GCDS’ Giuliano Calza on the Art of Doing “The Absolute Most”
After a decade in the scene, the creative director tells us about his proudest moments and how he continues to subvert Italian luxury into something unmistakably his.
Words by Cait Monahan
The first thing you notice about GCDS’ creative director Giuliano Calza is that he is a live wire, a characteristic self evident in the clothing he creates. In an industry currently obsessed with the beige purgatory of minimalism and stripping things all the way back, Calza is piling it on. “I’m doing a barbecue of ideas,” he tells Hypebae about his 10th anniversary collection. “Fun, prints, pythons, boots, collaborations… the absolute most.”
As the creative engine behind GCDS, Calza has spent the last decade proving that you can build a million-dollar empire on a foundation of pink vinyl, Hello Kitty and unadulterated aura maxxing. But to dismiss GCDS as mere “kitsch” is to miss the point entirely. Underneath the Betty Boop leather jackets and fanged footwear (or as the brand calls it the Morso heel) lies a designer who is as dedicated to the codes as any heritage house.
Despite his references to the brand’s past, a simple mention of the word “archive” will make Calza recoil. To him, an archive suggests a museum, a place where ideas go to be taxidermied. Calza, however, is still very much in the wild. Ahead of his anniversary show, he laughs recalling the brief: “They wanted a ‘best of’ celebration parade. I said, ‘F-cking hell, no.’ I just want to keep creating.”
This restless drive for urgency is perhaps a byproduct of a career born from a sudden stop. The GCDS origin story is actually one of accidental reinvention. In 2016, Calza was returning from a three-year stint in China that ended with him being essentially “kicked out” due to visa issues. At the time, it felt like a catastrophe; looking back, it was a necessary spark.
It is this sense of hard-won perspective that informs his definition of success, which has less to do with business and everything to do with the people he’s brought together. When we asked Calza about his proudest moments, he didn’t point to the million-dollar revenue or the viral runway moments. Instead, he tells a story about a girl working upstairs in his studio who earlier that morning confessed that she used to sneak into his parties as a university student.
“She said it was the best party in Milan, and now she’s working here,” Calza says, his face lighting up. “That’s what fashion is for me. Because growing up, I was that kid. I was sneaking into the Versace shows or the Dolce & Gabbana after-parties. I am that kid.”
And how full-circle must that feel? That the same kid who found his way into the parties he wasn’t invited to, now holds the keys and ensures that his world of play remains open to anyone brave enough to sneak through the door.
As the conversation continues, Calza expands on the past decade, and the products, moments and muses that have built the GCDS universe.
What was your breakout product?
The logo sweater was my first breakout. The brand had only started six months earlier, and all of a sudden one of my friends called me and said, “Can you send me one of your sweaters?” I shipped it and woke up to the news that the most famous Chinese actress at the time was wearing it at the airport. Since that day, the sweater became an obsession for the Chinese market. We had to ask the factories to not stop producing, day and night.
I made the logo sweater because I used to live in China and witnessed so many people wearing logos, including logos that hadn’t been popular in Europe for years. I said maybe this is the time to reevaluate what’s going to be cool in Europe. When I saw the picture I knew that was a defining moment for the brand. It also defined the brand in terms of color; when this went viral with everyone associating the red and white logo with the black, I thought, okay, maybe this is the GCDS story.
What can you tell us about your signature Morso Heel? How did it come to be?
The Morso heel came in a crazy moment of my life. We went so global with the logo that everyone was associating me only with the idea of the logo, not as a creative. I’ve always been obsessed with Dracula. I’ve read all the books, seen all the movies, and the costume designs. This feels very stupid, but I found out the body of Dracula is buried in Naples. So, I made this fantasy that there must be something in our bloodline calling to me. Literally.
So, then I was like, who is the GCDS woman? And then it clicked. I designed these shoes in five seconds. I literally sketched a shark mouth on a Post-It. She’s classy in the front and she’s business in the back. Nobody believed in me at first. Everyone was like, ‘who’s gonna buy this sh-t?’ And I was like, this IS the shit. I believed in it for so long that in the end everyone believed in it. This was the moment I realized I could make it.
What was a moment that defined GCDS’ history?
When I was able to change the color of the Barilla pasta from blue to pink, GCDS became Italy’s biggest darling. This is the most iconic pasta in Italy, the one everyone grew up with. They came to me. I said I’m only going to do it if I can turn the pasta pink in every way possible, and I’m going to have Sophia Loren sitting at the table with all the LGBTQ+ kids, entertainers and singers. They were laughing at me, like, “You’re never going to get Sophia.” We got her.
Nobody can know when something is going to be a moment or just a cute activation, but the day the pasta came out, it sold out everywhere in Italy in 25 minutes. Even Barilla was like, “how did you do it?” I don’t think it was just the irrational joy of this iconic product turning pink when in our imagination it has always been blue. To me, it was a way to challenge the norm of Italy.
What’s the story behind your viral seamless look?
Growing up gay, a dream was of course the Victoria’s Secret. The fun story of this look is that it was originally meant to support something else in the collection. It became a massive hit of the season: a very tight seamless bodysuit and leggings. We decided to shoot it on supermodel, Victoria’s Secret model, Elsa Hosk in a coffin. She arrived on set and there was literally a coffin in the middle of the stage. It was this tiny piece of fabric, and then it got picked up by Kylie Jenner, Beyoncé, so many celebrities; even Anitta was performing in one at the VMAs. We just didn’t expect it. Like, how? What are the chances that something goes viral and you actually sell it?
Sometimes I’m like, is it the right time, or is it just my belief in it? Because these were the things I loved most; the pieces I was genuinely happy to have made. That’s different from selling a white T-shirt. You can go viral with anything. But when it’s your passion, everything you’ve built inside yourself, and it becomes so popular — it just feels like magic.
Who is a muse you’ve dressed that your inner child would freak over?
Brett Allen Nelson contacted me two weeks before Coachella and said, we would love to do a look for LISA. LISA was already one of my people; I grew up with K-pop because I was studying in China, way before it went mainstream. And LISA wore my Hello Kitty boots in “Money,” her debut video, eight years ago.
We woke up after Coachella and there’s LISA killing it on stage in the full GCDS look. She had a massive GCDS logo, too. I’m sometimes unconfident about putting the logo on looks, because these are mega stars performing in front of huge crowds, but she loved it. It was just the most perfect kawaii, Japanese-Italian look I’ve ever seen in my life; like I was sent here to dress LISA at Coachella. It’s where I really come from and where I really want to go.
Photographer
Benjamín Salazar Piccione