Gucci is the latest designer to announce a change of pace

(Image credit: 2020 Daniele Venturelli)

There's no denying things are changing in the fashion industry. Just last week, the British Fashion Council and the Council of Fashion Designers of American joined forces to write an open letter, calling for a slower and more sustainable approach to fashion.

Now Alessandro Michele, creative director of Gucci, has announced that he will only present two shows a year (as opposed to five), and that the idea of seasons is now 'stale'.

These two shows will also be seasonless, rather than categorised as spring/summer or autumn/winter.

At a video news conference, he said, 'Clothes should have a longer life than that which these words attribute to them.'

'Two appointments a year are more than enough to give time to form a creative thought, and to give more time to this system,' he added.

Michele also called the pandemic a 'great gift that our planet gave us, a great gift that cannot be discarded', and pledged to take time to truly create less wasteful fashion, and clothes that customers actually want to wear.

It's unclear whether September fashion weeks will even happen in the physical form, and the designer confirmed there definitely wouldn't be a Gucci show in Milan in the autumn.

Seeing as Michele at Gucci has been one of the most influential designers of the past season, he will definitely set the tone for the rest of the industry.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.