Gucci - Spring/Summer 2011

The 1970s are clearly continuing to inspire our designers today. After the Marc Jacobs Taxi Driver episode, Frida Gianni took her turn to inject some of that oh-so-70s energy into the Gucci look, renewing the Gucci girl's sex appeal status.

Gianni has been much criticized for her high-end Zara approach to design for the house (i.e., luxury prêt-a-porter but with a complete lack of creativity). At Gucci, since pragmatism often wins over flights of style fancy, they have relatively strict ideas about wear-ability.

This being said, at a time when the economic crisis constrains us to purchases that are more rational than impulsive, the jet set timelessness of Gianni's sexy outfits have what it takes to seduce the public. In the hands of Gucci's creative director, the decade's strong points are mastered and refinished, becoming more suggested than imposed, and the collection wins points in adaptability.

The first entrances of the show may have well evoked the glittering palette of Yves Saint Laurent at the top of his career, but the pieces remained ultra contemporary.

Inspired more by YSL's exotic inclinations than by the 70s themselves, Gianni gave her collection a look coming close to safari-chic, using it to make versions in a range of sable tints -- that is, when she was not adding a touch of tribal handcraft (as seen here, and here).

The Gucci girl is all set to make a variety of sophisticated adventurer forms out of her wardrobe. Between the refined Veruschka outfits, the ebony, delicately exotic combinations, and Masai-spirit cocktail ensembles, she succeeds in renewing her closet brilliantly without putting herself in style danger...

Click here to view the entire collection: http://www.style.com/S2011RTW-GUCCI