Gucci cancels San Francisco Cruise 2021 show

UPDATE 03/03/2020: Gucci has decided to cancel the highly anticipated Cruise 2021 show in San Francisco on May 18th. Here are the words of the brand:

“A decision on the new timing and location of the show will be announced at a later date, once the situation becomes clearer. At this time, our thoughts are with all of those affected around the world”.

A cancellation that does not come as a surprise. The coronavirus emergency that erupted last February caused the abrupt cancellation of the many international appointments of the spring season. At the moment, however, even though Prada has cancelled its Tokyo show, there have been no reports of cancellations from Giorgio Armani for his Dubai show or Dior's show in Lecce. 

After Maria Grazia Chiuri announcement about the upcoming Dior's show in Lecce, also Alessandro Michele has revealed that the location for the next Gucci show. The Cruise 2021 collection will go on the catwalk on May 18th in San Francisco, although the exact location of it has not been revealed. After the epic parade at the Promenade Des Alyscamps in Arles, the one in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey and that of the Palatini Museums in Rome, the choice of San Francisco would seem to mark a temporary break with the world and the aesthetics of the past. San Francisco is the city of technology and startups but also, as Michele pointed out in an interview with WWD, the city of Harvey Milk's activism and the children of flowers, where for the first time we tried to find, in Michele's words, "antidotes to the discrimination."

But what could be the right location for a Gucci show? Our bet is the Alcatraz Prison which seems perfect for many reasons: it is an iconic monument, full of meanings, and above all using it as a setting would be one of the most over-the-top choices in fashion history. Let us not forget that Michele is an avid reader of Michel Focault, the French philosopher who in his Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison reflected precisely on the dynamics of power within a prison coming to conceive the famous concept of Panopticon just like one of them.  Other more classic locations could be the War Memorial Opera House and the Palace of the Legion of Honor. While some contemporary historical sites perfect for Gucci and Michele could be The Fillmore, a local historian that hosted some of the greatest musicians of the 1970s, while the Museum de Young could be a futuristic location thanks to its modernist architecture.

Stay connected to nss magazine for all updates on Gucci's upcoming Cruise 2021 show.