The Whatsapp message from a friend read like this: “Who was the rasta in the shorts all over Gucci’s IG story?”. To provide context, earlier today, May 29, Gucci debuted its cruise 2018 collection in the Palatina Gallery at Florence’s Pitti Palace in Italy. Marco Bizzarri, President, and CEO of Gucci stated that Alessandro Michele, the Italian luxury house’s Creative Director picked Florence for the show’s location as he is “constantly inspired by the city’s Renaissance masterpieces,”. It should be noted, as well, Gucci was founded in Florence in 1921.

This was Alessandro Michele’s second cruise collection for Gucci, his first having been presented in London at Westminster Abbey last year. For the brand’s 2018 resort offering, he looked to Gucci’s roots for inspiration, naming the collection “Antiantamony” with the intent of showing the “heart and soul of Gucci’s origins”. Maximalism was the order of the day and the statementing was unending. However, there were a number of toned-down pieces that would appeal to the less bold. “In your face”, “more is more”, “power packed fashion punches”, “I have arrived” and “Yooooo” are just a few of the phrases I’d yell after watching the show. Color, embroidery for days, rich brocades, nature graphics, slogan tees and of course, the brand’s signature interlocking double-G was on full display. Alessandro served up a rock ’n’ roll infused Gucci rinsed in Renaissance references and we await the on-sale date.

Now back to the aforementioned WhatsApp message. While Alessandro looked to the brand’s history for inspiration, he leaned into the present and tapped Devonte Hynes (the ‘rasta in the shorts’) to take over Gucci’s Instagram channel. If you aren’t into music and live mostly under a rock, you (like my friend) might ask, “Who is Devonte Hynes?” The gist, Devonte (or Dev, also known as Blood Orange and formerly Lightspeed Champion) is an amazing soul and incredibly creative being. He is a British-American producer, musician, and songwriter, who moved from the London to New York circa 2009 and has written for and worked with many artists, such as Britney Spears, FKA Twigs, Florence and the Machine, Kylie Minogue, Theophilus London and Solange Knowles to name a few. Dev, who has Caribbean parentage, has a keen fashion sense and has worked with Gucci before. For their Pre-Fall 2016 collection, Dev soundtracked Gucci’s “The Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice”, a four-part series of short films directed Gia Coppola.

Having clarified who the rasta was, here are all the men’s fashion looks for Gucci’s Cruise 2018 fashion show below:

Gucci Cruise 2018 – Men’s Fashion Looks