Gucci is officially pro-choice.
On Tuesday night, creative director Alessandro Michele debuted his latest cruise collection for the Italian fashion house. The show, which took place at the Musei Capitolini in Rome, featured a number of politically charged references related to female sexuality and bodily autonomy.
Among the boldest pieces was a blazer adorned with the statement “My Body My Choice.” The words, crafted in white fabric and written in all-caps, were impossible to miss on the back of the deep blue jacket.
“‘My Body My Choice’ is a feminist slogan from the ’70s which appears on the reverse of this jacket seen before the #GucciCruise20 fashion show by @alessandro_michele,” Gucci said in a statement on Instagram. “This piece echoes the Creative Director’s continuing vision of freedom, equality and self-expression.”
The statement also said that since founding its Chime for Change initiative in 2013, Gucci has demonstrated “a longstanding commitment to women and girls by funding projects around the world to support sexual and reproductive rights, maternal health, and the freedom of individual choice.”
The cruise collection also saw at least one model walk down the runway wearing a dress embroidered with a uterus. Another sported a jacket emblazoned with the numbers 22.05.1978 ― or May 22, 1978. As Gucci noted on Instagram, that date refers to the passage of “the Italian statute for the social protection of motherhood and the voluntary interruption of pregnancy, better known as statute 194.”
The messages embedded in Gucci’s collection reflect recent debates surrounding abortion rights both in the United States, where a number of states have passed harsh anti-abortion legislation, and around the world.
The show also comes after a couple of missteps from Gucci, including the sale of a black balaclava sweater that resembled blackface caricatures and the sale of an $800 turban that appeared to turn a Sikh article of faith into a mere fashion accessory.
In February ― before the turban debacle but after the blackface incident ― Gucci pledged to improve cultural diversity and awareness within its company.
