Why Gucci models carried fake heads down the runway

Alessandro Michele does not shy away from bold fashion when it comes to dressing models for the Gucci runway. The 49-year-old has spent the last seven years as creative director at the storied Italian fashion house, helping to reinvigorate the Gucci brand. 

This Sunday on 60 Minutes, Michele and Gucci welcomed correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi for a rare look inside its design studios.

In 2018, during a Milan fashion show, Gucci took the term "head turning" to a literal level when models walked the runway carrying wax replicas of their noggins. Michele said the genesis of the idea was inspired by the young.

"It's…the crazy idea that when you are a teenager, you are growing, you have to care about your personality," Michele told Alfonsi. "It was a way to say that you were carrying yourself. You know? And it is not easy, because sometimes you try to be someone else."

Michele said the look was not meant for shock value, rather as experimentation to trigger conversation. It apparently worked. When actor Jared Leto borrowed the look for the 2019 Met Gala it went viral again. 

Leto, a close friend of Michele, told 60 Minutes he asked Gucci to replicate the Milan look and saw it as a "once in a lifetime" opportunity.

You can hear more from Leto and Michele in Sharyn Alfonsi's full report on Gucci below.

The video above was originally published on December 5, 2021.