GCDS Fall/Winter 2024: TOYS FOR ADULTS

Why should kids have all the fun? Adults deserve toys too, and in the GCDS world that means injecting the unparalleled quality of Made in Italy goods with pop culture influences. These indulgences, dubbed Toys for Adults, will tempt you by speaking to your inner child.

“Bring me something beautiful” – as a child, Giuliano Calza would ask his father this whenever he traveled for business. What exactly he brought back did not matter so much as the elusive element of beauty and desirability – a feeling of love and longing that turned trinkets and toys into some of our most cherished possessions before we dismissed them as grown ups.

The Fall 2024 collection reverts to that childhood nostalgia, exploring memories and moods through a distinctly GCDS lens. Do you remember the experience of watching a horror movie and feeling traumatized, yet completely mesmerized? Or the longing to return to childhood, a time when you desperately wanted to fast forward to live the world as adults? These are universal experiences, and their inherent dualities and ironies are fodder for playful subversion.

Alluding to our purity at birth, the show opens with a knit ensemble that reveals the body in its most natural form. In sheer white, its innocence is underscored by delicate ruffled trim. The silhouette soon expands with the padded hips of a wedding dress. Here, it does not close the fashion show as in haute couture tradition, but serves as an early segue into womanhood.

The palette deepens and darkens, awakening a sensuality. Babydoll dresses emblazoned with the word “BABY” reclaim the innocence we’re sometimes forced to abandon, but do not be mistaken – these lust worthy garments are clearly designed for grown ups. Sturdy greatcoats with structured shoulders in wool shield the body, while the plush pile of a faux fur version swaddles the body like a luxurious sleepsuit, quelling the adult anxieties of living in the 21st century. In contrast, sharp leather tailoring, lurex miniskirts, and briefs nod to our first forays into adulthood sensuality – a signal to be noticed, to desire, and be desired.

But the devil is in the details, and so is Chucky. Upon closer inspection, a custom jacquard takes on an eerie twist, weaving the notorious killer doll and main antagonist of Universal Pictures’ popular horror franchise into the cloth of a ‘90s-style bag and a screen printed hoodie, and his iconic “Good Guy” hammer is reinterpreted in glitzy, non-threatening form.

Mattel, Inc.’s Polly Pocket® also graces the collection,from invitation to the show to catwalk, with its miniature trinkets encased like treasures in lucite versions of the brand’s signature Heart Bag. Whether they combine form and function or are purely objets d’art, Giuliano Calza’s accessories reinforce the brand’s synergy with pop culture icons and their renown as “toys for adults.”

Fall 2024 heralds a shift that strips back to focus on that one thing – a compelling detail, something beautiful, something covetable. It’s embodied in the Morso shoes, with heels shaped like a snarling jaw that have become a hit with the fashion set, and it takes on an athletic form in sneakers, joining the lineup of pumps
and boots. In continuation with its darkly surreal design, Dracula, the original horror icon from Universal Monsters, makes his appearance in crystallized form on a structured strapless minidress.

Though the collection juxtaposes opposing elements, it takes joy in something that both children and adults will always love: dressing up. A strapless trapeze evening gown in faux fur proposes both glamour and the comfort of a security blanket, while louche fits take the edge off traditional tailoring.

Toys for Adults is a testament to GCDS’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of fashion. Each garment and accessory becomes a canvas where the duality of the human experience is artfully expressed, inviting wearers to embrace the multifaceted nature of their desires, not abandon them.

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