Who would think the simple act of coming together and holding hands would seem so radical? But at a time when there’s so much to lose, it was. Alessandro Michele’s “Twinsburg” spring 2023 @gucci collection started with a straight runway show, before a center divider lifted to reveal the same one happening on the other side. Then, 68 pairs of model look-alikes — all of them actual real-life twins — came together from opposite sides, joining hands for a final walk, making a poignant visual statement of solidarity two days before a deeply divided Italy goes to the polls in what is expected to result in a swing to the far right for the country, which could set back LGBTQ rights, among others. It was a gorgeous, and deeply introspective, moment for Michele. “I’m a boy who had two moms, because when I was born, the first seven years of life my mom had an identical twin. So I usually called them mom and mom,” the designer said in an interview, speaking of his late mother Eralda and late aunt Giuliana. “It was so beautiful my life with a double love.” “Especially now we need to care about the other that’s physically another person, but also the other you.” Sounds like good fodder for therapy. “Right, because when you go to therapy, you meet your other, and you must love them, because they carry all the bad things you don’t want to show and suffer for you.” Those inner gremlins, they were on the runway, as in the actual stuffed animals and a motif on a dress and fuzzy shoes. Fashion has something to do with the other, too. “It’s about repetition but you pretend to be unique. That’s interesting. It means we are all the same and we are different.” Clothes are a tool to express identity, and Michele pointed to how they have done that historically for homosexuals, by sending several looks down the runway emblazoned with the word “Fuori!” which means “out” in English, and is also the name of Italy’s first monthly magazine dedicated to the fight for sexual liberation, founded in 1971. “The symbol of the magazine was a bomb, and we are again with this bomb in our hands,” he said. Full review linked in bio and at @wwd #gucci #mfw