Though Unannounced, The House of Gucci Were the Most Prominently Featured Artists the Night.
Let me just preface this by saying that in terms of actual awards, Beyonce won the Grammys. Queen B added four more wins to her tally, making her the most awarded artist in the history of the Grammys. So once again, all hail the queen. Now, back to my point:
Trevor Noah has spent the past year broadcasting The Daily Show from his living room in hoodies. So when he took on the hosting role for the 2021 Grammy Awards, he used the opportunity to remind the world that he cleaned up real good. Noah’s black velvet tuxedo set the sartorial bar real high from the opening. To the untrained eye this was simply a very nice outfit but if you knew what to look for, Noah’s tux had Gucci written all over it. The combination of 70’s detailing with a contemporary silhouette in luxurious fabrics have defined Gucci in the age of creative director Alessandro Michele.
Noah’s big fit was only the beginning. As the show played out, many of the biggest names in music covertly turned the 2021 Grammys into a Gucci commercial. Yes, there were plenty of other designers on display that night. Yes, Gucci has appeared on countless red carpets and stages. Yet, never before has a single fashion brand been so strategically placed as to become a prominent feature in a major awards show. In a way, seeing as Gucci had no official partnership with the Grammys, it was guerilla marketing at its finest.
Billie Eilish and Finneas wore multiple matching Gucci outfits custom designed for them personally by Michele. The first set came in a pink motif on the red carpet while the second came in green for their performance of “Everything I Wanted.” Billie’s outfits even came with matching hats and face masks, a true sign of our times.
Anderson.Paak and Bruno Mars put on a 1970s soul inspired performance, opening with a vintage wipe effect on the screen and completed with head-to-toe Gucci. Their matching outfits featured extra wide pointed shirt collars spread out over burnt orange three piece suits and accented with rose tinted big frame sunglasses. The new super duo proved that no one does disco era vintage better than Gucci.
Outshining them all though, was Harry Styles. As the current face of the brand, it was no surprise that Lord Styles came decked out in Gucci. The surprise was how incendiary his performance of “Watermelon Sugar High” was. He channeled Jim Morrison in a custom tailored black leather suit with no shirt on under it. His red carpet outfit, which he put back on to accept Best Pop Solo Performance, featured a custom yellow tweed jacket, knitted tartan sweater vest, and velvet flared pants. For the post show press conference, he wore a faded orange double breasted jacket and tweed pants. All outfits were personally styled by Michele.
Styles’s performance was also the debut of what may become the most fashionable neck accessory: a feather boa. He went on to grace the world with two more boa sightings. The first was light green to match his black leather suit, the second was purple to match his yellow tweed, and the third was black to match his orange jacket. The boa may remain an artifact of the 2021 Grammy Awards but I believe it can blow up into a new style trend over the following years.
Since taking control of the brand in 2015, Michele has kept Gucci at the top of the fashion world not just with beautiful product design but with innovative marketing. From employing would be copyright infringers rather than litigating them to doing away with traditional fashion shows in favor of theatrical and cinematic experiences. Gucci was also the first major brand to completely do away with the antiquated seasonal release schedule. So it is no surprise that they cunningly turned the Grammys – as easy target as an out of touch, self congregating platform of pomp and pageantry – into a long form Gucci commercial.