Milan, Italy: A mic-drop moment of visual drama brought the house down at the fashion giant Gucci’s show during Milan Fashion Week when sixty eight pairs of identical twins were dressed in pairs of matching catwalk finery, two dazzling Lurex gowns with shark-bite cut outs, two tailored silk ensembles embroidered with cherry blossoms, and two pinstripe suits with ladylike handbags.
Gucci had dispatched a covert scouting mission to Twins Day, a convention for twins in Twinsburg, Ohio, to cast the show. When a screen separating the two rooms was lowered and each model joined hands with a sibling who had been walking in tandem with them throughout the show, the audience, which was split between the two rooms, realized they were seeing twins.
After the performance, the show’s creative director, Mr. Alessandro Michele, remarked that twinning is “so familiar – but so powerful.” Mr. Michele claimed that twins serve as a reminder of “the connective tissue” in both families and society.
The show’s creative director added that seeing identical twins can be like witnessing a world marvel of nature.
“I use the runway as a theatrical stage, and fashion speaks strongly to ideas of otherness. I know that I have another side of me – I meet him when I go to my therapist. We all have another side of us, and sometimes we meet that person, and hold hands,” Mr. Michele said.
Instead of invitations, participants were emailed a Rorschach test to complete prior to the performance because, according to the designer, “this show is about what you find when you dig inside yourself.”
The women Mr. Michele refers to as his “twin mums” were honored on the show by him. The designer was raised by his mother Ms. Eralda and his aunt Ms. Giuliana, who are identical to each other and were so close that, in his words, they “seemed magically multiplied.”