“When you find yourself with a popular and desirable brand in the eyes and wallets of the super young on one hand, but on the other hand you feel that you’ve changed, you start researching a different wardrobe. That’s when the game gets interesting,” said Giuliano Calza. He said it while showing a full-length leather coat with an optic white (fake) fur trim that he imagined as the perfect thing to wear on top of pajamas to open the door for a food delivery. At 33-years-old, his life has become less hectic and more domestic, even though his idea of style has hardly become conservative. Giuliano has grown up, and, as many do adults do, recognizes himself in an identity made of contrasts.
His personal history is also made of contrasts: born in Rione Sanità he then moved to Shanghai with his brother Giordano (the brand’s CEO), where they discovered manga and gaming culture: all of that coexists in GCDS. In this new collection, the starting point was the most intimate and domestic element of all, the designer’s cat, Kittho, who inspired a round bag with a comic cat face and chokers that looked like pet leashes. Kittho was also the protagonist of a giant reproduction, made by the masters at Fratelli Cinquini Scenografie, artists of the Viareggio carnival, that was the background for the catwalk.
There was also a tribute to Chanel, with homages to the maison’s classic black bouclé, in both menswear and womenswear garments. There was a willingness to nonchalantly mix menswear and womenswear pieces, like something you wear without putting much thought into it, instinctively and lightheartedly. That’s something the brand’s clientele has in common, even though they’re a diverse bunch, ranging from Dua Lipa to Mr. Rain, an emerging artist.
Some of Calza’s garments featured safety pins, the number one ally of every designer, but also a symbol of a job that never fully ends, just like the personal and aesthetic growth of a creative.
