The Cheap Gucci Knockoffs Have Begun
A Gucci-esque look from Shanghai-based Front Row Shop.
According to prevailing fashion wisdom, our wardrobes should consist of an artful mix of thrifted basics and “investment pieces” (read: very expensive designer goods). That approach to fashion is like eating quinoa salads all day every day: good for you, probably good for the earth, but so tragically boring. Hence, our illicit love of fast fashion — the stolen-from-the-runway buys that are the fashion equivalent of junk food: cheap-ish, temporarily satisfying, yet always leaving you hungry for more.
All that is to say that when we browse an uber-fast-fashion site like the Shanghai-based Front Row Shop, we don’t really expect to see quality or originality. So we can’t say we were shocked, exactly, to see the vaguely Gucci knockoff above — but we were still kind of surprised they went there.
Gucci’s spring 2016 collection prominently featured skirt suits and trompe l’oeil belts. (Photo: Getty)
Front Row Shop’s mock two-piece dress isn’t a direct rip-off, but it does include several signatures of the new-Gucci look introduced under creative director Alessandro Michele. Namely: the skirt suit, the high-buttoned blouse, and the trompe l’oeil belt effect.
A trompe l’oeil skirt suit from Front Row Shop.
The trompe l’oeil dresses also come in beige, above, and black, shown here. As if to drive the point home, Front Row Shop even styled its models with new-Gucci flair, complete with berets, geek glasses, and an overall air of nerdy grandma-chic.
A rabbit-print pajama set from Front Row Shop.
Front Row Shop is also selling this rabbit-print pajama suit, echoing the animal motifs, rich colors, and allover-print suiting that’ve been major themes at the new Gucci.
Front Row Shop’s take on Gucci’s beret-and-glasses styling.
Front Row Shop really tried it with this: they’re now selling berets in multiple colors, styled with (what else?) nerd glasses and high-neck blouses.
Again, we can’t say we’re scandalized. After all, this is the site that also carries these Maryam Nassir Zadeh-wannabe slides, these Delpozo-ish flouncy flares, and these Rachel Comey-wannabe wide-legged white jeans. It’s no surprise that they’d also take on the Gucci revival, which has proven the biggest fashion story of the year.
Of course, one of the hallmarks of the new Gucci is a sumptuousness of material and fabrication that obviously can’t be matched by designed-in-a-hurry, mass-produced synthetics. Which is yet another reason that, while these clothes are vaguely evocative of Gucci, they of course can’t hold a candle to the real thing. Frankly you’d be better off sharpening your thrifting skills and hunting down a pussy-bow blouse, pleated skirt, and chunky heels if you want the Gucci look for less. As a seasoned thrifter, I promise you, they are out there in abundance.
So, we’re going to take a hard pass on Front Row Shop’s Gucci look. And yet, that doesn’t stop us from wanting this dress, like yesterday. Fast fashion, we can’t quit you.
