STYLE Edit: Gucci teams up with David Beckham’s favourite London department store Liberty for a collaboration that’s breathing new life into classic designs

As fashion develops, luxury brands are increasingly straddling the line between heritage and innovation. This isn’t anything new – some labels are fast approaching their centenary.

With that expertise comes the weight of experience, precedent and expectation. Brands are challenging themselves internally, looking towards – and being inspired by – past collections, and using their understanding of tradition and transformation.

Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele is just such a creator – an imaginative mind that embraces an eclectic philosophy and understands how to weave playful disruption seamlessly with the house’s values and history. The Gucci autumn/winter 2020-21 fashion show in Milan, for instance, debuted a partnership between Gucci and the fabled English fabric designer and retailer, Liberty.

After diving into the archives at Liberty, the collaboration saw Michele striving to blend influences, past and present, into a playful, retro collection with little-used designs from Liberty’s history. The collection is modern, delicate and innocent, but with a hint of history anchored by the mostly floral-based pieces that include accessories, such as a padded blouson or headband. The little details all tie back into each other: while the floral motif connects to the children’s clothes theme in the collection, the Gucci Liberty Art Nouveau script recalls the grunge theme that is also prevalent.

The collection is extensive and varied, with many of the womenswear items featuring floral-print dresses, including a guru-neck and a fluid viscose crêpe midi dress characterised by a scoop neck. However, there are also spaghetti-strap tops, patchwork shirts with self-fabric bows, pleated skirts and a midi-style tiered in a patchwork composed of three different Liberty prints combined with the Gucci Flora print.