Gucci unveils Harry Styles collaboration inspired by the 1970s

Harry Styles headlined Milan fashion week on Monday with a fashion collection designed in collaboration with Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele.

Called Gucci HA HA HA, a moniker that takes its creators' first initial, the collection was billed as the result of the pair's friendship and individual "particularities" crafted over the course of a year WhatsApp messages.

"It's something easy, it's a little experiment I did with Harry, a friend of mine and it's part of the space we share - the passion for clothes and things," Michele said.

Styles and Michele are renowned for their gender-neutral fashion, and Styles appeared in Gucci ad campaigns and stood alongside Michele on the Met Ball red carpet. "There's always a different way to be a man," Michele said of the collaboration, adding that traditional tropes of sartorial masculinity were less about object and more about attitude. "I put suits on [Harry] for years and he was the quirkiest, freest guy on earth. That's why we worked in a very free way - not because [we want] the people think we're trying to be free, we're just free. Michele said Styles "does what he wants without judgment. It's a new way to be on the playing field without rules. It's interesting to be authentic."

Unveiled at Milan's legendary vintage store Cavalli e Nastri Uomo, the collection stems from the same playful nostalgia for 1970s bohemian which defined Michele's tenure and established Styles as a trendsetter. of silk pajamas appear with patterns of elephants, squirrels and “grumpy bears” designed to be “symbols that make you feel forever young and keep you connected to the things that made you feel free when you were a kid.