The transference of twins on the catwalk

Gemini constitutes the ultimate aesthetic expression of the concept of duality. Even in the imagery of the zodiac constellations, Gemini is related to the idea of the duplicity of the real: fiction, (con)fusion and manipulation are the queries our mental dictionary would go to fetch to define twinning. And why should fashion-illusion is one of the many tools a stylist or brand uses in creating mood boards, campaigns or editorials-should it shy away from taking twins and bringing them to the runway? That's what Gucci did today, with a collection already clear from its title: Gucci Twinsburg. 

In fact, the idea of having as many as 68 pairs of twins on the runway stems directly from Alessandro Michele's personal experience: «I am the son of two mothers: mamma Eralda and mamma Giuliana. Two extraordinary women who made being twins the essence of their existence», Michele himself wrote. Not that Gucci was the first (and probably will not be the last) to give rise to this dual imagery by nature. In 2004 Undercover, with SS04, had already experimented with the concept of twins on the runway. Giving in to the allure of doubles, Jun Takahashi had played quite subversively with twins dressed now in full, now more succinctly. Something replicated, moreover, in the SS18 collection, where the twins were dressed according to a complementary or contrasting color palette. Even during the 2016 New York Fashion Week, at Monse, the show finale featured twins dressed in deconstructed outfits. Could the coded message from all these designers be that two is always better than one?