Topping last year’s super-Gucci collection seemed almost impossible, yet Frida Giannini has managed to turn another page in the Gucci story – this time around with a great collection for Fall 2012-Winter 2013. For the past few years, Giannini has become so in-sync with the Gucci image that each collection is both comfortable in its delivery and exciting in its design evolution.

Gucci Fall 2012-Winter 2013 Video here

Gucci is, first and foremost, Italian and revels in its luxe-obsessed lifestyle heritage, infusing their collection with a myriad of key visuals and materials. If this past year’s fall-winter collection was about jewel toned furs, leathers and cashmeres, the coming fall-winter will be a darker more nocturnal variance.

The looks echoed menswear (oversized coats), with slight martial nods (field boots), and a light belle époque vibe (textile choices). Even though she mentioned late 19^th century romanticism as an inspiration, the execution couldn’t be more timely (just check out the embroideries, some of the opaque textiles, the styling). The darkness translates well when it comes to fur and exotic leathers with effective use of sharp cuts. The romanticism guides the color treatments, proportions and styling.

At the end of the day, the line-up is a slight historical take on separates layered to perfection to create a concise, elegant look. Menswear, here, is but a mood; the cuts, though masculine in spirit, are really geared for a female client (then again, if reworked, some of the looks could very well become hits with male fashionistas).

Gucci Fall 2012-Winter 2013 Video here

And watch in coming weeks as we post video montages of all the top designer fur collections!