: doing it in some really sick gear.
Originally Appeared on GQ
