GCDS Invites Us Home With The Cat Kittho
Giuliano Calza, founder and creative director of GCDS, opens the doors of his home by dedicating the fall-winter 2023/24 fashion show to his cat Kittho. Transformed into a sculpture animated by the Fratelli Cinquini Scenografie, artists of the Viareggio carnival, the magnified feline presided over the catwalk, just as it presides over Calza’s couch at his residence. The whole collection is inspired by and revolves around the concept of the home. It is thus by means of this special mise-en-scene and, of course, the pieces of the collection that the designer constructs a narrative about what happens on the private walls. Why, you may ask? Because it is precisely behind closed doors that we most easily release our true selves, whether it be by simply relaxing in conviviality or exploring our appetites and desires. In any case, the home is an intimate space that we share only with those who matter most to us, and so this collection explores the boundaries between public and private and the contrasting atmospheres that are created in our dwellings. Sweetness and seduction are two of those qualities that fluctuate in a home, and we find them translated into garments and accessories that bring the claws of domestic felines to human proportions, transforming them into sensual weapons. A Bakelite telephone returns as a bag handle, knitwear and fur maxi coats wrap the body like a blanket, and since this is an act of fashion creation, the work in progress is showcased with safety pins holding the pieces together. And yet, GCDS’s fall has no flamboyant prints or eccentric patterns, it is meant to be worn nonchalantly. In the front row, starring alongside Giuliano’s kitten, Dua Lipa, Mr Rain, Jacob Rott, Emma Marrone, Symone and Sarah Lysander.
Text: Flavio Marcelli
Photos: Ludovica Arcero
